Washington Rebel

Update From Sonnon

The Original Washington Rebel: Nez Perce!

In response to today's email exchange, Scott Sonnon adds:

I hope to represent our country with honor as athlete and asst coach of the US National Team at the 2010 World Martial Arts Games. We've gotten a bad rap internationally as overindulgent, overentitled babies. I intend to rewrite that falsehood by properly sharing our incredible culture the best way I know how - through sportsmanship, the honorable tradition of hand to hand fighting, and training our forces and allies overseas. Keep spreading the word with pride, brother

I'm sure if you're interested in supporting this all-American endeavor, you can gain information at Scott's site.

Busted!

Born to Fail; Made to Succeed

There are lots of times, when you're a Big Time Journalist (so we fantasize) where you wonder -- three nanoseconds after you hit the send button -- should I have said that?  For example, last night I said about Scott Sonnon "He theorizes too much, and yaps around the subject like a Pomeranian with a boner."  Well now . . .

Imagine my surprise when I received, today's date, an official looking email entitled "A Pomeranian with a Boner."  'Great, I thought.  Here we go!'

Here's what the email said:

I was just sent your blog post. That was some hilarity. Thanks for the chuckles, and the props for CST and the Clubbell.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

V/R,

Scott Sonnon

(Gulp!)

You bet, Coach!  And just so you know we can make fun of ourselves around here, I want you to know I am going through the Intu-Flo routines, and most assuredly resemble a Belgian Baker with an inner tube stuck to his ass!

That is a man's man, boys.   America used to be filled with that kind.  A gentlemen with muskles.  We need more.

Having said that, I believe Sonnon has done three things:

1) Rescued resistance training from stupidity;
2) Introduced a ancient form of warrior training to a 21st Century audience; and
3) Read my blog.

A True Washington Rebel!  Our highest respect to Scott Sonnon!

P.S.  I stand by criticism that what you have to offer is somewhat inaccessible to those of us who forsake gobbledygook whenever possible.  What I'd really like to see is a '1-2-3 this is what you do, you see' for us Belgian Baker types.

My two bits.

Thanks for writing, Coach!

High school friend KD adds:

[I]f anyone ever told me they'd shaken hands with [Sonnon] and not felt like something profoundly human had happened... well... I'd have to wonder about them.

 
This is how we treat our friends.

To Our Friend Garry

 
Dear Cicero:

How do you explain the wife's appearance in the window? Was the image in the window or did the window reflect what you wanted to see and/or what you thought you saw? These types of stories have always intrigued me. You know you saw something but what was it/how did it come to be?

Well! I have thought about that same question a million times over the last 27 years . . . . I've had many such experiences, though all different. Here is how I analyze them:

1) Hallucination, whether by light trick or chemistry trick (aren't they one and the same thing?) would always be the first explanation, in which case the answer either is, 'I don't know' or 'It didn't happen.'  Pilots must see things all the time in the sky.  Large spaces and flashes of light can really stimulate various brain responses.

2) Psycho-suggestion would be the second explanation. From many years experience, I know that the subconscious mind operates like a dream state. In other words, you can be walking along the Safeway aisle, minding your own business, and shift into a semi-dream state wherein reality gets eerie, whether deja vu or an accurate intuition.  Similar states occur with hypnosis, wherein a laborer believes he is a college prof, and gives a helluva lecture on life in ancient Greece. Something can be "true" when it's not factually correct, because the moment elicits that image, or response.   I have personally witnessed schizophrenics produce accurate psychic impressions.  (I once did a mental hearing on a man who swore he saw Satan.  Believe me, I believed him!)  They are tuned into levels of "subconscious" awareness that are closed off to people like you and me.

Thank the Lord.  And I mean that!

3) This particular experience I count as true, and factually correct (though I understand I could be mistaken), which is why I tell the story. Let's say you went to your family's for Christmas. You're out in the backyard watching your neighbor do something. You don't speak, but you wave at him. He doesn't wave back, as if he doesn't see you. You go back in and ask your mom about George.

"George? He died, honey. Two weeks ago."

Now what do you do? Become a liberal, I guess.

Anyway, that was my experience, and the difficulty always is -- in fact, I know of no certain way to resolve this -- The difficulty always is, how to resolve conflicts of brain experience with "outer" experience. There is no way.  Which is why I say, people who comfortably proclaim 'There is no God', or 'There is no afterlife', are just as much in the dark as those who say 'I channeled the ghost of George Washington.'  In my opinion, the Heisnberg principle proves that man cannot separate his thinking from his experience.  That sounds silly, but if you think about it, it leads to many startling conclusions.

How do you know you're in "the earth"?  Sure, you're breathing, but why aren't you dreaming?  Haven't you been out of breath in a dream?  What's a dream?  Who says this isn't God's dream?  What really do you know?  In my view, precious little.  You know when you're hungry; you know when you're wife isn't speaking to you.  After that, it's dicey.

I saw that woman's ghost.  I'm sure of it.  But what's a ghost?

I have no idea.

Michael Medved saw ghosts at Gettysburg.

Hoh River Boy Does the Spooky.

The Awakening -- Repost

 
The Awakening

Last fall we posted text from an email I received from a friend inside the corporate world.  Many of us conservatives tend to have a more tolerant view of private sector activities than many people inside the corporate world deserve, just as many conservatives tend to give law enforcement a pass because "they have tough jobs."  Got news for you.  Living is tough.  It's tough that improves you, or turns you into a "nuanced" (whiny) Democrat.

The question is always one of power, as I explain in What I Learned as a Prosecutor, Part I.  The person you owe money to has power over you; the school girl in a black robe judging you for a behavior you yourself can't explain has power over you.  There are only two questions you ever have to answer, whether it's your wife you're arguing with, or deciding where to stand on a piece of legislation: 1) Is this a power that needs to be legislated into a de jure power; and 2) if so, what sort of judicious limitations need to be placed on the exercise of that power?  If you tell me, "All policeman are heroes", I may agree with the sentiment, but what you're telling is that your thinking skills are those of an eigth grader, not a citizen.  It's the equivalent of saying "All policeman are pigs."  You haven't addressed constitutional limitations on state authority because you're wallowing in sentiment.  It's sort of like being a fat man yelling at athletes on the tv.  You need to get up from the couch, my friend.

Here is that original post:

Dear Cicero

Jitters

A Reader Writes:

Dear Cicero:

I heard the President says he's sending 30,000 troops to finish the job in Afghanistan.   I also heard that's half of the low end of a range the generals say were wanted to finish the job.   Obviously B.O. is smarter about military strategy and war winning than your garden variety general.  He was a junior senator for four years before he became the commander in chief.  He's so smart he knows for a fact that the war will be won in Afghanistan before July, 2011, because he's already decided that's when we'll pull out.

This reminds me of his very smart decision to sign the order to close Guantanamo before he knew what he would do with the prisoners.  I recall the press conference announcing the signing of the order closing Guantanamo.  The peasants rejoiced!  Bush wanted it, so we're closing it.  We win.  We're smart.  He probably didn't expect this, but a reporter asked what will happen to the prisoners.  Oh no!  Where's the teleprompter on that one?!  I was shocked when the smartest man in the room looked over to his chief-whatever-he-is and ask HIM how they would handle that and THAT guy tells the president "we'll" issue another order on that at some point.  As if nobody in the room just saw the president ask this other guy, the pres turns to the press and says we'll execute another order dealing with that (when we figure it out).

He is the smartest president we've ever had.  He almost finished his first term as a senator before he got elected.

I note in passing that he is our first black president.  This probably makes a difference to someone, somewhere, but here's what I'd like to know: I've had to produce school transcripts to get jobs or certifications.  Why doesn't our president have to abide by the same standards some poor old bloke like me has to?

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest.  Hope you had a swell Thanksgiving.  Love the Totty, which I can only look at after everyone's gone to bed.  We're going through sleep medication by the box!

Well bespoke, reader!  I get discounts for our readers on sleeping aids.  Write anonymous@Canadianfrontcompany for our free brochure.

Libs in Toyland!  via

Dreams and Cities and Ancient Forests

 

The World Dancer

Awhile back Cicero did a post on Ingrid Dean's book, Spirit of the Badge: 60 True Police Stories of Divine Guidance, Miracles & Intuition.  I was lucky enough to receive a very lovely thank you note from Ingrid regarding our coverage of that story.  She is certainly a keen and gentle soul, a real pleasure to have met.  Ingrid and I have been doing some corresponding about spirits and such.  And dreams.  The subject of dreams was broached.  It's a genuine pleasure to make contact with someone in Cicero's world who is not slavishly bound to arbitrary definitions, which are invariably called "truth" by their adherents.

I am one of life's fortunates to have not been stuck in a literalistic window display of Name and Form.  For me, life started out as a dream.  At age three I became aware of recurring dreams I had been having since age 2.  By means of this "device", my earliest root of memory is of being 2-years-old.  In other words, I have more dream memories of that time than physical memories, though I have some of those, too.  I am conscious of an unfolding psychic plant that emerged through the dark swirl of dreaming.  Dreamers out there know whereof which I speak.  The rest of you must mutter your discontent, I suppose, though,in point of fact, everyone of you is exactly the same creature as me, you're just not aware of it.  You're stuck with what you've been told.  People like me are "different" because we understand that what is called "reality" are coordinates on a Living Consciousness, not skyscrapers that must be worshipped.

Warm, Fuzzy Catholics

Dear Cicero:

"This shy, reticent logger recently vented with big hearted, small brained Catholics. Some I meet with weekly. The others, well I hope that letter is not published. How could they support a health care bill that is based on an ideology dedicated to satan? Regardless whether abortion is limited, the death panels still exist. Maybe some will wake up. Most in my parish are on my side but they need help understanding the multitude of agendas that are working against us. Trying to synthesize an argument with corruption and bigotry would not be too hard. I need a word that helps me describe the scope of the corruption and they will understand bigotry as manifest by the seven deadly sins. Thanks for Hoffer."

Dear Anonymous:

Seems to me you've hit the synonym on its circumference.  Most well-meaning Americans, I think, are unwilling to consider the possibility that iniquity, faithlessness, abasement, perversion, subversion, rot, treachery, decadence, turpitude, evil, degeneration and corruption, as you put it, are so pervasive or, rather, so entrenched, that many who reckon themselves "good" are in fact imbecilic where fortitude and principle are in greatest demand.  They are, in fact, nitwits, insofar as the duties of citizenship are concerned.  They are the Ben & Jerry of martial rectitude, and ought to be regarded as such, though they see themselves quite different from that, as noted.

Multiple difficulties immediately confront our forensic efforts: how does one measure American decadance?  How can one be certain there has been actual degradation, or just the perception thereof?  After all, human nature has never exactly been pure, but has ever suffered from a most prodigious array of moral feebleness and vile secretions of character.  Look at Democrats.

We can be certain, I believe, of the following: 1) Where once Americans viewed family and community as authority structures, they now look to the federal government or, more precisely, bony narcissists like Obama, to make them feel good.  This would be an indication of moral and spiritual decay.  And 2) our political leaders have abandoned their posts where the integrity of the dollar is concerned.  The Democratic leadership has led the charge to flee national security responsibilities.  I don't know about you, but it looks to me like we will very shortly be in a situation where "gays" and Warm Fuzzy Liberals are seeking protection from the "religious right" they hate so much.  That's the problem with most Americans, in my view.  We've become a nation of school girls.  The only person who will shoot back at a revenuer or an Islamic "moderate" would be hillbillies and rednecks.

No prob on the Hoff.  Thanks for stopping by.

Entering the Twilight Zone

Mark Rahner is a Smart Ass.  For Sure!

It's good to see a little humor about my hometown of Forks.  To tell you the truth, I think the whole Twilight thing is mildly demeaning, but hey . . . . I'm old-fashioned.

Pretty good for an ol' hippy!  Old fashioned!

That's the state o'things.  I was a Rebel then; I'm a Rebel now.  No matter how I rebel, it's out-of-step with the dominant thought.  Hmm . . . .

Got a real nice e-mail from a fan about my River Piece.  It's nice to know people are enjoying the blog.  Just want to acknowledge the courtesy shown to me.

 

Dear Cicero

John Jay USA wrote:

irish cicero: i note that you invoke the "golden rule" while disaffirming jesus. i believe an ordered and tranquil nation based on common heritage, values, affinity, the rule of law, and individual civic and private virtue. i see no reason why christianity cannot supply these ingredients, especially if compliance with virtues is voluntary. (i know, if it is not voluntary, it is not virtuous. got that far.) i still am curious as to why the golden rule but not the one who gave us the rule? john jay milton freewater, oregon usa p.s. i put the "usa" part in there, just in case any huskies fans are suffering any residual angst.

By private correspondence he adds:

golden rule, but not jesus? hmmm. you have always eschewed religion. i can understand not desiring religion as public virtue, but i do not understand your antipathy to faith as a source of and bedrock to private virtue. by the way, i go to church "real regular," ... every easter, if i am near one. havent' been in about 35 years, except for weddings and funerals. should practice what i preach, eh? i do read my walt whitman, and my yeats, and my edna real regular like, though.

Dear Summer Patriot:

Dear Cicero

"Why Are the Facts of Life Conservative?"

Equilibrium is the Basis of the Great Work.  Collectivism is based on coercion; heroism is based on virtue, or character.  What would you rather be?  A wormy soul like Bill Ayers, or a great soul?  There is a sickness in collectivists that bids them to impose the artificial on the rest of us.  Why?  Because of their own lack of character.  The psychologists call this "character disorder."  There is hardly a "progressive" in the world who does not suffer from this disorder.

The secret of life is equilibrium.  All things are in balance.  The true man or woman seeks equilibrium, or balance, in themselves.  They have no urges to direct others because they are seeking the kingdom within.

They understand that nature has already set the patterns.  If men were meant to get pregnant, they would.  If it was natural for women to kill their babies, you would feel that in your bones.  The fact that the first is laughable, and the second horrifying, is a pattern of Nature impressed upon your genes.  Change it, or abide by it?

He who wishes this world to be better has only one course: the improvement and correction of character.  To the extent you are engaged in the "correction" of others, you are not engaged in the one activity which is rightly yours.

In terms of correction, all societies are obligated to protect their source of power.  Whatever -- whoever -- is a threat to growth and prosperity must and shall be eliminated.  That also is everywhere visible.  Does nature tolerate untruth?  The universe, which is in constant motion, maintains equilibrium by throwing off the particles no longer needed.

At last -- and first -- is innocence.  He who truly loves seeks to preserve that which is noble.  The "nuanced" among you who piss on innocence are not noble.

Not at all.

The facts of life are conservative.

"You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, 'The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.' The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing."  Ronald Reagan

Dear Cicero

 
 Wiggy's

"Dear Cicero:

"I really like your blog.  However, after subjecting both yours and Theo's blog to rigorous scientific examination based upon objective societal expectations extruded bicentrally from non-specific cultural transmissions calculated to mask effrontery and other eurocentric mishmash, occurring over prolonged historical periods involving various residual presumptions of cultural superiority -- unchallenged contemporaneously to proximity -- I have concluded that Theo is British, and you are not.  Besides, he has good totty.

"Keep up the good work, and remember: We Read Your Articles!"

Professor Frank "Ichabod" O'Crane, Blog Examiner.

Report This Farkin' Blog to Someone Who Gives a Rat's Ass

Dear Cicero!

The Chills |MTV Music

The Chills -- Male Monster from the Id

"Dear Cicero:

"Why do you hate Obama so much?"

I don't hate Obama.  Obama is a very talented man.  Do you have any idea how much work it takes to glorify one's ego on an international basis?  You need intelligence, courage, and a relentless ability to reject wisdom in favor of one's own foolishness.  I don't hate Obama.  In fact, I admire his talent.  Obama is not the problem.  He is a symptom of an illness our ation suffers from, an illness born in the late 60s that will probably require a full generation of meaningful change -- as to the external bromides your masters feed you -- to recover from.  The nature of the illness is a religious devotion to bumper stickers, to projecting our personal responsibilities onto a magic formula that requires no responsibility.  Kids that can't read?  More money.  Crime and poverty?  More money.  Corrupt politics?  Money.  Sunspots and oil companies?  Money.

Did I just say money was the illness?  No, I did not.  The illness is in what we think makes things work, i.e., believing causes to be an outside job, instead of what it really is: an inside job.  If your kid can't read, spending more money at the school may not be the cure.  If the environment is goopy, more money may not affect anything, though it makes the school girls among us hopeful.  Crime may in fact be "caused" by povery, but wealth and prosperity are caused, God help us, by concentration, character, and a person's acceptance of the need to eliminate those things from your life which are costly.  Believe it or not, learning how to show up on time could make you a millionaire.