Thursday, November 27, 2008

BOUNTY OF BLESSINGS

As I slip into a tripophan-induced sleepy haze of pleasant feelings and gratitude, I thought of YOU! and hoped the Thanksgiving you enjoyed was full of turkey and cranberries and sweet potatoes and gravy and music and laughter and . .

. . . . . . . .
PUMPKIN PIE!!!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Egypt's Osirian Triad (Osiris, Isis, Horus)

My first attempt at what you all do so well. It's out of focus and stops long before the story ends lol what a MESS! All offers of help most welcome and appreciated. Yikes I'm a novice. At least the story's good, too bad it ended before I stopped talking!

Friday, November 21, 2008

"The Wine of Autumn"



Under a tree do I love to sit
and peaceably watch as
it's leaves recommit
to colors of proud majesty -
All is Fall for me.

Not the loud winter,
not gentle, as spring,
not harsh as in summer,
not even by some, a noticed thing.

But this we call,
for perfect reason,
Fall.

It explodes in your eyes,
yet offers repose to your soul,
in staring at impossible skies.

Like spring - in a gentle rain of leaves,
Like summer - in the great expanse of trees,
Like winter - in the cooling free breeze,
the wine of Autumn embraces all.

And my joy at its appearance,
for no other season,
can I recall.

Cathy S. Rapicano
October, 2003

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Who's Reading Your Mind Without Glasses?






Could there be a slight chance, one you always suspected, that everything we do is somehow being marked, quantified, measured, noted, recorded, analyzed, and stored away for some unknown future use? And haven't you always kind of thought aliens have nothing to do with it? And haven't you also kind of thought our government feels well-served to keep us thinking aliens are up to something, just to take the focus off them? You know who I mean: our own alphabet agencies spying vigorously on citizens to lure us into thinking they're job is to spy FOR us AGAINST our enemies? If you've lived long enough you've no doubt come to a decision more like the reasonable one - it's in the best interests of those in power to stay that way - and what is most powerful? INFORMATION.





So information is either withheld or so distorted we can't form educated opinions and make sensible conclusions about our leaders and their cronies.





How many times have we been told alien life is hogwash and the delusion of ill minds, while our most brilliant and well-trained pilots, amongst other credible folks, eventually including Presidents, have seen amazing almost impossible visual feats in the air? The government lies to us on purpose for their own gain. If you're hiding secrets of another more dangerous kind, it would make sense to keep the spotlight off your deeds and on such a hot topic as UFOs. It's simple, you just deny deny deny - thay makes normal people think hey - they're lying I know they are, what's really happening in space? After several years of people demanding answers and the initiation of the FIA, we are given "Project Blue Book" which many of you have read years ago, confirming what we alreayd knew, that "other wordly" craft have engaged our own pilots in hostile maneauvers, have been videoed with high-tech equipment, duly poured over and analyzed, and the conclusion is of course, we're not nor have we ever been, alone. That's something to celebrate - but you should instead be worried.





Here's what this is about:





When the focus of what our government is up to gets turned around to something like UFOs, it's easy to forget things like unethical lawmakers in our congress, lobbyists who are owed favors by highly-placed politicians, the illegal tactics of our "watchful" (read spy) agencies, our police and armed forces, but mostly the eroding bit by bit of our civil rights, like our right to privacy in our own homes - did you know it's illegal to smoke in your own home in California? It's there, on the books I checked it out - a waste of time and money, a completely unenforceable law yet there it is. Why?





If you examine the tenets of capitalism it's nothing more than the assurance that the rich and poor stay exactly where they are. Where does this thinking always lead us? Again we're bankrupt because of unchecked greed, again the ones who'll pay the most will be those who have the least: the workers. The poor. There is no middle class.





If you truly believe none of your civil rights as voting taxpayers have been jeopardized in the last half-century alone, none of this should bother you. The stealing of your hard-won retirement funds being used to bail-out millionaire bankers won't bother you. The social security benefits you won't get at 67 because the SSA is broke won't bother you. A country slipping into third-world status won't bother you, and that's okay too. We've been brought up to think as long as we're okay, life is fine. Is it? Is life acceptable? Is life fine?


LIFE IS NOT FINE







WE'VE GOT TO FIND A WAY TO PRAY THAT SOMEHOW WE UNDERSTAND WE'RE BEING USED AND LIED TO, THAT PEOPLE PROFIT ON WARS, THAT WARS MAKE STARVING PEOPLE, AND THAT OUR WORLD NEEDS TO HEAL.

















FIRST ORGANIC MOLECULE DISCOVERED

You are happily looking at an artist's conception of an amazing discovery, nothing less than a step toward discovering life on other planets: Hubble has discovered the first organic molecule that's not of our sol-system. The compoud discovered is methane, a integral part of the chemical reactions needed to form life, as we know it. This is taking us further and further along - beam me out there, Scotty.


The discovery was was made on a planet called HD189733b, the size of Jupiter, and only 63 light years from us in a constellation called Vulpecula. Hubbble confirms the existence of water molecules in the planet's atmosphere, a discovery made by Spitzer in 2007. Water in its air.


It's a hot one, about 1700 degress F, too hot for life as we know it (so far!) but what this really means is that chemicals needed for life on earth can more likely be found on other more earth-life planets, somewhere in the galaxy ....


As if we didn't know.




Monday, November 10, 2008

MAGIC IN THE MOON


Luna is making up for October, in a wondrous magical display for us this month. Unlike my former posts where I simply describe phases and cycles, I thought I'd tell you the ancient meanings held for eons about this time of year and how Luna affects us now. Did you know the Mayan year begins on November 13th? It ushers in a powerful Sun in Scorpio full moon. Yes, the Mayans.


I should've posted this earlier, so no point in telling you what's already happened. Shame, Cathy. Getting lazy maybe? Just old.

The Moon shines low this month, below the goddess of love, Venus. Like a lens she magnifies all she draws near. Any month that begins with Venus conjunct (united with) the Moon is given over to LOVE. Open your heart, harmonize your relationships! This is the time for it.

It's a time for transformation, as well. The Celtic New Year began October 31st and ended November 7th, when the Sun reached midpoint Scorpio. For those who put stock in the stars, this time brings changes made easily by use of fire clearing the way. This is ancient belief we can either benefit from or let be forgotten with time. But this is when the soul is liberated. Whether by candlelight, hearth, or bonfire, the use of fire to change us at this special time is etched in magic and ancient ritual, still used today. Patterns will transform by gazing into the smoke of the fire and deep breathing. This is what our forebears did, and they knew quite a bit about the magic of the cosmos.


The Sun in Scorpio Full Moon will be Novem
ber 11-15 (exact November 13, 7:17 a.m. EST) The symbolism is the Moon celebrating its victory over death by transformation, and people use this time to light candles, meditate, dance.

An "out of bounds" North Moon is what we'll see November 13-16, 5:01 a.m. 11/13 and 2:03 a.m. 11/17. It is the time when the imagination is free to roam and "speak", people become more open-minded, and enter a higher world. New ideas are more easily shared, it is a time to make announcements and bring discoveries to light.

The Balsamic Moon appears November 23-25. It is called the "make a wish" Moon because it is
cosmically the best time to put you wishes "on the air" when you speak them to the night sky.

The Dark of the Moon appears November 26-28. This is the time for inner reflection, looking within. It is not a good time for outdoor activity - best the stay inside and meditate, gaining insight and wisdom through quiet reflection.

The "out of bounds" South Moon now appears from November 26-December 1st, 12:27a.m. 11/26 and 8:14 a.m. 12/1. This is the time to "go beneath the surface" do research, change habits, renovate our inner world. You may experience emotional challenges relating to any part of your life where you are hiding from yourself, or blocked off in some way from being free.

The Crescent New Moon appears November 28-December 2, and will be easily seen by Mars and Mercury. It is a time to sow. On November 30th the waxing crescent shines low beneath Venus and Jupiter. This is a very bright omen for the coming month, favorable for new beginnings, new ideas - especially from November 29-December 12.

All in all, November's Luna tells u
s this is the time for warmth in friendship and love, closeness in family, friends and new ideas. You may feel an urge to light candles or go outside and look up at the universal mysteries guiding our lives. Obey your urges, they are usually right anyway.





DEATH AS "PENALTY"

This may seem a rather long and ponderous repost of an old subject, which it is, but I just can't get enough opinions about this impossible topic, which is destined to always be disagreed over. Take a moment and ponder what seems insane in this day and age. Try to read each word. Then tell me about it. Thanks.

Originally posted 9/16-06


"CAPITAL PUNISHMENT"

"THE DEATH PENALTY"

If I were being punished or penalized, it would mean I'd be taken to task in hopes my deed won't be re-committed by me. If you kill me, you're assured I'll never do it again, but I'd be DEAD so that's no good. If I killed your friend or relative or someone you don't know or ANYONE AT ALL, please explain the logic in killing me? I can put it in scientific terms, even visceral ways, any old way; but the simplest seems the best: Why is killing the answer to stopping killers? Some say, "Well at least HE won't kill again." Right, and how many times have we said that, and how many MORE? Every time someone is murdered by the State? "At least those 50,000 won't kill again!" He's DEAD and the reason he's dead is because he made someone ELSE dead and it CONFOUNDS me, am I simple? What did I miss?? Isn't killing wrong, morally, ethically, though some say it's instinctual well, yes perhaps in war that instinct is necessary to survive, but isn't the idea of plotting and stalking for the sake of eventually capturing and killing just wrong? Other animals stalk, capture and kill so they can survive. We don't need to, we have supermarkets to acquire our needs, we're evolved (ha).

Our presently sitting Supreme Court says capital "punishment" is legal, but leaves it to each State's discretion whether or not to kill. Texas, Florida and California lead the way in what I call State-sanctioned murder. It's clean, but it's not quick. It's orderly, but it's not painless. I'll explain that further on. I know the thinking is "Why shouldn't these vermin be tortured before dying anyway?" I leave it to you to answer that in your own heart. As I say, for me it's beyond reason.

In the forensic/legal world, we have a saying: "L-WOPPED" and if a Judge L-wopps you, bend over and kiss the world goodbye. It means "Life without the possibility of parole" and is there any reason we can't keep our own laws and USE this sentence, making SURE these killers are never freed? For true killers I say use it more often, stop this 25 to life nonsense - that amounts to approximately 8 years, less with good behavior. If you take a life, you should forfeit your freedom. But no one has a right to forfeit your life. That's why you're in prison, that's what YOU did, you took life, which is wrong, and it's either wrong ALWAYS or it doesn't work. Some things are just wrong and they'll ALWAYS be wrong and I believe taking another's life is one. That includes the State.

As for amenities, no amount of cable or basketball or air-conditioning can detract from the reality of losing your freedom for the rest of your life, and not always naturally. (Besides, death row inmates don't get any of that). You WILL die in prison either by violence or old age. If you hurt a child, you're put into protective custody because every con wants a piece of you. Every condemned prisoner spends 23 HOURS A DAY in a 6 by 8 foot cell, they're allowed exactly ONE HOUR a day for shower, and walking in a circle on the roof with several armed guards watching. It's during those times someone can slit your throat, as the guards either watch or turn their backs. Everyone hates a killer, especially when it involves children and mothers. But if we decide to kill the killers, we are .... what? Carrying out justice? Or vengeance. Why are WE not then killers, and isn't it just that simple? Yes, the State is carrying out the Death Warrant signed by the Governor which is law, so you might decide "Well, we're obeying the law". But these are man's laws, they change, morality shouldn't. We have to PROgress not REgress in our evolution. We need to better understand what we now can't control. In the meantime, lock them down for good. A LIFE SENTENCE SHOULD NOT BE GIVEN UNLESS YOU'RE PREPARED TO CARRY IT OUT AND KEEP THAT PERSON LOCKED AWAY FROM SOCIETY FOR THEIR NATURAL LIFE. You don't have to do what they did: kill. Segregate and study them, for heavens sake. As Freud said, "A man with no conscience is hardly human and may be a separate species altogether. Our conscience is what makes us human."

The same man who built Florida's present "Old Sparky" also concocted the so-called "painless" lethal injection. There is no such thing, and forensic evidence bears this out. As for electrocution:

This is basically cooking someone from the inside out. Like microwave. The protocol for the total amount of electricity used is 5,000 volts in 2 separate shocks. The first shock of 2500 volts is meant to paralyze. It does not. Although semi-comatose, the condemned can feel. How do we know this? Read on. The second 2500 volts is meant to stop the heart, which it usually does, otherwise a third shock is administered. Between shocks, a Doctor carefully checks the condemn's heart, and must wear gloves with his stethescope because the body is intensely hot. Smoke is seen from the cross copper plating surrounding the man's head and right leg (used for grounding, in order to complete the cycle of electric flow). How many times this procedure has gone wrong would definitely startle you. (These are things mainstream Americans never hear, and it's because they'd "rather not". But a jury of those same citizens can vote for death, so why not have them as witnesses to the execution? If you never see one, you shouldn't have the right to inflict it by virtue of your jury vote.) I digress. Now, there's a sponge used under the cap meant to help the conduction of electricity but it must be natural sea-sponge. Once, a guard was sent to purchase more when they ran low, and unknowingly bought synthetic ones. The first man to endure the infernal consequences was Jesse Cordero in Starke, Florida, and his shaved head caught fire. His flesh. Flames emanated from his skull. I know, you may be thinking, well so what he deserved it. But how do you justify torture? If you plan to kill someone, just do it. I never heard of a Judge ordering "tortured until you WISH you were dead, then we'll try and kill you off properly." Here is some forensic evidence of how we've come to understand that one is still very much aware after the first shock: EVERY person who is killed by this method has an autopsy done, and in many cases the Medical Examiner finds that the bladder still contains urine, which can only happen if the prisoner had use of his muscles and contracted them so as to prevent loss of control. Eventually he does. If urine is found in the bladder it means it was expelled while the person was alive and conscious, he had to be aware enough to contract his muscles. So he felt it. I know, you're thinking "So what, the bastard deserved it". Again I leave you to ponder your reason for chosing torturous death over justice.

Lethal injection, once again forensics bear out the serious pain endured. Have you ever closely looked at the gurney? Most times they're hidden in pictures, but each one has several heavy leather straps, meant for the sternum, chest, torso, pelvic area, arms, legs, feet and even neck area. Why would they need straps like that, if he's being "peacefully put to sleep"? Have you never considered this? I have, I researched it all in the 1990s, and courtesy of "The Execution Protocol" this is what happens:

Three drugs are used to kill the condemned. After a line is opened with saline, the first drug is Sodium thiopental, which is meant to render the killer unconscious. He can still, of course, experience feeling.

The second is the worst, most painful: Pancuronium bromide. This will paralyze the muscular system, making speech and movement impossible. The killer is now being suffocated, asphyxiated, and cannot utter a word nor barely move a muscle. You are completely aware but unable to utter a sound. The normal reaction of any of us is to fight and struggle against being suffocated, that's where the heavy straps come into play. Another reason is so the "audience" is lead to believe the condemned feels no pain since they don't see a fight for life, our instinctual reaction. The truth is there is a very high level of pain, which of course makes many all the happier, and I understand that. If some monster killed my little granddaughter, my grief would turn to anger and I'd want to make him eat his own intestines. Since I can't, I'd surely want revenge, vengeance, but eventually I'd need justice. This may not go over well, but as many families have done I'd plead against sentencing DEATH as punishment during my "VIS" (victim impact statement) because no matter how much I'd want to skin this creep alive, I know I'm the last person to assign what his punishment should be, since that was my grandchild. Leave me alone with him for 2 minutes, I'd say, because my instinct would be to rip his throat out. I'd feel better after satisfying my baser instincts, but only for an hour. It doesn't last, there's no such thing as closure, there's NEVER closure when you lose a loved one to a predator. The answer, I believe, is to L-WOPP him and MEAN it, LIFE IN PRISON. If it's law, enforce it please! Besides now that we know sociopathy exists, why regress back to torture and death as "punishments".

The third is Potassium chloride, which induces cardiac arrest and the man dies from the combination of suffocation and heart seizure or stoppage. No one "goes to sleep". That's what we save for our pets, when we euthanize them. For that we use phenobarbitol so they fall asleep without pain. One injection, one easy death. Why can't we use our vast collective minds in the forensic sciences and medicine to find a more humane way to kill the killers, if kill we must? Again, I know, you may be thinking why bother.

None of this is about the prisoners, not about what they did. We all know what we find reprehensible and indefensible. A defense attorney is NOT there to defend a killer but to FORCE the prosecution into doing its job. They failed in the OJ Simpson case. This is why people should understand defense attorneys better - if they don't bring up all the cracks and questions in the State's case, the prosecution certainly won't! Case dismissed.

No, what this is about is public policy. Someday we may evolve a tendency to include ethical values and morally intuitive issues, but until then our prisons are left overcrowded with simple pot growers, and our death rows are crammed with killers some States can't afford to execute, and other they can't kill fast enough. Oh I could list all the innocent men who died at the hands of the State, but we all know that happens. We all know innocents were killed and those who came so close before DNA and genome sequencing became so specialized and individual. But it will always confound me - if I tell a child who's written a bad word on the blackboard, "Now go and write that word on every blackboard in the school" how would I explain this helps him learn anything? I couldn't because it doesn't. Capital "punihsment" is the same thing. Explain to a child that killing is wrong, then tell him why we kill certain people. That child will see right through such facile arguments.

Someone might proffer: "Well Cathy, isn't shutting someone up for life immoral and unethical?" I can only say it's preferable to a "nice clean murder". It costs taxpayers a million dollars for every year they keep one man on death row. The State of Florida had to cough up $8 million to execute Theodore Cowell (Bundy). It costs under $30,000 to keep a man imprisoned for life. Some would rather die than watch their lives drip away, little by little, see themselves age in the reflection of other prisoners, knowing they'll never leave that place, never walk down a street or into a diner. You want torture? Don't you think somone has no peace, having his Death Warrant brought before the Governor every 6 months, never knowing if THIS time he'll sign it? And I picture an island I do, a place so far out in the mid-ocean that one gets there only by helicopter. The waters are shark-infested, some Pacific area I think. Walled in completely, a literal colony of the damned. This was worked to success in history several times before, and many good decent Australians can trace their ancestry back to Botany Bay prisoners. I mean an Island of Doom, that's it. You kill someone, you forfeit your right to live amongst people who prefer to stay alive. You're separated from any society and when you arrive, there are no amenities waiting. If you want to eat, you grow your food. Want shelter, build it. Who knows what could come of such an experiment now, but something has to be found to replace death for death, I believe.


Thursday, November 6, 2008

Who Would Ever Want To Be King?

To be fair, I'd look tired too. It's understandable considering what our President-Elect is faced with - he won't have the typical honeymoon of most PE's. But he wanted the job, felt he could do it, now he's got it. I'm hopeful about his goals. But let's see what he's up against:

Rampant financial panic in all areas of investment and savings.
Loss of trust in our institutions.
Loss of trust in
our elected leaders.
Continuing corruption
in the halls of justice.
True democracy never practiced in this country.
No jobs, no salaries to su
pport a family.
No health care.

3rd-rate education.
Money bleeding out of this country into an illegal war.
Who need go on ....

If you do nothing, it means you really don't mind how things are.

You don't mind that your savings have been jeopardized and your taxes will explode.
You don't mind that many will pay nothing while you pay double for the same thing.
It doesn't bother you that your kids in college will have to use the lottery system to vie for jobs.
You don't see a problem with perpetual inflation (it's made to go on forever, like fiat currency and debt creation)
It doesn't concern you that America
n is a 2rd-world country fast becoming a 3rd.


To change what we need done takes the fire and commitment we once saw decades ago. When something works against you, it seems your responsibility to stand up and fight it. Be counted as someone who won't follow along like sheeple anymore. Yet unfortunately, I don't see it happening, and worse, I can count myself amongst the guilty of today.
  • People are content as long as they have theirs.
  • Most don't want to be seen as "unpatriotic" by asking for a better way, so they remain quiet.
  • We pay for overpriced goods because no one wants to picket the stores and complain in public, en masse.
  • We wait hours in emergency rooms because we can't afford medical insurance and are willing to accept that.
  • We send our children to what we know is probably a 3rd rate education because no one can afford to pay teachers what they deserve. (We could if we made sacrifices)
  • We let the obscenely rich oil conglomerates hold back on the R&D needed to implement all the alternative energy sources at our disposal, ready to be utilized, but gathering dust.
Once, we tried solutions for similar woes. If you're over 50 this may sound familiar:

+The YIP Party (yippies) Youth Independent Party
+SDS (Students for a Democratic Soc
iety)
+Boycotting grocery stores who sold grapes picked by low-paid striking workers, same with lettuce, et als.
+Marching on Washington to end an illegal war
+Ousting a President who planned on continuin
g it.
+Picketing the ROTC building on campus.
+Forming local self-help groups to feed, clothe and shelter ANY one without waiting for a government to care.

+Getting out and being counted.

Not all of us did these things but those who did remember that yes, change was, IS, possible. You have to want it so much it fires your every word, every action, every thought. Today, I see more apathetic people than ever before, people content to allow themselves to be used by the governing elite, the overly-rich, those who aren't content with their own, they want yours too. And they'll wave the flag in your face to get it. This isn't democracy.
So PE Obama now has an unprecedented chance to see out his promises: 95% of Americans get a tax break. More jobs being created by the influx of new housing investors. A slow "drawdown" of troops from Iraq. No tax-hike (I don't expect that one, and it's okay, we need to make sacrifices now). I want to see a politician keep at least one of his promises.







Sunday, November 2, 2008

Day Of The Dead


Celebrating and recalling our dead is a proclamation to LIFE would you not agree? Don't we speak to our loved ones, departed from their earthly shackles and shame, now on another plane, a dimension far beyond our comprehension? Deep in your secret heart, are you not happy for their victory?
I know I talk to those I've lost to the next life.
Not lost to death.
To the NEXT LIFE.

The next step.
And today 11-2 is All Soul's Day, a time to celebrate the glory of the lives gone on ahead of us. Not death. It is not for a fool's use, not for a religious scheme. Although it has its origins in the catholic faith, many varied ways of celebrating this feast have long departed from the standard religious "prayerful" tradition.
Today people gather to make skulls from candy, bring baskets of fruit to the cemetery in offering and joy as they remember those they l
ove, they dress up and in some places special caves are kept where the skulls of ancestors are kept, in proper decorum. A far cry from the Western view of a dead body, eh?
I like this one better.
My loved ones were not the s
um of their bodily parts. They had emotions and ideas. They had LOVE. They had LIFE. And this is the day I intend to honor that life.