I was given a new bike today – the best bike I’ve ever owned… and no, it doesn’t look quite like the image above.

[A note about the image: I took some photos this evening of my new bike, none of which were very good on their own... Tania suggested a photo-collage...]

I’ve been sorta-wanting a bike for a while, not really needing it, just thinking it would be an added value to my life, eliminate some car and gas use, and be a nice way to get around Long Beach, which is slowly moving towards bike-friendliness…

But this last week, a friend said to me as he was helping me move a love-seat up our stairs, “Man, you are out of shape. You need to get some exercise, you need a bike…” and I had to agree.(...)
Read the rest of Come On Wheels, Take This Boy Away… (926 words)

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Tania and I went to the rally at the Federal Court Building in downtown Los Angeles for Charles C. Lynch and for the cause of Medical Marijuana this afternoon.

I had emailed Charles to let him know we going to be there and bringing buttons to give away. The official name for the rally was “Hope for Change” – but I finished hoping on Nov. 5th – Now I’m standing up, as are many others, so we get real change that helps us as patients.

I think our fear and silence has let this nonsense go on for too long. It’s true that some of us will take a hit for standing up, but we’ll all lose if no one stands up. I really believe in medical marijuana, I really believe that marijuana is a gift from God.

I also feel like I have nothing more to say that can add to the debate over marijuana use. Over the last 26 years I’ve heard just about every argument on both sides, and frankly, I’m just tired of it… The truth has been said over and over and ignorance still rules the day.

Here’s some photos that Tania took today at the rally…

Today’s Rally:

The injustice is that Charles C. Lynch, a good community business man, is having to go through this whole stupid trial and everything else just because he choose to be compassionate, stepped forward and helped provided relief for numerous MMJ patients in his area.

But the local sheriff who does not like marijuana being legal for people with chronic illnesses, and apparently believes his opinion matters more than the law and the state constitution he’s sworn to uphold, so he called the DEA in to try and ruin this man’s life…

Here’s a bit from the MPP’s newsletter about Charles’ case:

Charles Lynch operated a medical marijuana dispensing collective in Morro Bay, Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers, that helped more than 2,000 seriously ill patients obtain their medicine in a legal, clean, and safe environment. In March 2007, the facility was raided, and federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents later arrested and charged Charles with five counts of marijuana-related federal crimes.

Charles not only complied with California’s long-standing medical marijuana laws, he was operating under a license issued by the City of Morro Bay and was a well-respected member of the local community. Nevertheless, Charles was treated like a common criminal under draconian federal marijuana laws, and the county sheriff even cooperated with the subversion of state law.

The jury in Charles’ trial was not allowed to hear any information relating to medical marijuana and his compliance with state law. Consequently, on August 5, 2008, Charles was found guilty on all counts.

While President Obama has pledged to end the raids on state-legal medical marijuana providers, that does little to help Charles. He is one several providers still facing federal charges or sentencing from raids during the Bush administration. His sentencing is set for March 23, and if the judge doesn’t show discretion because of Charles’ status under state law he could end up spending the rest of his life in prison.

I made a bunch of buttons over the weekend for the rally that look like this…

I quickly gave away all 120-150 buttons and got to walk around, talk to a few folks… I haven’t been feeling so great (the flu – almost over it now…) so we cut out after a bit. I just wanted everyone to have a souvenir of a moment, a moment when we know we stood for this movement, we stood for Charles, stood for justice, we stood for change…

For those that got a button today – Wear it proudly, proud that you stood up, proud that you’re part of the change, and not just talking about it…and I hope it brings a smile to your face when you a digging through a box of old stuff 20 years from now and find this little button and you remember those crazy days back when marijuana was illegal…

A movement isn’t just a one day event, but a series of steps to reach a goal.

Help Charles C. Lynch reach the goal of staying out of prison and getting back to his life.

Visit his website: (http://www.friendsofccl.com/) and send him a message of support today. On his site are listed a number of ways you can help. On March 23rd he gets sentenced…

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Introduction to Part Two

Welcome to Part Two of an election time allegorical story called STEW, or, How Esau Lost The 2008 Election.

And now for something completely different…

Today we have a semi-epic Biblical drama, Journey to Mesopotamia, to add more ingredients to this stew, and to help us understand the background of our story…

I imagined this drama in what I call “Star-Wars-o-Vision”, an epic and lush George Lucas-esque styling – available in wide screen HD for those of you with a great visual imagination.

Keep in mind all the allegorical imagery from Part One as we move ahead… all the pieces will add up as the story moves along.

Plagiarism Disclaimer: The following story is mostly lifted from Genesis 24:13-67 using the American Standard Version, the New American Standard Version and a few modifications of my own…

A Note on Hebrew Names for God:

Elohim is a Hebrew word for God which means: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural) of the supreme God.

Jehovah is another of the Hebrew word for God which means: self existent or eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God as in, Jehovah, the Lord.

Source – Strong‘s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary.

Journey to Mesopotamia

Scene I: The Oath

Setting: Widescreen view out over a vast desert landscape, bleak, but colorized a bit with some deeper colors to give it the “settling in to an epic story” feel. As the camera scans the desert a great settlement of tents, people and herds comes into view in the valley below… the camera shifts to inside of Abraham’s tent, decorated in early “Raiders of the Lost Ark” style…

Casting notes: Abraham is play by Jack Nicholson in this scene and his servant is played by Morgan Freeman, who is also the narrator, like in “The Shawshank Redemption“…

Abraham’s Servant: Our story begins after Abraham has mourned the death of his beloved wife Sarah…

In that day Abraham was old and advanced in age, and Jehovah had blessed Abraham in every way, but he could see his son Isaac was still heartsick because of his mother’s death.

One day Abraham called me into his tent, because I was his oldest and most trusted servant, and he made me swear an oath

Abraham: I will make you swear by El-Shaddai, the Elohim of heaven and the Elohim of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the Daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you shall go to my country and to my relatives and take a wife for my son Isaac.

Abraham’s Servant: Suppose the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land where you came from?

Abraham [exploding]: Beware lest you take my son back there! El Shaddai, the Elohim of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my birth, and who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying ‘To your descendants I will give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.

But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this my oath; only do not take my son back there.

Abraham’s Servant: So I made an oath with Abraham concerning this matter. He gave me ten camels loaded with a variety of good things and special gifts he gave into my hand, and I left for Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor, the snoring father of civilization, back to the land that my master Abraham had left so long ago.

Scene II: The Well at Nahor

Setting: another view out over a vast desert landscape… the camera moves towards the caravan of ten camels that is coming to a stop at a desert well of water, it is late afternoon…

Abraham’s Servant: When I approached the city of Nahor, and came to the well where the women came to draw the evening water, I made the camels knee down and I dismounted.

I looked around me and made a request to the Jehovah, the Elohim of my master, Abraham.

Abraham’s Servant [inner voice - prayerfully spoken]:

O Jehovah, the Elohim of my master Abraham, send me, I pray thee, success this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham.Behold, I am standing by the fountain of water.

The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water, so let it come to pass, that the girl to whom I shall say, ‘Let down thy pitcher, please, that I may drink.’

And she shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also.’

May she be the one whom thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac. And thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master.

Abraham’s Servant continues: While I was still addressing Jehovah I saw coming towards me a beautiful maiden who I later found out was Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her jar upon her shoulder.

Note on Rebekah’s name: could be translated from the Hebrew as “The clog, the fettering beauty born to the son who was destroyed by God, born of the queen to the snoring brother of Abraham” or something like that…see Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary.

Abraham’s Servant continues: This girl was very beautiful to look at, a virgin, who had not yet been touched for the very first time. She went down to the fountain, and filled her jar, and came up again…

Abraham’s Servant [running to meet Rebekah]: Give me to drink, please, a little water from your jar.

Rebekah [lowering her jar to her hand, and giving Abraham's servant a drink]: Drink.

Rebekah [after Abraham's servant finishes drinking]: I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.

[Rebekah quickly emptied her pitcher into the watering trough, and runs back the well to draw more water, and continued until all the camels had been satisfied.]

Abraham’s Servant [narrating]: All the while I watched her, holding my peace, to know whether Jehovah had made my journey successful or not…

When the camels had finished drinking, I knew in my heart she was the one so I gave her a golden ring for her nose, and ten bracelets for her hands.

Abraham’s Servant [speaking to Rebekah]: Whose daughter are you and is there room in your father’s house for myself, my camels and my men to spend the night?

Rebekah: I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor. We have both straw and feed for your camels, and plenty of room for your men.

Abraham’s Servant [bowing his head - praying]: Blessed be Jehovah, the Elohim of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving-kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Jehovah has led me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.

Scene III: Mesopotamian Material Girl

Setting:  Large settlement with many people carrying on with the daily activities of Mesopotamian people about 3,500 years ago… the camera follows Abraham’s servant (Morgan Freeman) and Rebekah (early Madonna, “Like A Virgin” era) from the well to the house of Laban, the Mesopotamian – Rebekah’s brother (played by Rupert Murdoch in this scene)

Abraham’s Servant [narrating]: I waited as Rebekah ran off to tell her mother’s household.

Now Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Soon I saw Laban hurrying out to meet me by the well, because he had seen the gifts I had given Rebekah and had heard her story.

Laban: Don’t just stand there, come blessed of Jehovah… I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.

Abraham’s Servant [narrating]: So I went with Laban to his house where he unloaded the camels, gave them straw and feed and provided water to wash my feet and the feet of the men that were with me.

After this food was set before us to to eat…

Abraham’s Servant [speaking to Laban]: I will not eat, until I have told my business.

Laban: Speak.

Abraham’s Servant: I am Abraham’s servant, and Jehovah has blessed my master greatly. He has become great and Jehovah has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, many servant, and camels and asses.

Now Sarah, my master’s wife, has bore a son to my master in her old-age, and my master has given his son all he has.

Abraham’s Servant [narrating]: I continued to tell him about my oath to Abraham, my request to Jehovah and my meeting with Rebekah by the well…

Abraham’s Servant [continuing to speak to Laban]: If you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me so. And if not, let me know, so that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.

Laban (with Bethuel at his side): The matter comes from Jehovah, and is not ours to decide whether this is good or bad.

Behold, Rebekah is before you, take her, and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as Jehovah has spoken.

Abraham’s Servant [narrating]: And it came to pass, that, when I heard their words, I bowed down to the earth and worshiped Jehovah.

After this I brought out jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. I also gave to her brother and to her mother precious things. Then we ate and drank until the morning.

Scene IV: Blessing Our Sister Rebekah

Setting:  Same as Scene III, only now it’s the morning after…

Abraham’s Servant [speaking to Laban]: Send me away to my master.

Laban: Let the girl stay with us a few days, at the least ten. After that she can go…

Abraham’s Servant: Do not delay me, seeing Jehovah has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.

Laban: We will call the girl, and ask her.

[Rebekah enters the room]

Laban [speaking to Rebekah]: Will you go with this man?

Rebekah: I will go.

Abraham’s Servant [narrating]: And so they sent back to my master Abraham with Rebekah, their sister, with this blessing:

The Voices of Rebekah’s Kin [5 to 6  voices all speaking together]: May you, our sister, become the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and may your descendants possess the gate of those that hate them.

Scene V: Back To Canaan

Setting: another view out over a vast desert landscape… the camera moves towards a caravan of many camels, it is late afternoon…

Abraham’s Servant [narrating]: Rebekah arose, along with her maids, and they rode upon their camels, following me as I returned to my master Abraham and his son, Isaac.

Isaac lived in the Negev, or the south, along the way of Beer-lahai-roi (which means: the well of a living seer).

While Isaac was meditating in the field one evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and, behold, there were camels coming.

Meanwhile, Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel.

Rebekah [speaking to Abraham's servant]: What man is this that walk in the field to meet us?

Abraham’s Servant: It is my master.

[Rebekah takes her veil, and covers herself. Isaac enters the scene]

Abraham’s Servant [narrating]: When Issac met us, I told him all the things that I had done.

After this, Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and she became his wife and he loved her.

With this, Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

End: Credits Start To Roll…

I hope you enjoyed my Bible story for today… I’ll have Professor Yarnhead here later to help explain some of the allegorical clues from this story.

Note: I was up late on the Monday writing and rewriting and rewriting this piece. I think I caught all my typos… let me know if you find anything I missed.

The Twins Story (the birth of Esau and Jacob) has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Election Day…

Also coming up on the 4th… Greed Stew for Esau and Blind Stew for Isaac.

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Introduction

I am going to try and share a story I haven’t entirely figured out how to piece together yet, but will play out over the next few days…

I’ve watched it over and over in my head this last week… little pieces, little scenes, the same story, different play, same subject, different players….

It’s as if I’ve been watching T.V. – switching from channel to channel, but even as the program changes, the subject is always the same. Esau and Jacob, the 2008 Presidential race and the future…

It’s a story that moves and changes like a dream; like an episode of Monty Pythons Flying Circus or a History Channel documentary, loosely spliced and wandering from free association to free association like a drunken bee in a flower garden.

The Ingredients

STEW: This is a word with several meanings, from (1) cooking food by simmering or low boil to (2) fussing and fretting to (3) suffering the consequences of one’s own actions.

Beginning with the first meaning, let’s see how we go about making this particular stew.

The broth of this stew is “based on a true story” because I’ve lifted it completely from the story of Esau and Jacob in the Bible.

Notes for those following along at home: You can find this story in any standard issue Bible in the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis, ranging from chapters 24 through 27 with extra bonus reading about Esau in Hebrews, chapter 12. Hebrews is one of the books of the New Testament, near the back of the Bible.

More on the broth in a moment, but first…

The STEW Who’s Who

The main ingredients of the story consists of four people…

Esau: The older twin, the big brother, hunter, “man of the fields”, and a rough, hairy man – he’s dad’s favorite. He’s the one who should inherit it all.

He symbolizes the Republicans, the Neocons, the sold-out conservatives hanging on because of sheer loyalty, and, most importantly, “The Religious Right” with a special bonus extra credit shout out to “right wing Christians”, and Christians that call themselves “value voters”…

Esau’s nickname is “Red” and is played by John “Red” McCain.

Jacob: The younger twin. Smooth skinned and a “tent-dweller.” He’s mother’s favorite, ambitious, knows what’s at stake and knows how to get it.

He symbolizes the Democrats, but also symbolizes the future transformation of the USA.

His nickname is “Smooth” and played by Barack “Smooth” Obama.

Isaac: The Second Patriarch in a blessed line of Patriarchs. The Son of Promise that is now an old man going blind and foreseeing his own demise.

He symbolizes the good old US of A. You and me, the vast historical, mythological, cosmic and collective expression of the several centuries of this country we call home.

His nickname is “The Gipper”, and is played by former President Ronald “The Gipper” Reagan in a stunning return from the dead for one last head-shaking performance.

Rebekah: Isaac’s wife. Beautiful, rich and manipulative. She’s the mother of Isaac’s twins, but she prefers Jacob, the younger one.

She symbolizes our Constitution, our Capitalist system and it’s expression through the media (the left-wing media if it makes you feel better) in all it’s glory.

Her nickname is the “Material Girl” and is played by the original Material Girl – Madonna.

God’s Broth – or – the Blessing

Because of the mystical and symbolic nature of the rest of this story, I’m going to have to call in Professor Yarnhead to give us an understanding of the ingredients that have gone into making this broth.

Professor Yarnhead is a self-proclaimed specialist in the field of interpretive Biblical prophecy – always a recession-proof industry.

He is going to try and take us back through the grains of the sands of time…

Visuals: Still images, old-fashioned illustrations and archival clip art floats across the screen here to invoke the feeling of history and antiquity – Otherwise known as “The History Channel Collage Style.”

Professor Yarnhead begins:

It was the time of the Patriarchs, a mysterious time when Man was socially evolving from tribes to nations.

El-Shaddai – also known as God Almighty, had called a descendant from the line of Shem, one of the three sons of Noah, to come out from his family, out from his tribe and lands… and out of this one man, He, El-Shaddai, God Almighty would prepare and bring about the next step for Man.

This man, Abram, followed this call from El-Shaddai and received “The Blessing.”

When Abram received this Blessing, El-Shaddai changed his name to Abraham, which means “Father of Nations” and from this first Patriarch all the nations of the world descended and were blessed.

This Blessing is something we don’t understand anymore, nor do we know the power of El-Shaddai as Abram did…

But this was an earlier time, before many of the mysteries were forgotten, when some people still understood that the Blessing is everything.

This Blessing is not a moral prize which is won by your own virtue. The Blessing of El-Shaddai is the Grand Prize of all the possible prizes in the world, and is a prize of faith.

El-Shaddai gave the Blessing to Abraham because he believed God, and so he also became the Patriarch of western religion and faith.

Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac.

Ishmael was born first, but from Abraham’s wife’s maid Hagar (they did that kind of stuff back then), because Abraham was having trouble waiting for God to get around to doing what he promised to do – give him a son.

Thirteen years later, Sarah, Abraham’s wife got pregnant, and had the Son of Promise – Isaac.

Note: Ishmael and the results of this situation launches a whole other subject that’s too big to go into here…

It was during a traumatic camping trip when Isaac was young that he nearly got sacrificed to El-Shaddai by his father, Abraham, only to be saved by the intervention of an angel from God that pointed out a ram caught in the nearby bushes.

They sacrificed the ram instead, and made some stew… and that stew stuck with Isaac.

Years later, when Isaac had grown, Abraham decided that his son needed a wife, but not one of the local Canaanite girls…

History Flash: Canaanite Women Bad: In the Noah blessing sweepstakes (Genesis 9:25-27), Canaan was the loser, Japheth comes in second and Shem grabs the big prize blessing.

So Abraham sent his most trusted servant back to the birthplace of civilization, Mesopotamia, to find a suitable wife for Isaac from among his relatives. [See Genesis 24]

Setting: Professor Yarnhead fades out…

Well, I think I’ll let this stew simmer overnight and add some more ingredients tomorrow, stir it some more…

Tune in tomorrow for Part 2: Journey to Mesopotamia, The Twins, and more…

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Red Fish, Blue Fish
Which school would you swim with?

Watching the debate last night made me think of this: Whose company would I want to go work for? McCain’s or Obama’s…

McCain Conglomerate (also known as McBush’s Farm): Fuzzy, emotional, fear driven company with an aging Maverick who has mutated into a loose canon and is soon to be replaced by a hockey mom who’s previous job was run by emotion, vindictive firings and gross lies. Wage are low and declining, but they give you a neat flag to wave.

Obama Industries: Fresh, new company with a motivated and dedicated staff on top of the latest technologies and all working on the same page. The CEO is a young organizer who can get things done. Ask him what he is going to do and he will give you a bullet point explanation with no fuzzy edges… and you can read more about the details on his company website. Instead of recycled, failed approaches, this CEO is forward-looking and flexible, ready to meet the unforeseen challenges ahead. Good wages and benefits.

Hmmm… let’s see, work in fear and emotional turmoil and get paid like crap or the company of promise with living-wages and health care?

I’m not walking, I’m running to get a job at Obama’s company… as a matter of fact I think I would camp out the night before just to make sure I was first in line.

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