The Chinese Mind

A book report

‘The Chinese Mind; Confucius to Sun Yat-sen‘

By Gun-Hsing Wang

Asia Press JD NY 1946

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Table of Chapter Contents

1. Chinese Cultural Founders / 500 BC

A. Confucius and Social Schools

B. Laotzu and Taoist Philosophy

C. Motzu, Kuan-Chung, Sun-Wu

2. Confucian Culture Shift

Chin, Shih-huang-ti, Chu-Hsi, Wang Yang-ming

3. Modern Ching School / 1644-1911

A. Manchu Conquest

B. Dr. Sun Yat-sen – Chinese Republic Founder

C. Appraisal

Preface

A story of Chinese thought from Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, over 25 centuries. Includes history, sinology, philosophy, and cultural traditions.

Intro

WW2, Occident, UN

This book was written by a Chinese author in 1946 who considered China part of the Orient and called it the Celestial Empire in places. He believed we must make the best of our shared World, and that means negotiating differences for our best benefits.

I. Birth of Chinese Thought

Humanism determined Chinese traditions, as moral concepts were integrated into all aspects of life in societies and civilization. In politics Art and Technique (Chi) are both important, because virtue is better than efficiency. In military science Chinese believe that love, faith, and trust are superior to weapons and warriors. Religious value is determined by good achieved. Literature is judged by moral lessons it contributes to readers. The spirit of Nature (Tao) is most “the way” in Art. The Chinese nation was founded eons ago on the banks of the Yellow River.

II. Confucian School

Confucius / 551-478 BC

“The way of the Great Learning is to make the virtues shine; to teach and encourage people to strive for good till supreme good is reached.” – Tseng-Tzu

Tseng-Tzu was a contemporary of Confucius, circa 500 BC.

‘Tzu’ is a title meaning “Master”, applied to many teachers.

Confucius did not invent philosophy, but he is one of the greatest philosophers known.

Confucius is the Great Sage for all ages. He compiled all ancient writings, histories, records, and folklore. Confucius chose ideas from his archives to incorporate into his own philosophy dedicated to social wisdom for common practice of manners and psychological perspectives.

In the time of Confucius the emperor’s authority was limited to the capitol, because China was divided into hundreds of feudal kingdoms, with dukes and princes. The lords fought each other for more control, so harsh war was constant. Morality was less important than loyal obedience to social and family systems.

Confucius was a government official, but traveled and became a teacher. As a scholar Confucius focused on editing. His aristocratic family were servants to lesser nobility. He was a retainer class who helped collect taxes, and kept cattle.

Confucius represented traditional conservatives, and thus was popular to those servants who respected authority and authorities who wanted respect. Old money and war mongers liked his values for using in their propaganda, probably similar to how Plato and Aristotle were used by the upper ruling class.

The Confucian Golden Rule

Sharing goods leads to prosperity.

The goal of Chinese democracy is this goal of equality. Dr. Sun Yat-sen founder of the Chinese Republic, quoted the ancient Book of Rites: “When the Golden Rule shall finally prevail, the world will belong to all. We will elect virtuous capable leaders. There will be mutual trust and neighborliness. People will not only love their own families, but every one will care for each other. There will be plenty of shared commodities of less need for ownership. Conspiracies and disorders will reduce as crimes will be less due to strong communities. This is the Golden Rule.”

Confucius’s grandson Tzu-Szu called the Golden Rule “The Great Learning”.

“The way of the Great Learning is to make virtues shine, by teaching and encouraging good goals until the supreme good is reached.” – Tzu-Szu

Shu = reflective love or same heart

Shu is the sustaining virtue of the world society. Love and knowledge are the basis for the Golden Rule. Shu is consistent with conscience. It contains both yin and yang, as the Golden Rule has both “do” and “do not” versions (Silver Rule), or sides to it.

III. Wang Yang-ming / 1472-1528 AD

material knowledge, bamboo garden meditation

IV. Mencius / 372-289 BC

Mencius was the founder of Chinese democracy.

Mencius preached peace and political wisdom based on ancient virtues, but no one in power in his circles agreed with him, so he retired to study Confucius privately. Mencius studied under a disciple of the grandson of Confucius, and became almost as saintly as Confucius. Mencius taught democracy and personal values. Not because people tend to be bad, but because being good is natural for humanist society. Bad things happen, but we can choose to find solutions, like finding or growing good food.

Mencius lived in the native Province of Confucius.

Age of Golden Rule / 2357-2255 BC

King Yao the Good said “Heaven listens to the population.”

Yi doctrine is the moral duty to pursue virtue, because it is a moral force of power.

Kao-tzu said “Human nature is flowing water, it can be made to move in different directions, because it is flexible, neither good or evil.”

Mencius disagreed saying “But water does not flow up. As water flows down, we tend towards good. If we go against our nature or universal nature, like water we will rebel and course correct.

Su-Wu / 140-60 BC

Su-Wu was ambassador to Tartars. He held back invastion by Yi diplomacy. Kublai Khan grandson of Genghiz Khan led the Mongol hordes who occupied China. Su-Wu was tortured in a Mongolian prison and exiled to Siberia. His loyalty served the Celestial Empire.

V. Hsuntzu / 360 BC

Hsuntzu was a practical Confucian

He said “We should practice thrift and enrich our sources of wealth. Our way is to move, learn, and work. It is ok if we take longer in competition, but we can reach goals with more steps or slower steps in our own time. Activity is key to good work.

VI. Taoist School

Laotzu / 570-460 BC Philosopher of Taoist Mysteries

Taoism enables us to concentrate our mind by simplification, let things go, live with less worry, and enjoy more. Laotzu’s thoughts were recorded in a book called ‘Tao-te-Ching‘ or ‘On The Infinite Way’ with 8 chapters.

Szu-ma Chien wrote “Laotzu studied the infinite way of the Universe. He lived in the Chow Kingdom, but left as it fell. He wrote his book upon a request by a border guard, to document his wisdom for others. Then Laotzu vanished across the border.”

Although Laotzu was Atheist, he was adopted by the traditional religion of China, Taoism, to compete with the popularity of imported Buddhism. In 100 BC China had unity, and allowed for philosophy. Doing nothing in praise of ‘oneness’ was popular. Passivity was popular and found in both Buddhism and Taoism, but Confucianism was secular and so prioritized politics over religion. The two Chinese religions also both offered after-life theories and miracles. Mystery is appealing to many, if it is not too confusing or difficult.

Taoist alchemicists wrote books on magical potions to aid clients. Chang Daoling sold spells to cure bad spirit sickness. Mongols conquered China in 200 AD, and were tolerant of Taoism. Confucius had ethics to harmonize human relations, despite ethnic differences. Laotzu disagreed that complex society could solve its own complex problems with adding more rules. By making things overly complicated we can make things worse, but the key is simply finding and following the best path or way for us. Laotzu proposed we rely less on people for enlightenment. If we follow natural tendencies, we worry less. Human complexity confuses us along the way, and leads to suffering (as in Buddhism), but being aware of what is deep vs what is superficial is wise. Society has too many false illusions for ethics to calculate justice. Even material reality is not what it seems, because of its cosmic scale. Humans are not so different from other animals or other cosmic units like raindrops or trees. Yes we can think and move, but we are not independent of natural laws. We are like grains of sand, but the Tao is all, including the wind and waves that we cannot control as tiny individuals.

Tao cannot be seen, heard, or felt as material objects. Tao is timeless and spaceless. Tao had no beginning and has no end, it is truly immortal beyond the Universe. Tao creates all things. Tao has 4 phases: normalcy, naturalness, selflessness, and nothingness.

Special or super people are not more important to the Tao than average people due to their mass as masses. Rare beauty is un-Tao-ly to venerable philosophers. The more extra-ordinary, the more ugly to the majority, who have Tao standards that are reasonable when based on natural functions. Extremes are not normal for the Tao. Moderation is the best way to sustain existence, following general laws of nature. Even a “virtuous few” elites divide humanity. To unite humans with Tao, we must accept common normality as prevalent, even as trees lose their leaves in the Fall. What we think is virtue, is not always true. The wise can be hypocrites in many ways, despite being wise in some important ways. Consistency is more true for rocks, than for people who tend to be fickle and are most certainly fleeting.

VII. Motzu / 468-390 BC

Universal Love – Motzu / Mozi / Mohi / Micius Mo Di

List of Mohist virtuous acts (there are other versions of his doctrines):

1. Rescue the weak, care

2. Resolve fights

3. Abhor aggression

4. Advocate diplomacy to disarm

5. Work for the world

6. Be thrifty and practical

7. Respect religion, moderately

8. Be useful, just do it

9. Find the logical pattern

10. Treat others as equals

Motzu opposed the Confucian concept of destiny, because hard work and love can change our luck or fortunes. He also disputed the Confucian practicality of loving relations in relative degrees, in favor of universal love or loving everyone the same. He was born the same year that Confucius died (479 BC), in the same birthplace of Lu.

VIII. Kuan-Chung / Guan Zhong / 720-645 BC

New Life Movement – Earthly concerns of society

Bureaucracy for the Basics of Life: Food, Clothing, and Shelter

Chiang Kai-shek advocated the New Life basics in 1934. Kuan-Chung said it takes courage to demand the basics of life from hateful critics and selfish leaders, but it must be done for survival in society. We are not in the wild anymore, so to be useful we must first have the basics; not subject to whims or random opinions of what is useful. Popular opinions are fickle, so the basics should not be up for voting or denied by dictators.

Zhong was Chancellor under Duke Huan of Qi, who argued that lack of virtue does not harm a ruler’s ability to rule. Confucius was critical of him for his luxury and ignorance. However morality was included in his tenets, and he did help his hegemon to be more virtuous or at least polite. He bypassed aristocrats using central hegemony.

Zhong 4 Tenets: Propriety, Morality, Purity, Honor

Fa-Chia for legal governing. legislative philosophy. civilized logic. more materialist than moral. concern for business profits made him more Capitalist than Confucian. His priority of living standards made him more Communist than Confucian also.

IX. Sun-Wu / Sun-Tzu / 722-481 BC

Master of War, founded Chinese military strategy schools

222 wars during Spring-Autumn period

‘Methods of Warfare’ 13 volumes

war is bad but has no fair rules, expect those imposed on losers.

loyalty is a key to success. war has keys to success, which are concepts for victory and winning strategies. “know your enemy defeating them. defeat them if possible before battles, but if battle must happen then destroy their will to fight to end violence and have peace instead of war, as war is too unpredictable for power and horrific for all sides.”

war is serious life and death of China (might not have been called China then).

Strength is security, but when not stronger than an enemy hide and strike when they are weakest. Hold in high ground for advantage.

5 types of Spies: native, elite, reverse, dumb, and daring

X. Ch’Ln Shih-Huang-Ti / 259-210 BC

Totalitarian despotic rule. no true expression, severe punishments were so bad that the period serves as a warning to Chinese culture. It resulted in Confucian revival to counter the damage to societies. The dictator was beheaded.

XI. Confucian Revival

Han Dynasty with districts

respect for peace and scholars. meant gov. representation. rational religion. celestial empire. 1314 scholar rule restored, after Mongols.

XIII. Chu Hsi / 1130-1200 AD

Chu Hsi was a Confucian author

He wrote 121 booklets of essays on Confucius and had many students

North China was invaded by Chin Manchurians.

XIV. Wang Yang-Ming / 1472-1528 AD

Individualism

Inborn goodness gives us fortitude. Greatness grows with hardships.

Wang experienced terrible exile, and chose to fortify peace of mind. When times are tough, we prove ourselves. Understanding reasons is a key to wisdom.

Unobstructed omnipotent natural love is a key to happiness and a better world.

CHINESE NEW ERA

XV. Manchu Conquest 1644 AD

XVI. Dr Sun Yat-Sen – founder of Chinese Republic / died in 1925

“Struggle For Peace”

XVII. Sun Yatsenism

Chinese political blueprint for Reconstruction

General Chiang Kai-shek promised to carry out plans of basic principles.

1917 Democratic Process Guide. 1918-21 Sun’s theory for Industry.

XVIII. Appraisal

Western Stages of Psychological Reaction to China

1. Excited about interesting stereotypes

2. Disappointment of harsh realism of human flaws

3. Spiteful hatred of China, then slow reluctant Love. but this is a social mirror common for human nature for any subject of study.

China does not want wars, civil or foreign.

We want Democracy for economic well-being of masses.

There are reasons to justify Chinese pride.

[End of book summary]

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SCOD Books At Local Bookstores

SCOD Books produced by Drogo Empedocles and friends have been consigned and sold at local book stores over the years. Book stores have long struggled to exist, even before the digital era; but some times in some places, some books are able to be stored and sold locally. There may be a few stores we are not aware of or do not remember, but since our first books ‘Harpers Ferry Houses’ and ‘Hopper’s Furry’ a few friendly places will be remembered.

Bruce McKim was a book dealer who mainly sold books online, but he bought thousands of dollars of used books from locals, and some SCOD collections were among his purchases. What was so great about Bruce was that he bought our books, without any middle stage of consignment. The benefit of buying instead of consigning, is no need to check back between parties, and the buyer keeps all the profits when they resell the books. Tragically Bruce died during the Covid-19 pandemic under mysterious circumstances and unfortunate events.

The Harpers Ferry NPS Bookstore downtown accepted an entire box of ‘Harpers Ferry Houses’ books on consignment, but failed to sell any; and returned the box to author Walton Stowell. Apparently the book was not appealing to tourists, nor seen by anyone who would be interested in the book like the dozens who bought it online or in person during and after that period. Despite the Stowell family being dedicated and loyal to the National Park Service, the NPS related bookstore was unable to support their business locally.

During the 1980s and 1990s there were independent bookstores downtown in Harpers Ferry for tourists, run by different merchants. None of them lasted into the 2000s, so there is danger with consignment as the owners can leave town with your unpurchased products (it happened). There were some friendly locals who bought SCOD books though since then, and such relations are vital. Lina Rago is the main SCOD book partner, as her books make a half of all books sales on average annually.

SCOD books had allies in the Boonsboro Museum, who not only aided in the republishing of one of their antique books, but also bought loads of copies of various SCOD books!!! The title of the book produced with the museum was ‘Friend In Need’, and it sold very well immediately and still sells copies today. SCOD books were also placed at the famous Nora Roberts bookstore in Boonsboro, but they were flooded with other local authors, and not as interested as they were keeping too many consignment deals with other authors there, so Drogo Empedocles reclaimed the collection of SCOD books. The manager did say that if SCOD books published any Romances, they would be more interested in selling those since that is the theme of most of the Nora Roberts franchise.

Bob O’Connor is a local author and friend of SCOD books, and he suggested asking ‘Fuzzy Dog Books and Music’ store in Charles Town about their policies for used books and local authors. Sara the owner of the store was very nice and accepted 12 SCOD books on consignment, and sent photos showing the books on display at her store. Kindness like that is valuable financially on a personal level, and economically when practiced at some scale nationally.

[more later]

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‘Peace With Honour’ Summary

The famous author of Winnie-the-Pooh wrote a book about peace.

‘Peace With Honour; An Enquiry Into the War Convention’

1934 by A.A. Milne

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Quote from Preface to the 4th edition –

“With one general criticism I shall deal here. It received its most characteristic expression from Mr. Hugh Kingsmill in the English Review, who wrote :

‘ The aim of this book is to convince mankind that war is both wicked and silly. Where Tolstoi, a wrathful prophet, failed, it is unlikely that Mr. Milne, an irritable publicist, will succeed.’

Well, one does one’s best. It was the aim of Christ to convince mankind of the truths of Christianity, and the fact that He failed does not prevent humble men from following His footsteps. It was the aim of Galileo to convince mankind that the world moved round the sun. He failed; but irritable school-masters preach his gospel not unsuccessfully. In short, the world does move, and Mr. Kingsmill’s curious belief, that any idea which Plato failed to get into an Early Briton’s head is for ever outside the range of human thought, has only a personal significance.

…

‘ After all, what can one man do ?’ The moralist would answer that at least a man cannot do less than he can. A writer can write, even if he cannot write as well as Tolstoi ; even if he is only a professional humorist or an irritable publicist ; even if, as an American critic reminds him, the Peace for which he writes will be ‘ a peace (we are surprised Milne did not observe this) without royalties to authors of books against war .”

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Quote from Chapter 1: War

“IN the summer of 1914 an Austrian archduke was killed at Serajevo , under , it was said, Servian auspices. Austria’s honour , she was a bigger country than Servia, demanded that she should seek what is called satisfaction. Servia agreed to make certain of the obeisances and motions of humility suggested to her, but rejected certain others. Complete satisfaction being necessary to the honour of Austria , no course was left to her but the forcing of these other obeisances upon the smaller country. The force applied led directly to the killing of ten million men who were not archdukes , and, directly or indirectly , to the deaths of uncounted thousands of women and children. Even so , how-ever , the object remained unachieved. The further obeisances were not made, and four years later Austria was still incompletely satisfied. . . .

That is the story, told as concisely as possible, of The Great War. I invite my readers to give it their attention. “

[He goes on to explain his view of the ‘War To End All Wars’, and why the horror that all corrupt leaders must have regarding WW1, must be used to prevent future wars. However here perhaps Milne did not realize the power of MIC propaganda and the evil of humanity to want wealth and murder as good goals. I disagree with his critics (one lady even blasted him in his own book in a 1970s reprint forward), that he should not have insisted that leaders should try to negotiate with dictators like Hitler simply because human psychology was beyond his control or understanding, or that Milne was silly to think that Hitlers should listen to him and think like Milne. Indeed the world would be a better place, as he says soon.]

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Chapter 2: Pacifists All

[Milne begins by comparing war to dog fights with owners involved.]

“I have heard Pacifist arguing with Militarist, and the ground on which each stood shifted so rapidly that, at the hottest moment of encounter, the only thing which seemed really to be infuriating them was the fact that apparently they were in complete agreement with each other. No one so ardent for peace as Militarist ; no one so eager to defend his country as Pacifist. Yet they did not seem very happy about it.”

“I think war silly. I think that war is the ultimate expression of man’s wickedness and man’s silliness. There are times when I think that its childish silliness is even more heart-breaking than its wickedness.”

[Milne liked silliness that is child-like, rather than the childishness of war.]

“If everybody in Europe thought as I do, there would be no more war in Europe. If a few important people thought as I do : if Ramsay MacDonald were Milne, and Mussolini were Milne, and Stalin were Milne, and Hitler were Milne, and anybody who might at any moment be in a French Cabinet were Milne : then, how-ever intolerable the prospect in other ways, there would be no more war in Europe.”

[mentioning how other people think, reminds me that I have yet to see any comparison between Milne and Tolkien, and no evidence that they met, corresponded, or even mentioned each-other. No one has even suggested any connection between them, which I find a bit odd since there are several important similarities between these authors (besides obviously being English authors). Tolkien and Milne were English contemporary authors, who were veterans of World War 1, who wrote children’s books or putting it another way fictional fantasies involving magical beings. Also both contemporary English fiction writers were both countering military industrial propaganda in their own ways for the sake of a better ethical or moral future for humanity. Tolkien faces war and fighting head on in many cases in his books, but they are clearly not the main focus; because for the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings the plots are about how important small folk are, the main heroes are the hobbits, who are not good at fighting and do almost everything to avoid direct conflict. For both of these scholar soldier fathers, their children who would experience WW2 were more important to them than nationalist propaganda, and they would rather them not have to be in combat or be bombed. ]

This inability for us to stop wars, is perhaps an idiosyncrasy of the nature of human civilization. Although there are many good people in the world, who disdain violence and may out-number the bad; there are still many bad ignorant people in the world, who want violence inflicted on others and tend to become aggressive arrogant ambitious leaders. The reasons for human nature allowing such dictators in the first place, is too much for this article to explain. This article is a summary of Milne’s plea to stop the bad people from tricking the rest of us into their wars of violence and murder.

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[Milne with his son Christopher Robin, yes that Christopher Robin.]

[more later]

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MIC Mysteries, The Book

MIC Mysteries: True Crime Conspiracy Theories

It took me 3 years to write this book on mass murder.

“The biggest killer in American history isn’t a single person. The biggest mass murderer is a group of people called the ‘Military Industrial Complex’ (MIC). This is what we can call a conspiracy conclusion, a proven theory. To solve crimes and investigate cases we go where the facts take us, and build theories to test. It is important to begin with the facts, and base everything on as much scientific evidence as possible; although many cases do require speculation for motives and inference. In the opinion of President Eisenhower, we should be wary of those of us who profit from the suffering of others in battle-fields or factories.” – from my new book ‘MIC Mysteries

The theme of my book is basically “monsters are real people”. Even though its not about the fictional monsters my character fought over the years, i hope to get people to think about how history is not what they (the MIC monsters) want us to think it is. I included fictional flourishes, so I call it ‘historical fiction’, but the horror of my book is the focus on high level human crimes against humanity that are based in historic documents and facts that tear through propaganda.

To me a conspiracy theory is a theory about a conspiracy. The broad general definition of a ‘theory’ is very similar to the definition of a legal case. In both ‘cases’ we use a constructed set of assumptions and facts based on evidence to prove a conclusion or solve a problem. In the cases of war or murder, killing is the
problem; so if we can identify the killers, we can then proceed in a trial to decide how to have justice for the crimes. Whether a theory or case is proven or not, depends on the opinion of authorities and those willing to question the verdicts of authorities.

Sometimes killers ‘conspire’ with partners or associates, as we do in business and society in general. Conspiracy is used legally to mean ‘plotting’ or ‘planning’. In post-modern popular culture ‘conspiracy’
is now being used to mean ‘fake news’; which is convenient for criminals who corrupt other criminals (CIA-mafia), as only patsy targets get blamed by handlers, and cases can be dismissed based on theories of ‘fictional conspiracy’ (definition digress avoided).

The problem in war is that we use a presupposition that if our government decides to kill ‘enemies of the state’, for home-land defense security it is justified and never investigated as a crime. Therefore it is rare to have trials for ‘war crimes’. We did have trials after World War 2 (WW2); but those were hotly debated then, and have been largely ignored in practice today. The ‘Central Intelligence Agency’ (CIA) first used ‘conspiracy theory’ in a propaganda campaign to smear public interest in John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Corporate media has used it to mock real journalism.

‘US Intelligence’ (spy agencies) has two main categories, national and military. The ‘National Intelligence Program’ (NIP) includes domestic and international US civilian agencies (CIA, FBI, OIS, DCP, NSA, DOS-INR-DSS). The ‘Military Intelligence Program’ (MIP) includes ‘Department Of Defense’ (DOD) Pentagon ‘Joint Chiefs of Staff’, ‘Defense Intelligence Agency’ (DIA), and the Army (MI), Marine (MCIA), Navy (ONI), Air (AFISR) and Space Force (NGA-USSF) military branches. [I used MI instead of their official name ‘Military Intelligence Corps’ because that is confusing with the title acronym; nor AI, for the obvious reason that AI is more commonly used to mean ‘artificial intelligence’ aka computer programs, which the Army does not use anyway]

Publicly the CIA says it is spending more in several countries than the US Federal Budget (Congress and Treasury IRS tax money) spends in total. This is because actual ‘factual’ totals for clandestine NIP and MIP spy agency or ‘Intelligence Community’ (IC) group budgets include their official Federal government tax money, but are made far greater from MIC ‘Department Of Defense’ ‘Intelligence Community’ (DOD-IC) international corporate revenues and special political requests granted by Congress and presidents. In many ways presidents are puppets that serve the DOD-IC, and the ‘Secret Service’ (SS) agents who handle them are a constant physical reminder of clandestine power presence.

General Smedley Butler admitted he “was a gangster for Capitalism” who overthrew several foreign governments for US colonization. Yet he also reported to Congress that he turned down a coup proposal from plutocrats to over-throw the US government. General Butler’s house museum is not as well attended as other famous figures in American history, although it should be as popular as the tomb stone memorial of any great general.

Early ‘Modern’ 20th Century history gave birth to the MIC due to the dominance of industrial companies and the World Wars. This period witnessed the change of primary transportation and plowing from horse to oil and gas powered vehicles (motor bikes, cars, and trucks). Technology also changed society and architecture with the use of electricity, phones, and radios. Red scare propaganda against Marxists spread in waves every decade, stifling reforms which resulted in compromises of worker ‘labor unions’. The ‘Coal Mine Wars’ involved thousands of miners and soldiers in PA and WV.

There are many conspiracy theories about US President John F. Kennedy’s assassination; none of which have been proven in a Federal court due to the clandestine agents who planned the conspiracy, collude to cover up the conspiracy, and perpetuate the official ‘coincidence’ theory lie that “a lone-liberal-nut” did it. This book mentions the characters involved in MIC crimes leading up to the assassination of JFK, and how they went on to kill many more people.

General Edwin (Ted) Walker was the only US General to resign in the 20th Century. Walker publicly considered Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy to be “commie pinkos”. Walker ran for Texas Governor, but lost to John Connally who was shot in the car with Kennedy; both had been running as conservative Democrats, which only makes sense considering southern Democrats were historically more racist than northern Republicans from the Civil War until after the Civil Rights movement; however Walker soon became a Republican with Nixon and Bush, changing national policies to be more corrupted by bigotry and oil profit. Governor Connally survived the shooting, and was awarded positions of power as compensation bribery, because he was no doubt aware that the new regime he was serving was the one that shot him. Like a good ONI puppet Connally flipped to the Republican party under Nixon and Bush, and removed the US dollar from the gold standard as US Treasurer. Connally had also worked under ONI Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, who was suicided from the Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1949. Oswald contacted and hated both Walker and Connally. Is it possible this why they wanted to frame him?

Oh a note on my main character’s age – it is like in comic books, Sam is almost ageless, staying the same age for story-telling’s sake for too long in real world years. As a boy when I played as Sam, I was roleplaying an adult, when i was a boy. So the adult character i created was born before me, yet is now based on me more now that I am an adult, therefore his age is blurry for that reason; like Superman or Batman. In comics characters usually dont age, so their childhood keeps getting moved up by the decades as new stories are published.

1960s and 1970s serial killers who were associate operatives or assets of CIA Project MK-Ultra include: Doodler, Zebra Murderers, Freeway Three, Zodiac Killers, Sons of Sam, SLA, and Manson Family. California had more racial and gay serial killings than other states. CIA Psychiatrist Jolly West may have been just one of dozens of Gottlieb’s mind-control chaos agents in California. CIA Director Helms ordered all MK-Ultra files destroyed in 1973, and Gottlieb and other officers complied. But many MK-Ultra files have survived despite the purge, showing that related projects continued, and that CIA projects were connected to other serial killers and mass murderers.

Our middle-class has been increasingly taxed and unpaid, resulting in most middle-class families becoming lower-class; with the least generous being promoted to upper-class millionaires, to serve billionaires. These new millionaire white-collar bosses can only maintain their extravagant incomes by cutting jobs, aiding hedge-fund short-sellers, and cutting quality to minimize losses and maximize profits. Speaking of naked shorting stocks, a plutocratic scheme was hatched in New York City (NYC), to stage a false-flag attack in Manhattan’s World Trade Center complex for MIC profits and development. Again they would use fall-guy patsies to blame the very real violence on, while hiding the origins of the plot “that no one could have imagined”. The first World Trade Center bombing was in 1993, but propaganda in media is powerful. In 2000 there was a ‘Project for New American Century’ plan called ‘Rebuilding America’s Defense’ (RAD); which called for a new ‘Pearl Harbor’ event to unify the public under MIC control. The agencies conducting the project were compartmentalized under pain of death, as usual for top level MIC operations. Potential leaks were removed using other disposables, sometimes by a factor of 3 to sweep bread-crumbs from covered tracks.

But dont take my word for it, read and investigate the details for yourself!

Special thanks to the FBI for their hard work on solving many cases of murder and fraud. Currently the white collar crimes in the stock market are generally above their pay grade, but the FBI Washington Field Office has investigated some of the cases. Trial Attorney David A. Peters of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Trial Attorney Elise Kent Bernanke, formerly of the Criminal Division, are prosecuting the Michael Wayne Williams, Highguard-Guardian hedge-fund ponzi case. [contact the Fraud Section’s Victim Witness Unit toll-free at (888) 549-3945 or by email at victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov]

Kindle Version of MIC

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Defenders of Altron

Interview with Father Jason Hess of Wood Planet Gaming Lodge

Regarding the book ‘Defenders of Altron’ by Jason and Mark Hess

1. How was it sharing the writing of the book between brothers?

Author, religious leader, and exterminator Jason Hess has a gift for conversation, so he explained in depth how he and his brother have roleplayed together for years, with their family and group of friends that came to be known as ‘Wood Planet Gaming Lodge’ (WPGL). Jason said his writing with his brother (who publishes as MWH), and eventual publishing grew from sharing imaginative stories in the games. Jay said his brother Mark had already written a few roleplaying related books, and they had published some short gaming literature already.

2. What is the publishing relationship between WPGL and White Star?

Jay said MWH and WPGL have a friendly relationship with the owner of White Star, and so they use a compatibility license. The Hess brothers have publishing and printing rights, but to reach the White Star audience they partnered together with White Star. The Hess brothers had already roleplayed the White Star system for years, so they had plenty of text content already, when they started the book a year ago (2022). Jay edits format using Affinity application, and publishes using Lulu and ‘Drive Thru RPG’.

3. Who did the illustrations?

Jay worked long-distance with an artist who lives in Kansas, as well as combined clip art made for OSR (old school revival) games using generic D&D type rules. The format graphic art was made with Affinity on the computer. The book is standard small 6×9″, so they are keeping things simple for now to fit the size and budgets of the members involved. Both the writing and art fed from each-other organically, as they communicated via text, phone, or Zoom.

Jason Hess is a parent, runs his own pest-control company, runs a Christian church, and now an author and publisher!!! Congratulations to the Hess family, who are friendly and have been producing local films for years in the DC-metro back-woods area. Good luck with sales and may the creativity continue!

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Crystal City Revisited

‘The Crystal City’ Book Essay of Plot and Meaning

The book ‘Crystal City’ by Nancy Etchemendy begins sweetly and swiftly! The term ‘Osmyrrah’ is defined in the intro as ‘a mingling of pleasant aromas’. The first chapter ‘Copperdust and Spiders’ introduces the characters and scifi space setting concisely, alluding to the first book of the series without making it necessary to know everything about that earlier story. The second chapter ‘Pursuit Among Crystals’ gets the action going with the siblings encountering an alien that abducts one of them, to save them from the on-coming copper-dust storm. The tension of trust between the humans and spiders is palpable.

The human and alien relationship is expanded as the chapters continue. Chapter 3 ‘Osmyrrah’ Maggie and William Murdock go with the alien spider to the Crystal City of these native intelligent large spiders. The spiders have advanced technology and powers. Maggie names the friendly spider ‘Osmyrrah’, and they explore the alien city of the red sun and crystal and copper green planet humans call ‘Earth 2’.

The space spiders communicate in part with smells. Using another sense besides the 3 most common types: sight, sound, and touch, to communicate is brilliant and mind bending for readers of all ages. We are all ambassadors, no matter how informal, for human life; so awareness of the mysteries of communication between beings is vital for multi-cultural progress in the Space Age.

My response letter to Nancy’s autograph note –

“Dear Nancy,

My mother read your book to me as a 9 year-old boy in 3rd grade, and it stuck with me probably because it was one of the last books she read to me as a bed-time tradition (so being older i was more aware), and because there were transcendent themes (communication, representation, and phenomenology). I felt the kids in it were close to my age, like at our public elementary school i was attending. There was a growing sense that adults did not know everything and could make mistakes, so the story of young teens taking center stage in a plot revolving around mature responsibilities that transcended age and depended upon wisdom and compassion for other life-forms was amazing to me. Around this time one of my favorite films ‘The Dark Crystal’ came out, and Mom had bought Brian Froud’s art book for me, which I was drawing sketches from. Again a boy and a girl saving their species in a hostile world was exciting and promising to me. The author including both the boy and girl gives the story gender balance, and shows how personal relations can help achieve more than solo ambition. Those in power politically tend to fail us with war, white collar crime, and pollution; so I feel the spirit of ‘Crystal City’ will always be important for every generation to question authority, and solve problems that corruption by its nature cannot.

Yours truly, Drogo”

[more later]

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Book Publishing in 2023

Anyone can publish a digital book or PDF for free on multiple platforms.
The snobby big publishing companies have advertising and outlets for sales etc… but i dont pay for that with Amazon because i dont think their programs guarantee any profits, and i dont know which other company would be interested in paying me (see essay on introvert playing ambivert to sell to others), so i try to focus on producing more work until i have enough to offer dozens of options in more categories. then maybe eventually ill find a big commercial company to push my products, until then having them available is enough for me.

i can teach others for pay, but i publish for others to have some income.
anyone can do what im doing, its just i know what im doing so i can do it for others.
so yes anyone can self publish, but most people dont want to stoop that low, and dont want to work with me because they want “a real publisher”. only for special people do i keep the door open, but i always tell people there are reasons publishers get paid and it is because it is work and how good the book is matters much less than actually doing the work to the person doing the work.
so yes if its not too beneath you i can talk to you more about such things.
i always say everyone is welcome to publish on their own, give it a try.
if you dont want the hassle, that is the service i offer as a publisher.
arrogant people might not call me a publisher, but Amazon does.

Also WordPress platform publishes for me as a secondary publisher, every time i press “publish” on here; but technically as the author and editor I am the primary publisher who releases it from private property for public viewing. WordPress publishes my posts almost instantly when i push the button to publish them.

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Crystal City Space Spiders

I am trying to find an old book that I loved reading as a kid, so I asked Chat GPT.

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Here are a few more possibilities for the author of the 1980s science fiction book with space spiders and a crystal city:

“Spider World: The Tower” by Colin Wilson: This novel, published in 1987, is set in a post-apocalyptic world where humans coexist with intelligent spiders. It features a crystal tower as a prominent element.

“The Crystal World” by J.G. Ballard: Although not specifically focused on space spiders, this 1966 novel involves a crystalline transformation of the world’s flora and fauna. It explores themes of decay, transformation, and surreal landscapes.

“The Silent Tower” by Barbara Hambly: This fantasy novel, published in 1986, features parallel worlds, including a crystal city, and involves a mix of science fiction and fantasy elements. While it doesn’t explicitly mention space spiders, it might be worth considering.

If the author of the 1980s science fiction book with space spiders and a crystal city was a woman, it could be “Children of the Star” by Sylvia Engdahl. This novel was published in 1981 and is part of a series called the “Children of the Star Trilogy.” The story follows a group of teenagers who discover an alien race of intelligent spiders and a hidden crystal city. The book features a colorful cover illustration with teenagers and aligns with your description of being written for teens.

Robert Heinlein. He wrote a science fiction book in the 1980s titled “The Rolling Stones” (also known as “Space Family Stone”). While the book doesn’t specifically mention space spiders, it does involve a crystal city and features a color illustration on the cover with teenagers. “The Rolling Stones” was published in 1952, but it gained popularity in the 1980s when it was reissued with a new cover design, possibly matching your description. The book is classified as a juvenile science fiction novel and is targeted towards teens.

Vernor Vinge. He wrote a science fiction book in the 1980s titled “Marooned in Realtime” (also known as “The Peace War”). The book features space spiders and a crystal city as part of its futuristic setting. “Marooned in Realtime” was published in 1986 and is a sequel to Vinge’s earlier novel, “The Peace War” (1984). It is known for its imaginative exploration of advanced technology and its impact on society.

David Kirk. He wrote a book in the 1980s called “Miss Spider’s Tea Party,” which features spiders and a crystal city. The book was published in 1987 and has since become a beloved classic in children’s literature.

Also the Dr Who episode (1979) and novel (1992) of the Spider Planet with Crystals.

The cover of my book had a boy and a girl with spiders and the crystal domes of the city in the background.

the author of the 1980s science fiction book you are referring to is Margaret J. Anderson. She wrote a young adult novel titled “Spider in the Sky” in 1985. The book follows the adventures of two teenagers, a boy and a girl, who encounter spiders in a distant future where humans live in crystal domes. The cover of the book features a boy and a girl with spiders and the crystal domes of the city in the background, which matches your description.

Chat GPT gave that last suggestion, which seems the be the best fit, but now thinks the info was wrong, but cannot elaborate more (?)

The search continues….

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Here are Night Cafe AI images based on my description:

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UPDATE: I finally found the book!!!

It is just how i remember it.

‘The Crystal City’, by Nancy Etchemendy 1985, Avon Camelot

“When they accidently encounter intelligent giant spider beasts during a copperdust storm, William and Maggie must convince the skeptical leaders of the New Genesis colony of the aliens peaceful nature. Friendly aliens – or dangerous foes?” Finding this is timely during my studies of UFO disclosure projects. There are those who want peace for love and communication, and those who want war for profit and power; this is the conscious cosmic struggle for sentient beings.

Also I emailed the author and she wrote back!!

Nancy even sent me a free signed copy of her amazing book that I had lost!

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‘Starship Titanic’ Review

Concept and Computer Game by Douglas Adams, and Book and Audiobook by Terry Jones

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Starship Titanic is one of the greatest collaborations in science-fiction comedy history!!!!

Terry Jones of Monty Python lends his sympathetic intellectual lunatic style to Douglas Adams’s similar sense of humor, character antics, and detailed gags. The wacky tale of scientific genius Leovinus’s ill-fated starship is brought to life by Jones’s vocal acrobatics. Every member of this odd cast of characters seems to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown or danger.

Planet Blerontin’s greatest architect, Leovinus, has designed and built Starship Titanic, the biggest, most sumptuous, most advanced spaceship ever. On the eve of the ship’s launch, with huge cost overruns, the ship isn’t even half complete; and its robot AI mind (Titania) has been dismantled and misplaced. The manager, Brobostigon, and the accountant, Scraliontis, are plotting to scuttle the ship and collect the insurance money.

The book story begins with only Leovinus and The Journalist aboard; but it undergoes Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure (SMEF) and ends up on Earth, where a ship robot acquires three passengers: Lucy, Nettie, and Dan. These main characters must contend with supercilious robots, lascivious aliens, a talking bomb, mad parrots, and a Captain’s Bridge that consists entirely of video-game consoles. The game is in the book. The book has a happy ending, with The Journalist hooking up with Lucy, and Dan hooking up with Nettie, and things work out.

One of the silliest gags in the game is the ‘Suck-U-Bus’ that looks like a steam-punk monkey, but is used to transport small items around the ship. The game has several abstracted idiosyncratic puzzles not in the book, but are very creative. John Cleese does one of the voices in the game (Kim Bread). Terry Jones does the voice of the Parrot in the game. Douglas Adams appears in the game.

I personally love both of the creators of ‘Starship Titanic’ and highly recommend it in all of its incarnations!

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MIC Historical-Fiction Novel

By retired FBI Agent Sam Schlap

Working on my ‘MIC Mysteries’ novel. If you have not read through some of the declassified CIA project definitions, as a US citizen I recommend doing it at some point. The scope of project Artichoke was outlined in a CIA memo dated January 1952 that asked, “Can we get control of an individual to the point where he will do our bidding against his will and even against fundamental laws of nature, such as self-preservation?” Projects like Artichoke and MK-Ultra were not minor experiments, they received billions in funding over the years, and continue under expanded new codes names that are still classified. How do we know? It fits the stereotype pattern, aka historical profile. And yes they pushed the use of ‘conspiracy theory’ as a propaganda term to try to get regular people to not question them, at the risk of being blacklisted as insane. Empires have always used spies to conduct wars and keep control, but in modern times we actually have some budget records and orders documented.

John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier was a famous American poet, statesman, abolitionist, and naturalist. John was a distant cousin to my great-grandmother, Bertha Whittier Stowell. His best known poems fall into two main types: those attacking slavery (abolitionist), and those praising the charms of New England country life (naturalist).

Often called ‘the Quaker poet’, John Greenleaf Whittier was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts. His parents were Quaker farmers. Whittier’s poetry shows the influence of his Quaker religion, and rural New England background. One major influence upon his style, was the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Like Burns, Whittier wrote many ballads on rural themes; but Whittier’s wit was not as bitterly sharp as Burns.

John G. Whittier was an active abolitionist in politics, especially from 1833 to 1863. As part of the anti-slavery movement, he called for the abolition of slavery in newspaper articles; not just in his poetry. Whittier did all this, while serving in the Massachusetts legislature in 1835. The abolitionist cause dominated his poetry. In ‘The Moral Warfare’ (1838) and ‘Massachusetts To Virginia’ (1843), John Whittier bombarded the injustices of slavery in society. He also condemned what he viewed as the national hypocrisy; the problem of being founded on the ideals of freedom, yet allowing slavery.

John Greenleaf Whittier criticizes Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, in his political poem ‘Ichabod’ (1850). Senator Webster (who is also a distant relative of mine) took part in the ‘Compromise of 1850’, in which run-away slaves had to be returned to their owners, no questions asked. Whittier used a restrained, dignified tone that makes ‘Ichabod’ less an offensive attack on Webster, than an expression of sympathy for his idiotic mistake.

There are three ballads in which Whittier shows his interest in the customs, legends, rural settings, and the people of New England. The earlier two are called ‘Skipper Ireson’s Ride’ (1857) and ‘Telling The Bees’ (1858). The third was his later master-piece named ‘Snow-Bound’ (1866). ‘Snow-Bound’ tells of a family marooned in their farm-house during a giant blizzard. It was his affectionate lengthy descriptions of Quaker life, combined with a rhyming prose style, that made his verses easy to follow and popular; like a classic fire-side tale being spun. In his poem, Whittier’s delicate organization and brilliant lyrical verbosity, transcends the confines of a page. ‘Snow-bound’ toys with the merry whims and remembrances of anyone who has ever spent a snowy winter in New England and survived; even long after it was written.

Audio Recording of this article

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Barbara Frietchie

Up from the meadows rich with corn,

Clear in the cool September morn,

The clustered spires of Frederick stand

Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.

Round about them orchards sweep,

Apple- and peach-tree fruited deep,

Fair as a garden of the Lord

To the eyes of the famished rebel horde,

On that pleasant morn of the early fall

When Lee marched over the mountain wall,—

Over the mountains winding down,

Horse and foot, into Frederick town.

Forty flags with their silver stars,

Forty flags with their crimson bars,

Flapped in the morning wind: the sun

Of noon looked down, and saw not one.

Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,

Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;

Bravest of all in Frederick town,

She took up the flag the men hauled down;

In her attic window the staff she set,

To show that one heart was loyal yet.

Up the street came the rebel tread,

Stonewall Jackson riding ahead.

Under his slouched hat left and right

He glanced: the old flag met his sight.

“Halt!”— the dust-brown ranks stood fast.

“Fire!”— out blazed the rifle-blast.

It shivered the window, pane and sash;

It rent the banner with seam and gash.

Quick, as it fell, from the broken staff

Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf;

She leaned far out on the window-sill,

And shook it forth with a royal will.

“Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,

But spare your country’s flag,” she said.

A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,

Over the face of the leader came;

The nobler nature within him stirred

To life at that woman’s deed and word:

“Who touches a hair of yon gray head

Dies like a dog! March on!” he said.

All day long through Frederick street

Sounded the tread of marching feet:

All day long that free flag tost

Over the heads of the rebel host.

Ever its torn folds rose and fell

On the loyal winds that loved it well;

And through the hill-gaps sunset light

Shone over it with a warm good-night.

Barbara Frietchie’s work is o’er,

And the Rebel rides on his raids no more.

Honor to her! and let a tear

Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall’s bier.

Over Barbara Frietchie’s grave

Flag of Freedom and Union, wave!

Peace and order and beauty draw

Round thy symbol of light and law;

And ever the stars above look down

On thy stars below in Frederick town!

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• more to be added later 

 

SCOD Urban Architecture Notes

American architecture has ‘plurality and duality’. We have a variety of expression with scales of space and attitude, for the rich and poor. We have a modern design duality of rectilinear and organic architecture. Rectilinear modernists have been influenced by: Gropius, Loos, Corbu, Mies, Meier, Kahn, and Johnson. Organic modernist heroes are fewer, and there are fewer of us: Wright, Moss, Gehry, Solari, and Predock.

New Urbanist sprawl still faces the problems of commercialism vs community. Their planning principles have helped us to have more mixed-use zoning, but we still have the problems of Capitalism in decline, with an expanding lower class, destroyed middle class, and imperial upper class. New developments in Maryland and West Virginia seem to ignore the problems of population debt infrastructure, ecological devastation, agricultural decline, and transportation congestion all for the sake of profit.

Moynihan said our cities were ‘soulless’, like Diogenes he was holding a lamp for architectural self-examination. Cities are not as safe as we would like, and we should always remember their epitaphs are too often ‘military target’. Violence and migration are the main problems of our ‘urbane’ urban design. We have so often been wrong in our problem solving, it is clear we need to learn more from our past patterns of tradition. The corruption in politics that creates bad planning, can only be countered by an aware and active population willing to conspire and protest more than the elites can bribe, to bring attention to values which cannot be bought. 

‘A Pattern Language’ by Chris Alexander explains how architecture is about relationships. There are many cultural associations and historical traditions that can be better than soulless sterile machines for living. Architecture is sculpture for living, and we should not ignore sociology and heritage for the sake of industrial convenience to serve a consumer society that is destroying our global environment for profit. Yes we should have standards for structures that are able to shelter us without collapsing, but sustainability must also include the arts and nature.

 

References:

‘American House Now‘ by Doubilet & Boles

‘Better Places‘ Chapter in ‘Geography of NoWhere’

‘Pattern Language’ Relationships by Chris Alexander

‘New Urbanism, Second Generation‘ by Beth Dunlap

‘The Soulless City‘ by Moynihan

 

 

 

 

Trumpian Economic Report 2020

Artisan Vs. Commercial Market Selling

By Drogo Empedocles – January 2020

In a Trumpian economy most of us are forced to be beggars even when we offer work in return for money, due to an excess of labor not needed or desired by the rich. Trickle-down Reaganomics has failed us, and is still being pushed on us by Trump and all corporate politicians who sold out. We must resist falling to the attacks causing the destruction of our lives and plan to not just survive but rebuild a better world for our children.

Trump’s tax plan benefits the rich, and diminishes the middle class. The estate tax is gone now so that rich children can inherit all their parent’s wealth freely without earning it, while poor children suffer without deserving it. Personal exemptions have been removed. You can still itemize donations, but the standard deduction bar was raised with an overall .5% tax rate reduction. Those basic changes might negligibly benefit lower incomes, but average to upper middle class households are losing thousands on whole due to other changes in the tax plan.

I lost some financial support despite my working through the holidays on several projects. I won’t be able to do as much free or low-budget work with others, until i can secure more income to cover my own expenses at least. my income is only $700 a year recently, so i feel like i get by with quite a little actually. I only currently use one sound program most weeks, and focus on word (writing) programs, which have glitches between formats, but i am able to publish that way. So for over a year i have only been using two editing programs.

Most people should know that any work has a price; and so my work is for sale, as with any artist; we need means to live so we try to sell prints and originals if we can. If people do not know how to want to share money with others, i am not sure how i can help them except to remind them by bringing it up sometimes. I focus on my work more than sales, because i do it for the work not the sales. If i am asked to be more of a sales person i would not do it. i dont know if stating that i will keep doing my own work the way i want no matter what will reduce interest in investing in me or increase it long term; but i really do not see many options to sustain my career legacy. I may get some temporary side jobs like working for Census, but even if i got a huge increase in income what matters to me is what is created with what i have ultimately.

SCOD social capital has increased overall i believe, which is hard to define since it is not income based. I am close to founding a tristate network for hosting art, music, and writing events; but the design is mostly socially dependent, using properties in WV, MD, and VA. The financial components like ticket sales and payments are totally based on how many people i can get to coordinate together. we currently have several proposals still being formed, for multimedia broadcasting and sharing local events, i can pursue these negotiations without financial losses. ive felt on the verge of something big over the years, but i never know when the tipping point will come because … and this is the hard part to talk about, the complex dynamics of partnerships.

I am proud to ‘beg’ with something of quality to offer in return. When you buy my work, you support many other people; because I collaborate with and buy from other artists and friends. To anyone that thinks I am begging by being honest that I do not earn much, I argue that bragging about how good your work is and saying you have been ‘financially successful’ by taking more than you need is worse than begging because to me that could be considered just as unworthy of support. Getting money from other people is not proof of deserving money, it is simply how people pay their bills. Also I am not just begging because I offer plenty of services and products in various fields. I am simply saying why I could use more income, as opposed to those who do not need more for basic living. I have many jobs, and i do them. I tend to give things away for free and make reasonable deals to work with lower income people.  I apply to better paying jobs, but I do not get them, and when i have had them before i cannot keep them for psychological reasons, one being i cannot stand authoritarian control because i desire to fight back against bosses the same as I would with any willful cruel or ignorant jackass; but when we trade self-respect for money we suppress our resentment which can fester and build to a break-down or illness.

I will not spend time defending myself by arguing against assholes, they are not worth my time. I am too expensive for them because they cannot pay me enough to work for them, and it is easy enough to block them and delete their petty comments. Their attempts to troll me are pathetic when i can shut them down easily. It is amazing that people will ‘friend’ me only to wait for chances to attack, without ever once being kind.  These are the type of people that would tell homeless street musicians to “get a job” too.

If fees are low enough with time i can advertise more without major losses on more websites; in hopes to get at least a few sales. Social reception is usually less than enthusiastic on a whole from audiences on platforms. Amazon is the best example ive had because ive been using it for years, i struggle to get a few sales a year even when i post the links and talk about them etc. I know it is not because my books are not as good as ‘Diary of a Whimpy Kid’ or ‘Captain Underpants’ which are best sellers, it has to do with commercial control of the market at the high levels. I mean sure we could argue whose art or story sucks more, but with enough exposure anti-authoritarian subversive books like ours do well with children and ne’er-do-wellz, which are a large portion of the population.

Ironically most of the people who buy my books are part of the vanishing middle class; not the lowest or the highest earning. There are more lower middle class people so they do buy more books, compared to the few upper middle class people who are interested in my books. I have had people with large incomes talk with me for hours, and i gave them books and they still did not buy any, so spending money has more to do with personalities than wealth; which is why those with less wealth will spend more if they have an income, which creates financial flow and opportunities in an economy.

All of these opinions of observations are reasons why many of us are not satisfied with status-quo commercial politics. We want more leaders like Bernie Sanders and progressives on the right or left who can be held to account by their voters who are also the majority of their campaign financing. We cannot afford allowing corporate sell-outsto further rig our own economy, environment, and country against us.

[ see also Lucas Chancel, World Inequality Lab ]

 

B.D.U.: Boot-Camp Diary Unauthorized

Title – BDU: Bootcamp Diary Unauthorized
Subtitle – My Un-Official Air Force BMT Journal

This non-fiction historical book is a real 2006 memoir and analysis of Air Force Basic Training (BMT), including some personal auto-biographical experiences and opinions. This journal has been made public to document the psychological treatment of young soldiers by the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) training system. It is based on a secret diary inside an official notebook that the author kept during training, despite constant antagonism by the Training Sergeants (TIs). While not every experience is included in this first edition for Amazon, it is unabridged compared to the official summary edition submitted to commanding officers. This more expressive version contains strong adult language. Airman Stowell (also author of ‘Operation 10 COW’) provides specific details and general summaries from original notes and actual documents about BMT, and is both honest and patriotic. Mouth-piece propaganda for our conventional establishment will seek to discredit authentic journals like this, as individual civil rights are threatening to authoritarians who want ritual hazing and brain-washing to be a confidential surprise (despite films showing historical accounts dramatized, see ‘Band of Brothers’ and ‘Full Metal Jacket’). It is the US ‘War On Terror’ training version of war time stories that have been attacked for showing realism in their home countries (see Solzhenitsyn & Grossman). There is no top secret information revealed here, but it is a personal perspective for national self-reflection about the unethical tyranny of psychologically conditioning soldiers to perpetually operate on hate, anger, and fear. If you like this type of work, please write a supportive comment on Amazon’s sales page for ‘BDU The Book‘, thank you!

Long live our American ideals of freedom, democracy, and peace!!!

“I’m a historian by profession. I’ve probably read several thousand journals and diaries in my time, including ones by soldiers and others living through the Revolution, Civil War, Spanish American War, and others. This book reads true, both in content and form. One would expect a diary to be disjointed and have a grammar glitch or two here or there. Someone undergoing the physical and intellectual traumas of this type, and writing on the run to boot, is not going to write with the polish of a Victorian sitting at his desk on Beacon Hill.” – thank you so much Professor Michael Swanson

Listen to an Audiomack recording – BDU Book Reading

Please show support even by simply clicking that the nice reviews were helpful, as most consumer critics do not care what their words mean to the author, and do not take into account the pains of writing and publishing controversial content.

 

 

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The Horror of Lovecraft

The thing about writing horror is that you basically admit you are really sick and twisted. His racist writing describes accurately how people like him would think as they narrate the events. For me it shows how the concept of evil is a human perspective, based on what we fear; from fish people to aliens. To write about your fears shows your weakness and vulnerabilities, in my opinion. Lovecraft shows how fear is a scary illness from hating ethnic differences to being petrified of anything resembling fish or squids. Another aspect of Lovecraft is that his “heroes” do not ever really “win” against the demonic powers that spread, as migrants in NY did while he was living there, and they were thriving while he was failing. Clearly Lovecraft shows how conservative culture always dies of entropy as progressive immigrants take over, for better or worse, depending on who you are. That he describes the changes in culture as evil in fictional demonic terms exaggerates his own feelings to an absurd level of parody, which i feel he must have been conscious about to marry a Jew.

RIP H.P. Lovecraft  1890-1937