The Messengers of Yesh Web Address

Friday, June 26, 2015

The Confederate Flag and Population Management

A white guy killed nine people in a black church the other day. It was called a racial attack, if I'm not mistaken, before the murderer had even been identified much less caught. It seemed very odd that that would be known beforehand with such absolute certainty. However, there was some security footage from the church. Maybe they were basing the motivation on his skin color alone and not any concrete information? Sounds kind of racist, doesn't it? :) Later on, it would turn out that it actually was a racial attack but only later. How did they know ahead of time with enough confidence to let the media run with it?

Immediately, there was the shrill cry from the left to ban guns. My reply is to quote George Washington. "When government takes away citizens' right to bear arms, it becomes citizens' duty to take away government's right to govern."

So, we have this horrific, racist attack. Aside from the gun ban chatter, what did the media do? Launched a campaign against the Confederate flag. If you saw the picture in the article linked above, you'll notice the murderer is burning an American flag. What does the Confederate flag have to do with racism? As this black guy could tell you in this interesting article, not much if anything. A few crazies use it in a racist way, but the vast majority of people in the south, myself included, make no connection between that flag and racism. It simply doesn't compute. The Civil War was about states' rights not slavery, but that's a long story about revisionist history.

After the media blitz there was a rash of retailers removing Confederate flags from sale. It didn't exactly make sense, but it's what happened. I'm sure they'll be back on sale later. The story has somehow become about a flag and not about the attack. Did you notice that? It's about something abstract instead of what really happened in South Carolina.

September 11, 2001. The terrorist attacks happened. On September 13, 2001 congress passed a bill authorizing $1 billion in compensation for the victims of the attack. News of this was withheld from the public until November. Between September 11 and November, congressmen were out in force encouraging Americans to give to the victims to give until it hurt. Why? To channel the public's anger until people calmed down.

The Confederate flag flap is another way of channeling public anger until people calm down.

And now you see one of the ways the government controls the populace through the media.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Countermove

Where was the blog for the 5th? I got knocked offline by a thunderstorm. If you're a regular reader, you know this wasn't the first time. The problem turned out to be my phone line surge protector. Throughout my various internet problems, this was the first one to die for the cause. It was brave and lasted many years. A moment of silence.
I have a new surge protector now that I hope survives a long time.

You might recall I lost my TV to lightning despite the fact that it was on a surge protector. I think what happened was because of Directv. There's this one piece of equipment that can't be plugged into a surge protector, or there's no signal. I suspect a light power surge went down the Directv line and terminated in the TV. Which was brave and lasted many years. A moment of silence.

I finally found a new TV. It's a 2014 Samsung that was on sale at Walmart. The picture's good. However, the sound isn't that great at low levels. Sometimes before bed, I'll turn on some classical music and set the TV volume to about 3. It worked great with my old Hitachi. There's a bit of disruption in the Samsung. I usually only do that in the winter, though.
Guess what I found on Amazon? An HDMI surge protector. I didn't even know they made them. So now, the new TV is on two surge protectors, one that plugs into the wall and one that plugs into the HDMI port on the Directv box. You should never have Directv btw. Dish Network is owned by the same company and is cheaper with more channels.

While I was offline, I was struck with frustration that I don't normally have when I lose my internet connection. I couldn't do the blog. I couldn't check email. I couldn't do any research for the next book. I have a flurry of [Research] tags in the prose I still need to clean up.
But what can I do to make sure I stay online? I'm not rich or a big corporation. Options would seem limited. But wait. I'm not without certain resources. I think I've found a way to make sure I never lose connection again. I bought a reconditioned 3G wifi hotspot from www.straighttalk.com for $15 and a GB of data for another $15. If disaster strikes again, I'm prepared. And now that I am prepared, I'm reasonably certain my connection will be just fine now. :) It's like buying insurance. Now that I have it, I won't need it.

And to make sure once and for all that everything really will always be fine, I need to go to Amazon and check for surge protector surge protectors.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Dear Diary

Dear Diary,
I'm really excited to have bought you and am looking forward to a long and beautiful friendship. They say diaries are for 15-year-old girls, but we know better, don't we?

Dear Diary,
If I had a dollar for every song I've sung in a run-down honky-tonk, I wouldn't have many dollars, because I'm not a singer in a rock and roll band.

Dear Diary,
A lot of people hear unexplained voices, but after many years I've never heard a single one that couldn't be explained, not even yours. *coughcough*

Dear Diary,
Say something already!

Dear Diary,
Despite pouring out all of my heartfelt thoughts to you, you never say anything. Is it something I've written? Is it something I haven't written?

Dear Diary,
I really enjoy how smooth your cover is. A lot of people think leather is sexy. If you looked like an actress, would it be Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Love-Hewitt, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Finnigan, Jennifer Lawrence or Lacey Chabert?

Dear Diary,
Why don't you ever say anything? Sometimes I think you're the laziest book on the shelf!

Dear Diary,
I must apologize for the outburst the other day. It's not you. It's me.

Dear Diary,
I thought this was going to be different somehow, but you never answer. Do you know how frustrating it is talking to someone who doesn't talk back?

Dear Diary,
I tell you everything. You sit there silently. Lounging around on MY shelf that *I* paid for. Not you! Your spine looks fat. How do feel about that? Ha!

Dear Diary,
I'm not sure this is going to work out. You never communicate. I need someone who listens and shares. But you always sit there staring at me.

Dear Diary,
On the way home from work today, I picked up a mini butane torch from the hardware store and some giant paperclips from the office supply store. No reason. Although yesterday I watched a documentary on cattle branding. Coincidence? Or something for you to think about? I'll let you decide.

Dear Diary,
I had lunch with Jennifer from Accounting today. I think you and I need some time apart. It's not you. It's me.

Dear Diary,
I apologize for being away so long. I was with Jennifer...until she decided we should see other people. She said it was her, not me. What's wrong with her? She said we can still be friends. I never go into Accounting any more. I'm glad you're here. Sorry about the burn marks on your back cover. I wasn't myself.

Dear Diary,
Why won't you say something? Just anything.