Who's Your Scapegoat?

"You NEED people like me, so you could point your
*#^  finger and say, 'THAT'S the bad guy!' "

        Ah, Uncle Tony.  OK, sure, he's got a potty mouth at times, slams one too many bottles of Pinot at dinner, snorts 20 lines too many of coke...often all in one sitting...but hey, spiritual truths can be found anywhere if you really listen for them, and Uncle Tony makes a good point.

        "Scapegoat" comes from the ancient Hebrew tradition of a priest attaching a list of the sins of the people onto a goat, then setting the goat free.  Every culture has similar rituals that serve a similar purpose.  That's because everybody needs a Bad Guy.

        We all need people like them.  Upon whom or what else would we project our perceived shortcomings, who else would be the whipping boys that shoulder our own sense of lack so we don't have to?  How else could we purge and sanctify ourselves, restore ourselves to our true, innate, pristine loftiness?

        What, work on our "stuff" ourselves?  Deal honestly with our fears, ignorance, poor planning, prejudices?  Work to grow up and transcend them ourselves?  Ha, don't be ridiculous.  Bad Guys give us the alibis we need so we don't have to do all that.  Things going wrong in our lives?  Not able to kick a habit, achieve a goal, feel a sense of self worth, inner happiness?  Blame it on the Bad Guy, simple.  Are a nation's resources seemingly (thanks to false news reports) getting dangerously low, as its population gets dangerously high (all psy ops)?  Find that scapegoat, point at that Bad Guy!  See, everybody needs at least one, though most people keep an assortment on hand, keep all their bases covered, just in case.

Trouble in Paradise: Saddam Stirring the Pot in Heaven

Orig. pub. in The Onion - 2/21/13

Seems everyone on Earth has a scapegoat, 
someone to blame for all the ills of their lives. 
But apparently that doesn't stop, even when 
we ascend to Heaven...

        THE HEAVENS—Sources within the Kingdom of God confirmed Thursday that late president of Iraq Saddam Hussein has been constantly complaining to his fellow angels about the abundance of Jews in Heaven.

        Hussein, who has resided in Heaven since his death in 2006, reportedly claims to be “sick and tired of seeing Jews every day” of his infinite afterlife.

        “Don’t get me wrong, this place is a hallowed paradise of unfathomable splendor, but to be perfectly frank, it’s a little hard to enjoy with all these [darned] Jews floating around,” said Hussein as his white angelic robes were bathed in the blessed light of the Lord. “It’s just frustrating that after putting in 69 years of hard work on Earth, I have to come up here and see Jews everywhere I turn.”

Not My Mother's Yakuza

Keeping Up with the Times

 

Two of my uncles on my mother's side.  
Just kiddin.'

        The presence of Japanese mobsters, the Yakuza, is no longer one that's hidden away in the shadows.  Modern Yakuza are recognized by the Japanese government as a legal business entity  (they do pay their taxes, after all).

        They're listed in public phone books, so you could drop by and say "hi" anytime.  They carry business cards like any other business men do, have corporate headquarters with luxury pools and gymnasiums, trade stocks and participate in corporate mergers and acquisitions.

        And as with today's average mobsters worldwide, human trafficking is still a thriving Yakuza business  (interestingly, they especially target unsuspecting Eastern European or Australian women, so you might want to rethink that ski trip to Japan with your hot Russian girlfriend; you may never see her again).

        They own the standard "front companies" that invest in construction and real estate, which is really convenient since Yakuza like to bury bodies in the foundations of buildings.  It is said that on average 10,000 people "disappear" annually in Japan, including the aforementioned Eastern European women.

        Their public presence and legal acceptance, however, make them a bit unique, a stand out from their worldwide mobster brethren, I'd say.

Turning Up the Heat: Acupuncture Combined with Moxibustion

by Chen Zhiyong
for China Daily 
orig. pub. date: 1/17/07

Moxibustion is not simply burning a stick of mugwort, 

but also manipulating the heat with the mind.  Any mental 

disturbance [in the practitioner's mind during] 

the process affects the cure.  --Dr. Fan

Some claim mugwort has a calming effect 
when drank as a tea or smoked.

        A 30-something woman complains to Dr. Changwei Fan about her unbearable stomach pain and perplexing headache.  Fan offers her tea, as he does for every visitor to his clinic, to calm the mind.   Fan asks questions about the busy Beijing woman's lifestyle and then instructs one of his apprentices to apply the heat of a smoking herbal stick over three acupuncture points on her body.

        Fan says Ms. Wang is a typical patient with "excessive liver fire."  "When the fire rises to the head, she feels a headache," he explains.  "On the other hand, people with heat in the upper body commonly have cold in the lower body, which causes stomach aches.  This treatment will lead the upper heat downward, and push the lower cold out."  About an hour later, Ms. Wang steps out of the treatment room feeling refreshed.  She vows to return for a more systematic health check-up after the upcoming Spring Festival.

A Legit Discussion About Disclosure, or Yet Another Theater of the Absurd?

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Is this a fresh batch of gubmint cheez psy-ops, a precursor of further fun 'n' 
games of Project Blue Beam-esque activities, or will this be a long-overdue, 
intelligent, legit discussion about Disclosure?  I'm not holding my breath for 
the latter, though admittedly, it sure would be a refreshing change of pace 
for the first time, EVER, in Terran history.  So, we will see. This all sounds 
very romantic...but of course, the best lies always do.

 

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