The Institute for Quantum Living and Conscious Design » The 11th SAGE- THE Wisdom of Bret Burquest

the Illuminati

admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:14:10 +0000

THE ILLUMINATED ONES

A statue of a Confederate general, Albert Pike (1809-1891), stands on a pedestal at the foot of Capitol Hill, near the Department of Labor building, the only statue of a Confederate general on federal property in Washington, D.C.

Pike was honored, not as a commander, but as a leader of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. He was one of the most predominant figures in the history of world Freemasonry.

Albert Pike was born in Boston on December 29, 1809. He studied at Harvard and was considered a genius, able to read and write in 16 different languages. At various stages of his life he was a frontiersman, journalist, poet, philosopher, crusader for Native Americans, prominent Washington lawyer and a Civil War general.

In 1831, Pike moved to Independence, Missouri, where he joined an expedition to Taos, New Mexico. His horse broke down and Pike was forced to walk the remaining 500 miles.

In 1833, he settled in Arkansas where he purchased and published a newspaper. He studied law and passed the bar in 1837. He became the first reporter for the Arkansas Supreme Court and wrote a book titled THE ARKANSAS FORM BOOK, a guidebook for lawyers.

During the Mexican-American War, Pike joined the cavalry and was commissioned as a troop commander. He later got into a duel with his own commander over differences of opinion. Although several shots were fired, no one was injured and the two combatants were persuaded by their seconds to call it quits.

After the war, Pike settled in New Orleans in 1853 where he practiced law and wrote a book about Roman and French law.

In 1857, he returned to Arkansas and made several contacts with Native American tribes in the area. On their behalf, he negotiated an $800,000 settlement between several tribes and the federal government.

When the Civil War started, Pike was appointed as Confederate envoy to the Native Americans and negotiated several more treaties.

In November of 1861, Pike was commissioned as a brigadier general and given a command in the Indian Territory where he trained three Confederate regiments. Once again, Pike butted heads with his military superiors, this time resulting in an order for his arrest for insubordination. Rather than face military discipline, Pike turned in his resignation in absentia and escaped into the Arkansas hills.

After the Civil War, Pike relocated to New York and later to Canada.

In 1865, President Andrew Jackson, a fellow Freemason, gave Pike a formal pardon for his military misdeeds, which were found to be lacking in evidence. Free to practice law once again, Pike became an associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.

In 1867, he practiced law in Memphis, Tennessee, where he also served as editor of the newspaper Memphis Appeal.

He finally moved his law office to Washington, D.C. in 1870 and became editor of the Patriot newspaper.

As a 33rd degree Mason, Pike was a founding father and leader of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the United States. From 1859 until his death, he was Grand Commander of North American Freemasonry.

Pike was also a Satanist. He wore a bracelet he utilized to summon Lucifer, with whom he claimed have constant communication. Pike was the Grand Master of a Luciferian group known as the Order of the Palladium (also called Sovereign Council of Wisdom), which had been founded in Paris in 1737. Palladism had been brought to Greece from Egypt by Pythagoras in the fifth century. This Secret Cult of Satan was introduced into the inner circle of the Masonic lodges.

On May 1, 1776 (the original May Day), a Bavarian anarchist named Adam Weishaupt formed a secret society known as the Illuminati (the "enlightened ones"). Its ultimate goal was the formation of a one-world government that would be covertly controlled by the secret society.

In 1834, Giusseppe Mazzini, an Italian who later founded the Mafia in 1860, was selected by the Illuminati to head worldwide operations. Mazzini was a 33rd degree Mason who believed in the unification of Europe, and ultimately in a unification of the entire planet under one ruling order.

Mazzini recruited Albert Pike into the Illuminati.

Pike liked the idea of a one-world government and wrote a ritual tome to guide like-minded Masons into the top rank (33rd degree), a secret Illuminati tier within the Freemason structure.

Of the tome, Mazzini wrote, "Through this supreme rite, we will govern all Freemasonry which will become one international center, the more powerful because its direction will be unknown."

Between 1859 and 1871, Pike created a military blueprint for three world wars and numerous global revolutions he considered to be favorable toward creating a one-world government in its final stage in the 20th Century

In 1871, as Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Albert Pike wrote a letter to Mazzini, outlining the three world wars that would lead to global domination of their Secret Cult. These wars were to be created by Illuminati operatives, as well as funded by Illuminati interests who would reap great rewards from the conflict.

The first world war was to be a conflict between the Germanic empires and the British Empire. The primary objective of this conflict was to overthrow the Czars of Russia.

The second world war was designed to lead to the creation of a sovereign state (Israel) in Palestine. The primary objective for creating a homeland for Zionists (Jewish migrants to the Promised Land) in the Middle East was to eventually trigger a global war within the Islamic world that would lead to the ultimate goal of control of the entire planet.

The first two world wars instigated by the Illuminati have been carried out as planned.

The following was written by Pike in the 1871 letter to Mazzini concerning plans for World War III.

"The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the Illuminati between the political Zionists and the leaders of the Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam (Moslem World) and Political Zionism (the state of Israel) mutually destroy each other. Meanwhile, the other nations, once more divided on this issue, will be constrained to fight to the point of complete physical, moral, spiritual and economic exhaustion."

Presumably, at this point, the world would be so devastated by conflict that it would welcome a strong, omnipotent world government, controlling all aspects of life. By then, the upper echelon of the Illuminati would be in a strategic position to control this world government, secretly behind the scenes.

In other words, in order to create a one-world government you need to tear the world apart.

Divide and conquer.

There is a cabal of secret societies on this planet that have been manipulating human events to lead to a one-world government, to be controlled by them. This includes upper tiers of Freemasonry, the Illuminati, the Bilderberg Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Round Table, Skull and Bones, Knights of Malta, the Rosicrucian Order, and so forth. They presently control politics, finance, commerce and the media. Their ultimate goal is to control the world.

Those at the very top who control the Secret Cults have a common genetic bloodline that can be traced back to Sumer and Babylon. Their agenda includes establishing their bloodline into key posts of economic and political power. Throughout history, members of this chosen bloodline have been thrust into high positions of power, including royalty, clergy, politics, finance, etc. All 44 presidents of the USA are related. For example, Obama is a distant cousin of George Bush.

"There exists in our world today a powerful and dangerous secret cult. This cult is patronized and protected by the highest level of government officials in the world. Its membership is composed of those in the power centers of government, industry, commerce, finance, and labor. It manipulates individuals in areas of important public influence – including the academic world and the mass media. The Secret Cult is a global fraternity of a political aristocracy whose purpose is to further the political policies of persons unknown." from THE CIA AND THE CULT OF INTELLIGENCE by Victor Marchetti, former CIA operative

Powerful international bankers, such as the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Warburgs, etc., are a central component of the Secret Cults. Their objective is to create and dominate a world monetary system, thereby gaining complete control over the economic and political aspect of the entire planet. Their plan revolves around central banks of the world, acting in concert, driven by secret agreements contrived among select-elite private individuals. Stepping stones to this objective already exist with the formation of the Federal Reserve System, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and so forth.

After Mazzini’s death in 1872, Pike appointed an Italian banker and 33rd degree Mason named Adriano Lemmi (1822-1896), to succeed Mazzini and run the Secret Cult operations in Europe. Subsequently, Lemmi was succeeded by Lenin and Trotsky, then by Stalin. The nefarious activities of all these men were financed by British, German, French, and American international bankers; all dominated by Rothschild banking interests.

The Secret Cults started with the Mystery Schools of ancient Babylon, perhaps even long before that, and are still with us today. The thirst for power and greed never ends. Secrecy is necessary to cover up their corruption. Misinformation is necessary to manipulate the masses. Conflict is necessary to create fear. War is necessary to justify the need for strong centralized rule.

Follow the money.

Connect the dots.

There is no freedom in this world. We are being manipulated and enslaved by powerful elitists who meet secretly to make decisions that affect our personal lives and the fate of Planet Earth.

The first step toward preventing enslavement is to recognize it is taking place.

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Quote for the day – "Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives." John Lennon

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KIDS AND MARRIAGE

admin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:12:22 +0000

A woman always has the last word in any argument, while anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

A woman marries a man expecting he will change but he doesn’t, while a man marries a woman expecting she won’t change but she does.

A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband, while a man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

Apparently, men are from Mars and women are from a place where toilet seats are always in the down position. These differences don’t go unnoticed by kids, as demonstrated in the following survey sent to me by a former high school classmate.

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHOM TO MARRY?

Alan, age 10 – You got to find someone who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.

Kirsten, age 10 – No person really decides before they grow up who they’re going to marry. God decides it all way before and you get to find out later who you’re stuck with.

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?

Camille, age 10 – Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then.

Freddie, age 6 – No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get married.

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

Derrick, age 8 – You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

Lori, age 8 – Both don’t want any more kids.

WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?

Lynnette, age 8 – Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.

Martin, age 10 – On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?

Craig, age 9 – I’d run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns.

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

Pam, age 7 – When they’re rich.

Curt, age 7 – The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn’t mess with that.

Howard, age 8 – The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It’s the right thing to do.

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?

Theodore, age 8 – I don’t know which is better, but I’ll tell you one thing. I’m never going to have sex with my wife. I don’t want to be all grossed out.

Anita, age 9 – It’s better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them.

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN’T GET MARRIED?

Kelvin, age 8 – There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn’t there?

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?

Ricky, age 10 – Tell your wife that she looks pretty even if she looks like a truck.

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Quote for the Day – "A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five." Groucho Marx

Getting OVER the HILL

admin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:49:24 +0000

In the movie THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN, Robert Redford is a former rodeo champion, now past his prime, selling his soul to a large corporation as a spokesman for their brand of breakfast cereal. During a moment of disillusionment with his life, aided by a hefty dose of Jack Daniels, he rides off with a prized horse owned by the corporation in order to save it from being turned into a commercial puppet like himself.

Newspaper reporter Jane Fonda tracks down Redford and the stolen horse, joining them in their journey across remote areas of Utah. Redford plans to release the horse into the wild, freeing it from exploitation. Fonda tags along hoping to get a good news story out of it.

One day, as they’re walking up a formidable hill, Fonda begs Redford to slow down and take a rest.

Instead of slowing down, Redford marches on while telling Fonda a story from his old rodeo days about a cowboy who broke a rib and punctured his lung during a bull ride yet continued competing in his events.

“And he still rode the rankest mare there,” Redford said, proudly.

Fonda isn’t exactly impressed, wondering why men have to display so much machismo.

“It gets you over the hill,” Redford exclaims as he continues trudging up the incline.

Every once in a while we are faced with the option to gut it out or fall by the wayside. Sometimes it isn’t even an option.

In November of 2002, 27-year-old Aron Ralston quit his engineering job to pursue his goal of becoming the first person to climb solo, in winter, all 55 of Colorado’s peaks that exceed 14,000 feet in elevation.

Four months later, he survived an avalanche but remained undeterred.

In April of 2003, having told no one of his plans, Ralston was hiking alone in Blue John Canyon in a remote area of Utah when his right arm became pinned by an 800-pound boulder.

Falling by the wayside was not an option.

Ralston was trapped for five days and out of water before he finally took the only action he could to save himself. He broke each of the two bones in his forearm, applied a tourniquet and cut off his right arm at the point of the break with a pocketknife. Then he rigged an anchor, fixed a rope and rappelled 60 feet to the canyon floor.

After hiking for about five miles, covered with blood, Ralston encountered two tourists and was transported to safety.

It later took a crew of 13, using jacks and a hoist, to move the boulder and recover Ralston’s arm, which was subsequently delivered to the local mortuary. Because of the crude field surgery, doctors were forced to amputate the arm even closer the elbow.

While this particular tragedy was gruesome, Ralston brought much of it on himself. A prudent wilderness hiker would notify someone of their destination and expected time of return. Plus, hiking with a companion is essential in emergencies. With today’s electronics, carrying a cell phone or walkie-talkie would also be wise. And of course, avoid positioning body parts under anything heavier than a Buick.

If unwilling to take these basic precautions, find another hobby such as checkers or basket weaving.

Even though I try to live a simple life, I too must gut it out on occasion. For example, I’ll often get out of bed even if I’m still tired.

A person is the sum of their actions. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and rise to the occasion.

It gets you over the hill.

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Quote for the Day – "You are an Eternal Soul, surrounded by Infinity. Virtue is nothing more than the proper use of energy." Bret

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Time Traveller

admin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:42:18 +0000

On November 2, 2000, a person named John Titor began a series of postings on a public Internet forum by declaring that he was a time traveler from the year 2036. On March 21, 2001, he announced he was returning to the year 2036 and was never heard from again. What transpired in between was remarkably strange.

A dialogue between John Titor, who claimed to have been born in 1998, and those who corresponded with him via the Internet lasted about four months. During that period, Titor answered every question put to him. He even posted pictures of his time machine and its operation’s manual.

Titor also revealed the future up to 2036.

In 2011, the United States was engaged in a civil war, primarily between big cities and rural people. This had dramatic effects on world governments. It ended in 2015 when Russia attacked the United States.

In 2015, a world war (involving the United States, Russia, China and Europe) killed 3 billion people. The environment subsequently became infected with disease and radiation. This condition forced people to gravitate into small communities, ranging in size from 1,000 to 4,000 people, where everything was more centrally localized and community oriented. The early new communities were formed around colleges and universities. Food and livestock were grown locally, and a massive effort began to clean up the environment.

In 2036 (present timeline for John Titor), Omaha, Neb., is now the Capitol of the United States. The country is divided into five geopolitical regions, based on their economic and defensive strengths. Each region elects its own president, with different terms of office in different regions. Democrats and Republicans no longer exist; there are now over 10 major political parties. Local governments have more control.

Other conditions in 2036 include:

1) Everyone works together to keep the community strong (avoiding work is frowned upon).

2) The elderly and orphans are highly revered and looked after by the community.

3) Schools are no longer a political indoctrination system but rather help children learn how to learn.

4) Medical treatments are more advanced but used less often as people now die when it’s time to die.

5) Solar energy is the major public source of electricity.

6) Safe water is a highly valuable commodity.

7) The American flag has not changed but there is debate about altering it from 50 to 5 stars.

There is no more income tax or nationally subsidized welfare.

9) There are fewer cars and more use of horses and bikes.

10) A high-speed train system connects larger communities.

11) Hats are more common, flashy colors are less common and clothing is more functional.

12) Computers still exist and are much more reliable.

13) Football remains a major sport.

14) Rock-n-roll has survived and is archived on the Internet (which also still exists).

In a certain sense, I too am a time traveler. I’ve lived in many locations in my life, including Minneapolis, Miami, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Kansas City, Memphis and many other smaller towns in 11 states altogether. In 1992, I moved to the Ozark Mountain region of northern Arkansas where I soon realized I had also moved back into 1957.

Time travel is easy. All you need is a strong desire to escape the present and a bit of imagination.

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Quote for the Day — "I’ve been on a calendar, but never on time." Marilyn Monroe

THREE GRANDFATHERS

admin — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:42:29 +0000

Every now and then something happens in a person’s life that becomes a turning point.

When I was in the second grade, my family lived on the edge of a small town in Wisconsin. There was only one other kid my age in the area. His name was James and he was extremely intelligent, a true genius. His father was a surgeon and his mother was a southern aristocrat. They lived in a palace compared to my family’s digs.

I’d hang out with James on occasion, always at his house, even though I could sense his snooty parents considered me to be beneath their social status.

One day James and I were talking about our grandparents. His mother was also in the room. During the conversation I proudly mentioned that I had three grandfathers. James and his mother both broke out in laughter, obviously laughing at me. I was embarrassed and humiliated.

Later that evening, I had a talk with my mother about the incident whereupon I discovered the mathematics of breeding. Nevertheless, I still insisted that I had three grandfathers.

My father’s father had died long before I was born, when my father was in grade school. His mother remarried several years later to a fellow I came to know as Grampa Herman. My mother’s father, Grampa Ben, died when I was 4 years old. I barely remembered him.

As far as I was concerned I had three grandfathers – two dead and one living.

In addition, Grampa Herman, a railroad engineer. was the most impressive human being I’ve ever known in this lifetime. He was strong and formidable and gentle and kind. He had been a boxing champion in the Army, fed squirrels by hand in his backyard, and built items in his workshop for those in need. Even though his blood didn’t flow in my veins, he was my grandfather.

It may have been humorous to others that I thought I had three grandfathers, but I didn’t appreciate people laughing at me, pointing out my ignorance in such an insensitive fashion. I was staunchly determined not to allow such a thing to ever happen again, yet couldn’t quite figure out a way to prevent it. After all, I was only seven years old — a young, dim bulb surrounded by large, bright people.

Perhaps I could just avoid these types of situations. But avoiding the human race would not be easy in a world of public schools and corporate workplaces. Clearly, I couldn’t hide forever.

Perhaps I could retaliate in some manner. However, I couldn’t retaliate verbally because these people were smarter than I was and would always top me. And some sort of physical retaliation was out of the question. It would be too childish, besides I had enough trouble coping with bullies without becoming one myself.

Perhaps rolling with the punches was the answer. But that seemed like a sort of surrender, a form of acceptance and suffering. I would be right back to square one.

Then came the turning point.

I began to wonder why I was so angry in the first place. Obviously, these people meant no harm; they were merely the products of their surroundings. Their insensitivity was a reflection on them, not on me. I wasn’t the jerk, they were. I suspected I had indulged in anger to mask my own insecurities about myself. After all, being a second grader in an imperfect world was no easy task.

Allowing myself to become angry simply because I was embarrassed made no sense. The key was not to be embarrassed in the first place. And in order to do so meant acknowledging that I was a worthy person regardless of what others thought of me. Just because these people felt they were superior to me didn’t necessarily mean they were.

In fact, in an odd way, their air of superiority made them inferior. Only those who had doubts about their own worth would behave in such a disgusting manner, propping themselves up by putting others down.

Thus, the solution became crystal clear. I would no longer allow the actions of others to affect me, thereby controlling me. I would simply observe without becoming emotional and spend the rest of my life rising above the pettiness of the masses.

With that, I was now ready to move on to higher planes of existence, like third grade.

Grandpa Herman passed on to the Great Beyond when I was 15 years old. His memory is always with me as I try to go through life in a strong, formidable, gentle, kind manner.

James went on to get advanced engineering degrees from M.I.T. and also became a world-class ski-jumper. These days, he lectures at Harvard and invents medical equipment, occasionally traveling to Paris where he demonstrates his inventions in fluent French.

And I went on to become a hermit in the hills of Arkansas, where I feed the squirrels, watch sunsets and occasionally share my thoughts with the rest of the world.

Finding contentment in life is not about yearning to be superior to others, it’s about not allowing others to make you feel inferior.

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Quote for the Day – "You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was." Irish folklore

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PAUL NEWMAN – R.I.P.

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:31:18 +0000

It’s funny how the shock ripples through you when you hear that someone famous dies. It’s like a clarion call that our time here will come to an end, no matter who you are. Paul Newman was an icon to so many. He was on a playing field of his own. How many men do you know with his looks, his talent and his drive stay married to the same woman for 50 years? This alone says who Paul Newman is. He is a man who knows how to love, and he is man who reached the state that most of us should be striving for, unconditional love of mankind. Below, you will read the OBIT that Bret wrote about Paul. I encourage you to take a page from Paul’s book of life. Help mankind when and where you can, live your life like its your last day and LOVE ,LOVE , LOVE because it’s the highest vibration of all. See you on the other side.. the unstoppable frankie picasso

PAUL NEWMAN – R.I.P.

Paul Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in a suburb of Cleveland.

On September 26, 2008, at age 83, he passed on to the Great Beyond.

His father was Jewish and ran a sporting goods store. His mother was a Slovakian Catholic who converted to Christian Science when Paul was five years old.

Newman made his acting debut at the age of seven, playing the court jester in a school production of Robin Hood. He briefly attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. His plan to be accepted into pilot training failed when it was discovered he was color blond. After boot camp, he was trained as a gunner and radioman in torpedo bombers. In 1945, he served aboard the USS Bunker Hill during the battle for Okinawa.

After the war, he graduated from Kenyon College. Later, he studied acting at Yale University and under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York City.

Paul Newman was a brilliant actor. He made over 50 movies, starting in the 1950s, and was nominated for a best actor Academy Award 10 times, winning once and receiving two Oscars for lifetime achievement. He also received two Golden Globe Awards, an Emmy, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award and many honorary awards.

On the silver screen, he was Hud, Cool Hand Luke, Harper, Hombre, The Hustler (Fast Eddie Felton) and Butch Cassidy. And he was magnificent every time.

Politically, Newman was very liberal. He supported Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 presidential election race, which landed him on Richard Nixon’s infamous Enemy List.. But unlike other show biz liberals, he lived far from the glare of Hollywood, in Connecticut.

And unlike other show biz liberals, his philanthropy didn’t include attacking successful people and corporations. Instead of trying to confiscate money from others, Newman founded a company called Newman’s Own, in 1982, which carries a line of food products. The company policy is to donate all proceeds, after taxes, to various charities. To date, this effort has distributed in excess of $200 million to worthy causes, mostly toward children worldwide.

He not only talked the talk, but he walked the walk.

Newman was survived by his wife of 50 years, Joanne Woodward, five daughters, two grandsons and his older brother. His son, Scott, died in 1978 of a drug overdose.

Rest in Peace.

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Quote for the Day – "A noble person lives by doing what needs to be done, not by thinking about doing or thinking about what to think when finished doing." Bret

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A PEDANTIC CONDESCENDING HERMSHOT

admin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:02:15 +0000

In the late 1970s, I was a fool. I married the wrong woman and worked hard to get ahead.

In the early 1980s, I regained my sanity. I divorced my charming wife and escaped the rat race.

I owned a house, with a pool, before the marriage. After the divorce, my ex-wife owned a house and I had peace of mind.

I spent the next couple of decades trying to get my life together once again. This included spending seven years bumming around the Arizona desert prospecting for gold, nine months back in L.A. doing computer contracts, a couple of years in the Arkansas hills writing four novels, doing rural field work for a data collection company in Chicago for a year, 10 months in Memphis doing a Y2K computer contract, working on the 2000 U.S. Census, six years teaching college computer courses and seven years writing a newspaper column.

Several years ago, I finally made it. I once again owned my own home, paid cash, on 8 acres, with no neighbors, in the Ozark Mountains of northern Arkansas, where life is peaceful and time stands still.

So after I settled in, I sat on my back deck, watching the squirrels frolicking, beaming with pride that I had finally accomplished my goal of being free. But I soon realized I had spent so much time and energy trying to reach this point that there was still something missing in my life.

Not long thereafter, I started an on-line e-mail correspondence with a woman from my distant past that I had once admired. We were in the same class in high school back in Minnesota but had never met. She had contacted me after a mutual high school friend sent her one of my newspaper columns.

We were cruising along just fine, getting to know each other, phone conversations, exchanging photos.

Then it happened.

I mentioned in one of the e-mails that I had been busy that afternoon creating a syllabus for a new class I would be teaching during spring semester at Ozarka College. I even included a list of many of the categories that made up the syllabus. I presumed it would be of mild interest to her.

The following day, I received a rather abrupt, terse message in return whereby she made it clear she was well aware of the function of a syllabus, then referred to me as a “pedantic condescending hermshot.”

I didn’t know if that was good or bad but the entire note, what little there was of it, had a clear tone of anger to it.

Being a fairly normal male humanoid trapped on a planet half populated by humanoids of the female persuasion, many of whom tend to be slightly ditsy on occasion for no particular reason, my first reaction had to do with the possibility of a chemical imbalance and/or hormonal disturbance.

Next, I checked the original e-mail message I had sent her, but remained baffled. It seemed harmless to me.

I looked up the word “pedantic” in the dictionary. It means “too narrowly concerned with scholarly matters” or being overly scholastic. Since I didn’t know what the word meant in the first place, it was obvious proof that I wasn’t pedantic after all.

I also looked up the word “hermshot” but couldn’t find it.

So I wrote an e-mail back, explaining that my vocabulary didn’t include the word “pedantic” thereby eliminating it as a proper adjective to use when describing me. I also stated that I couldn’t find the word “hermshot” in my dictionary and would kindly like an explanation of the entire phrase.

The next day, I received an e-mail, much more relaxed in tone, explaining that she had been angry at the entire male species the day she wrote the original message and that her cat often prances across her keyboard when she’s typing. She went on to explain that she meant to call me a “pedantic condescending hotshot” but the cat must have messed up the last word in the phrase, hence the word “hermshot.”

What a relief. Here I was all in a dither over being called a pedantic condescending hermshot when there was such a reasonably logical explanation.

It all made perfect sense. I was being punished for being a member of the male species and a cat had written part of the note. It was all so obvious I was almost embarrassed I didn’t figure it out in the first place.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized she was really paying me a compliment.

Pedantic means scholarly, condescending implies a position of superiority and a hotshot is someone who is talented. She was basically telling me that I was a learned superior talent.

But rather than convey her true feelings, she snarled at me in a pedantic and condescending manner.

She may have been snarling on the surface, but subconsciously she was subtly implying that she admired my scholarly talents and distinct superiority.

As soon as I figured out the dynamics of her subconscious thought process, it became apparent how deeply she felt about me. A pedantic condescending hermshot indeed. It’s not every day I receive such lavish praise. She’s clearly attracted to me but unable to express it properly, probably in fear of rejection.

Then again, perhaps an angry snarl is just an angry snarl.

So today I sit on my back deck, a pedantic condescending hermshot, waiting patiently for my soul mate to show up and put me out of my misery.

If I had any brains, I’d be content watching the squirrels frolic.

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Quote of the Day – "Big city women, they sure to make me tired…. They got a handful of gimme and a mouth full of much obliged." Old Blues Song

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He Who Transported

admin — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:36:07 +0000

Every state in America has a state motto. They tend to be inspirational catchwords, brief yet powerful, no doubt meant to inspire the populace to greatness. They are heavy on truth, justice and the American way – much like Superman without the blue tights, red cape and the need to masquerade as a mild-mannered reporter.

The most famous state motto is New Hampshire – “Live free or die.” It leaves little doubt where the citizens of the Granite State stand on various issues. Being an outsider in New Hampshire is a lot like being naked in a herd of buffalo — no matter how much hair you have on your back, you’ll never blend in.

The smallest state in the Union, Rhode Island, has the shortest motto – “Hope."

Massachusetts, the state with the most letters in its name, has the longest motto – “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.”

Some of the redneck states in the South tend to be high on machismo. Alabama – “We dare defend our rights.” Mississippi – “By valor and arms.” They’re still upset by the Civil War way down wonder in the land of cotton, where old times there are not forgotten.

Other southern states are more reflective, such as Georgia – “Wisdom, justice and moderation.” I know a couple of guys from Georgia and the word moderation is not in their vocabulary. Live hard, drive fast and die young is more their style.

The state motto of Arkansas is “The people rule.” This seems like a reasonable proposition. If we must be ruled, people would be my first choice as opposed to non-people. I’m not quite sure what the alternatives would be. Perhaps raccoons or possums. Armadillos would also be a possibility but they tend to be illiterate.

Missouri has the only other state motto that contains the word people – “The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law.” Obviously, raccoons or possums could rule Missouri as long as the welfare of people came first.

At least one state hasn’t caught up with political correctness yet. Maryland – “Manly deeds womanly words.” Either there are no women in Maryland or they’re a bit more docile than most of the women I know.

The most confusing state motto is Connecticut – “He who transplanted still sustains.” In Latin, it reads, “Qui transtulit sustinet.” Even though I know nothing about Latin, except that Latin America is somewhere south of Texas, it somehow makes more sense than the English version.

I’ve asked several reasonably intelligent people to explain this motto but all I get is a look of bewilderment and a request to go away. Then again, I often get that sort of reaction whenever I mingle with real people.

To the good citizens of Connecticut, here are some suggestions on a new state motto.

1) Sustains still transplanted who he

2) Live free or move to New Hampshire

3) Non-people cannot rule

4) The gateway to Rhode Island

5) So close to New York, you can smell it

6) No loitering

7) Size isn’t everything

Someone in Connecticut once proclaimed, “He who transplanted still sustains.” Apparently, the people of Connecticut understood the deeper meaning, that he who has not transplanted no longer sustains, and adopted it as their state motto.

I live where the people rule. The raccoons and possums find it all very amusing.

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Quote for the Day – "So this is how the world works, all energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet.” Hunter S. Thompson

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205C A Bump in the Road

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:09:47 +0000

The geographic North Pole is the northern point on the earth’s axis around which the earth spins. It’s located at 90 degrees north latitude. If you were standing on it, every direction on earth would be due south. You would also be freezing your tutu and on the lookout for polar bears that haven’t eaten lately.

The magnetic North Pole is the spot on earth where compasses point. Presently, it’s located in the Arctic Ocean, nearly a thousand miles south of the geographic North Pole, just southwest of Canada’s Ellef Ringnes Island.

The town of Resolute Bay, population 200, one of Canada’s most northerly settlements, is only a short plane ride away. Their motto is “Resolute is not the end of the world, but you can see it from here.”

Unlike the geographic North Pole, the earth’s magnetic pole is constantly on the move, caused by the movement of molten iron deep within the earth.

The precise location of the magnetic North Pole was first determined in 1831, hundreds of miles from its present location. Since then it has been resurveyed about once every decade and has historically been moving north-northwest at more than 10 miles per year. According to the latest satellite surveys, it also has a daily elliptical movement of approximately 50 miles from its average point.

Since 1950, the magnetic North Pole’s migrating speed has increased some 400 percent, covering closer to 50 miles every year, requiring the Hydrographic Office of the US Navy to update its maps every five years.

Not only is the magnetic North Pole wandering across the top of the planet, but the two poles have changed polarity many times throughout the eons. The North Pole becomes the South Pole and visa versa – positive becomes negative as negative becomes positive.

This can be verified because iron oxide in volcanic lava or igneous rocks is nonmagnetic when liquefied by extreme heat. Upon cooling, they obtain a magnetic orientation matching the Earth’s polarity at that given time.

Based on core samples from the Earth’s surface, as well as submarine mountain ranges, there have been numerous pole reversals, the last one occurring 12,400 years ago. Evidently, our planet goes through a magnetic pole reversal on a regular basis.

Subterranean currents of molten lava create the magnetic poles. Changes in the flow lead to pole reversals.

Gauthier Hulot of the Globe Institute of Paris recently discovered that molten iron off the tip of Africa is now moving in a direction that is gradually weakening the dominant magnetic field, possibly leading to a global pole reversal.

Exactly what happens during a reversal isn’t clear.

A pole shift 12,400 years ago would possibly explain such events as the Biblical flood, the disappearance of the “mythical” continent of Atlantis, and such unexplainable phenomena as marine fossils found atop the Himalayan Mountains and evidence of tropical plant life discovered beneath the ice in Antarctica. In all likelihood, something dramatic happened in an instant global catastrophe rather than gradually over time.

In addition, the Earth’s crust is made up of gigantic tectonic plates. They rest on a liquid surface and are prone to movement, causing stress that generates volcanoes and earthquakes. A sudden, global slippage of the Earth’s crust is also a possibility.

Albert Einstein once wrote, “In a polar region there is a continual deposition of ice, which is not symmetrically distributed about the pole. The Earth’s rotation acts on these deposited masses [of ice], and produces centrifugal momentum that is transmitted to the rigid crust of the earth. The constantly increasing centrifugal momentum produced in this way will, when it has reached a certain point, produce a movement of the Earth’s crust over the rest of the Earth’s body, and this will displace the polar regions toward the equator.”

Earth is a very precarious place. The magnetic poles are prone to reversals in polarity and its surface crust can potentially slip in position. To mankind this rare occurrence would be a disaster of Biblical proportions. But to the planet itself, it’s just another bump in the road.

All in all, it makes things like politics and war seem trivial.

As a human being, I am merely a small glob of organic matter on a large spinning orb, hurtling through a vast void, destination unknown. Yet I reside at the center of the universe, basking in the spirit of my human essence, awed by the glory of my destiny unfolding before me.

I am an island named Bret, surrounded by a sea of danger, comfortable in the knowledge that we reap what we sow.

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Quote for the Day – "The universe that we inhabit and our shared perception of it are the results of a common karma. Likewise, the places that we will experience in future rebirths will be the outcome of the karma that we share with the other beings living there. The actions of each of us, human or nonhuman, have contributed to the world in which we live. We all have a common responsibility for our world and are connected with everything in it." The 14th Dalai Lama

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THE FREEDOM TO FLOUNDER

admin — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:20:31 +0000

In 1607, Captain John Smith founded the first permanent English settlement in America, called Jamestown.

Jamestown was named after King James I of England who commissioned the first “authorized” English version of the Bible, commonly known as the King James Version.

The Jamestown Colony was a business venture of the Virginia Company of London, a British firm formed by members of a secret society, including Sir Francis Bacon. The goal of this secret society was to build a New World Order by starting their own "ideal" community from scratch and expanding globally from there.

Sir Francis Bacon was the Grand Commander of the brotherhood order called the Rosicrucians and the founder of English Freemasonry. He’s also considered by many historians to have been the true identity of the playwright known as William Shakespeare,

Not long thereafter, a second English Colony was assembled in Plymouth, Massachusetts, by a group of religious dissenters.

Britain had broken from the Catholic Church and formed the Church of England, but these two splinter groups had disdain for this new church. They were the Puritans and the Separatists who decided to journey to American in the pursuit of religious freedom. Collectively, they were known as Pilgrims.

Thus, the Jamestown Colony and the Plymouth Colony had been formed in the new land.

Initially, the first two colonies were each set up as collectives with a communal style of living, based primarily on the philosophy of Plato, where no one owned property and everyone was fed from a common store.

They were the hippie communes of their time – disdainful of authority, seeking freedom of expression, wanting to live in harmony with like-minded others.

It was a utopian scheme, lofty on idealism but short on practicality, that soon floundered. Both colonies suffered great hardships.

The leader of the Plymouth Colony, William Bradford, eventually realized that the lack of incentive was the root of the problem and instituted a system whereby each family was assigned a plot of land they could call their own and reap whatever rewards they could produce.

From then on, the Plymouth Colony flourished.

The leaders of the Jamestown Colony had no such enlightenment. If it weren’t for friendly Indians and the arrival of reinforcements in 1610, they likely would have perished.

This is another example of how the ideals of private property ownership and free enterprise work for the benefit of all.

Collectivism (socialism, communism, totalitarianism, or any large centralized excessive bureaucracy that feeds on productivity and suffocates individuality) will never be as effective as individual freedom simply because there is a lack of incentive to be productive or innovative.

In a free society, ambitious people are free to be rewarded for their efforts and are inclined to prosper, while lazy bums are free to avoid responsibility and are inclined to hang out with other lazy bums.

In a collective society, people have no incentive to be productive. No matter how hard they work, they will only receive an equal share for their efforts. And those who contribute little to the overall communal output will receive an equal share as well. There’s no point in working hard if there’s no reward for working hard.

In a free society, innovation is driven by competition. Rapid improvement leads to success.

In a collective society, there’s no incentive to be innovative. Everyone is merely a cog in a vast human machine, enslaved by a rigid system where decisions require a collective agreement, leading to a stagnant bureaucracy where change will be discouraged.

In a free society, a wide gap tends to exist between the rich and the poor, one of the chief complaints of those who endorse a collective system. But that’s the price of freedom. So be it.

In a collective society, a wide gap tends to exist between the illusion of common good and the reality of common sense. Another wide gap also exists between the ears of those who support the illusion.

Unfortunately, those who feel entitled to the efforts of others will invariably attempt to impose various forms of legalized plunder, such as a “progressive” income tax or an inheritance tax, against those who prosper. But whenever the plunder of successful people takes place, a free society becomes less free.

In a free society, everyone starts on a level playing field and the outcome is determined by effort.

In a collective society, the playing field is rigged because the outcome is determined in advance by a central committee. Such a system will almost certainly flounder.

If I flounder, I’d like it to be my choice.

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Quote for the Day – "Get born, keep warm…. Short pants, romance, learn to dance…. Get dressed, get blessed…. Try to be a success…. Don’t want to be a bum, you better chew gum…. The pump don’t work, cause the vandals took the handles…" Bob Dylan

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