silverthreads

Ain't No Road At All

2010-02-11T23:01:00.000-08:00

Ain’t No Road At All

by:

John McCullough

Sometimes the road less traveled is a river

Sometimes the road less traveled is a boat out on the ocean

Sometimes the road less traveled is no more than a trail

Sometimes the road less traveled is the wind

In the year 2010, in the land of the free

America was dying from a fatal case of greed

Commerce did not flow down rivers and highways

It flowed down copper and fiber, on a one way trip to hell

Obama was our savior, good for families and labor

But there were discrepancies between his words and his behavior

In the midst of our disaster, he bowed down to his master

He sold out his supporters to the highest bidder

Uncle Tom has sold out again

He ain’t no JFK, and he ain’t no fucking Lincoln

Pigmentation will be his only distinction

Quid Pro Quo his claim to fame

When history misspells his name

Martin Luther King, Jr. would roll over in his grave

If he knew the first African-American president in American history was a corporate slave

Healthcare Reform

2009-09-15T05:59:00.000-07:00

My name is John McCullough. I am the victim of undiagnosed and untreated chemotherapy induced phlebitis, while under the care of Tennessee Oncology. I have recovered, but I do not know what the long term implications of this oversight might cause.

My wife is the victim of undiagnosed and untreated heart disease, while under the care of Cardiologist Thomas Cabell in Smyrna, TN. Becky died September 7, 2008.

Healthcare Reform is the result the age old battle of property rights vs. human rights.

I have contacted Rep. Jim Cooper, Senator Lamar Alexander, and Senator Bob Corker to join me in my coalition to stand up for the rights of people who have suffered undiagnosed and untreated diseases and medical conditions. And for the next victims of undiagnosed and untreated diseases and medical conditions, which could be you or someone you love.

No is not an option!

The On Ramp to the Lost Highway

2009-07-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

The On Ramp to the Lost Highway

by:

John McCullough and Angel Everidge

Chapter 1

As I wandered down Memory Loss Lane toward the on ramp to the Lost Highway, I realized Google Maps were irrelevant. I was headed off the grid, into territory yet uncharted by the Garmin GPS Navigation System.

Footloose and sans watch, time had no more meaning than the space I was evading.

2009-06-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

Toyota Music Presents: Rock the Space featuring, with your help, my soon to be new hit Heat Lightning!

Wild Child

2009-03-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

Wild Child

by:

John McCullough

I met a wild child on the road,

with a voice as big as a minute

That will stick with me for the rest of my life

In a hundred years or so,

she’ll be old enough to know me better

But for now she struggles to survive

Runaway what are you running from

What the hell could be so bad

that you would run away from home

Life on the road can be heaven or hell

Certainly not for the fragile and frail

Fly away butterfly, fly home

Or are you running toward tomorrow,

better times and better days

Or running from the dangers of the life of runaways

Fever Dreams

2009-02-01T06:16:00.000-08:00

Fever Dreams

Cpoyright 2009

words and music by:

John McCullough

C9 C9/Gb

Flu seasons really been hard this year

C9 C9/Gb

It's really been hard my dear this time around

C9 C9/Gb

Freezing cold, dripping sweat

C9 C9/Gb

People dropping like flies all over town

Gm D7

There's one thing I know that will get me through

Gm D7

A case of the good old fashioned flu

Gm D7

Dreams in a fever when your head is on fire

Gm D7

Dreams of regret, dreams of desire

Gm D7

One dream in terror, one dream in flight

Gm D7

One dream in color, one in black and white

Love Is Like a Toaster

2009-01-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

By the time your smell it, you're already toast!

Greatest joke ever

2009-01-02T03:41:00.000-08:00

Teacher says: Every time you hear a firework going off, a redneck loses his thumb
John McCullough, Jr. 12-31-08

Perspectives

2009-01-02T03:31:00.000-08:00

Optimimist: The glass is half full
Pessimist: The glass is half empty
Realist: Broken glass is a major source of tetanus
Existentialist: The glass is
Suvivalist: The next World War will be fought over drinking water
Pretentious: You can not refer to a plastic tumbler as a glass

Critical Mass

2009-01-02T02:48:00.000-08:00

The brightest star in the universe, started out as a cloud of dust, not unlike that which you might see, in your rearview mirror, driving down a gravel road.

Fuck the Nashville Scene

2008-12-11T03:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a copy of a letter to the editor of the Nashville Scene:

Why did you not post my listing that I submitted online? Johnny Mac & Friends Live at Revive I am going to wipe my ass with your rag and burn it in public. You suck, John

I encourage all of you to wipe your ass with the Nashville Scene and burn it!

Solidarity!

2008-12-06T07:23:00.000-08:00

This video is in support of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 735. Thank you for striking. Thank you for standing up for working people.

A text from Meadow Kinsfather

2008-12-03T21:27:00.001-08:00

If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.

A dream within a dream

2008-11-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

Wierdest night ever. So I get home from the Open Mic at Tootsie's and I have about 500 images to edit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverthreads/sets/72157610410269115/
400 of them were crap. I get about half of them edited about midnight and I am exhausted, so I lie down. I wake up about 2:30AM, and I am wide awake, so I edit the second half. About 5AM I lie back down and I am having wierd dream after wierd dream. Then a friend wakes me up out of a wierd dream and he is smoking a cigarette, and I tell him smoking is prohibited in my apartment and then I realize that I am not in my apartment and my friend flicks ashes in the potted plants. I look out the window and there is something in the river which I presume to be dolphins and then I realize dolphins are not indiginous to fresh water. The animals are also to large to be dolphins, my next intuition is that they are manitees, and then I realize they are hippos and there are thousands of elephants bringing up the rear. Then this giant prehistoric creature jumps up out of the water takes a look around the street, climbs up over this carnival ride full of kids, and the kids are totally impressed. Prehistoric guy shoots up a side street and I woke up, for real. I hope! I wish that I could remember the dream I was having within the dream. I have never nor have I known anyone who has had a dream within a dream.

Why is love so hard?

2008-11-29T01:05:00.000-08:00

Why Is Love So Hard?

by: John McCullough

It's so easy in the movies, tv shows and in the chat rooms

But it's hard when it's written on your heart

It's like a knife, more like a scalpel, when it's carved into the muscle

Love is hard when it's written on you heart

It's twisted, convoluted, always messy and polluted

Love is hard when it's written on your heart

I guess if it was easy, everyone would try to seize it

Love is hard when it's written on your heart

Wait a minute, if you don't try to seize it, you're a damned fool

New SA

2008-11-04T06:08:00.000-08:00

We are standing on the precipice of one the best days in American History, in my lifetime. I am giddy with anticipation, but I am just as scared, as I am excited.
If Barrack Obama wins tonight, the neocons are going to go ballistic, and I mean that in the literal sense. They have chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and enough small arms to fill the Grand Canyon. Beware means being aware, not necessarily being scared. I am very, very scared.
If John McCain wins I will probably head south, and the third presidential election in America will have been stolen.
Think before you vote.
Friends don't let friends vote stupid.
Peace,
John

I Want a President Who Knows Where I Live

2008-10-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

I Want a President Who Knows Where I Live

by:

John McCullough

I want a president who knows where I live

I have been to the White House

Turnabout is fair play

I want a president who has driven a truck for a living

I want a president with splinters in his fingers, calluses on his hands and blisters on his feet

I want a president who has lived in a mobile home

I want a president who has been divorced at least once, and has paid child support, and/or missed a payment and spent a night in jail

I want the president who rigged the elections in 2000 and 2004 to go to prison

I want a president who has been homeless

I want a president who has been to a rock show and can’t remember a majority of it

I want a president who has had a DUI

I want a president who smokes too much

I want a president with AIDS

I want a president who has been in a mental institution

I want a president who knows where I live

Joey's 1st day of School

2008-08-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

Joey's 1st day of School

A Scrapbook

by: Becky McCullough

Is it just me or is the World Wide Web broken

2008-08-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

It seems like everywhere I turn, home, work, even at this hotel room the world wide web gets slower and less functional. Anybody else having problems.

2008-03-08T05:09:00.000-08:00

In a land, not so far away, Nashville Tennessee, snow is foreign to our soil. On March 7, 2008 we got the biggest snowstorm we will probably see all year. There was even thunder and lightning to accompany it. The local news referred to it as thunder snow, this is a first in my lifetime to experience this phenomenon.

Tori Singing

2007-12-22T06:51:00.000-08:00

Tori, before she got famous!

2007-12-05T03:45:00.000-08:00

As rehearsals got underway for this years Cold November Rain Tour, Drummer and Lead Vocalist Rick "Write it Down" Brown and Lead Guitarist Bruce "Nickname T.B.D" Allers appear not to have missed a beat. According to critiques "It is as if the band never broke up" This years tour, sponsored by Philip Morris an Tennessee Oncology vowing to end overpopulation by whatever means necessary. is much anticipated.
The Cold November Rain, which is not to be confused with the Rain Tour, which is actually a legitimate tour, is the predecessor to the December Black Ice Tour Featuring Tommy Q. The December Black Ice tour is sponsored by the makers of Black Ice, a pour substitute for the RJS Black Beauties we were all so fond of back in the seventies. The motto is Running on empty, running behind, why get fired, when you can get wired!

The Office Theme Song

2007-12-01T20:31:00.000-08:00

Get Reamed

2007-10-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

Visit Dunder Mifflin, Tallahassee!

The road less traveled

2007-09-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

The road less traveled, by no means indicates the road untraveled. If it did there wouldn't be a road to begin with.

Friction

2007-08-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or does friction rub you the wrong way?

NIAC is closing

2007-08-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

NIAC is closing. Well this is a bit discouraging whereas I was a participant in the Call for Proposals I will continue to shop my idea to other private enterprises via the X Prize Foundation. Hopefully someone will step up to fill the void. If you're in the market for an asteroid catcher (a.k.a. Catcher in the Sky) CALL ME NOW !

I am so pissed!

2007-06-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

I got diagnosed with cancer a week ago and I was told today that I have at least one more surgery and chemo and radiation to look forward to, and I have way more things that I would like to get done before I become a radically mutilated cancer patient.
My name is John McCullough, I am a singer, a songwriter, a guitarist and a photographer. That is all that I am. That is all that I ever will be. Anything that is contrary to those means is unacceptable to me.
I am expected to go out on tour and come back and start the mutilation process, how does that begin to advance MY goals?

Evolution

2007-05-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

We have 4 tools. Time, space, matter and energy. The more time, space matter and energy we waste on imaginary pursuits, such as religion, the less time, space, matter and energy we have to devote to worthwhile pursuits, therefore the lesser the potential of mankind.

Gun Violence, what are you going to do about it?

2007-04-21T04:37:00.000-07:00

I am going to continue to protest against capitalism and religion, I am an activist, not a capitalist and I hope you will forgive for not participating in your fund raiser. Guns, god and gays, they are wedge issues and they are tools for emotional blackmail.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. has nothing to do with psychotic people who cannot handle breaking up with their girlfriend, breaking up is hard to do, or who say things like from my cold dead hands, to walk around with handguns. It is clear to me that this ammendment gives the people the right to form the Army, the Navy, the Airforce, the Marines, the National Guard, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Any reasonable person can see that indiscriminate gun ownership is contrary to the second ammendment and the biggest threat to the militias we have created, in there lies the crux of the matter, reason. As long as capitalism and religion rule, reason will take a back seat.
When will the age of reason begin? What are you going to do about it? Don't send me any money, because I refuse to get into an emotional competition with Charlton Heston, to see who can get the biggest cookie jar, who can stuff the most in it and who can skim the most off of it, without getting caught.
Bake some cookies!
----- Original Message -----
From: StoptheNRA
To: silverthreads6@comcast.net
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 3:25 PM
Subject: John, What Are YOU Going to Do about Gun Violence?

If this email does not display correctly, click here to open it in your browser.

Ask Our Officials: "What are YOU going to do about it?"

Dear John,

My heart continues to ache for the victims, their families, and the Virginia Tech community. After my husband was shot by a deranged man, our lives were never the same. But at some point, Jim and I decided to stop hurting and take action.

Eight years ago today was the horrific tragedy at Columbine High School. And in that eight years, no significant action has been taken in our country to prevent gun violence.

Elected officials continue to ignore our gun violence problem. It’s time for them to answer one question: "What are YOU going to do about it?"

We’re waging a campaign to ask our nation's leaders . . . the President, the Congress, the presidential candidates, state officials and local governments . . . asking them, "What are YOU going to do about it?"

32 people were murdered on Monday at Virginia Tech
32 people are murdered every day by gun violence in America

As a nation we must do better

A clever donor has started her own email campaign asking her contacts to contribute $32 or more today to help sustain our campaign to ask our nation’s leaders, "What are YOU going to do about it?"

What a great idea. Will you join her by making a gift today and asking your contacts to join you?

Right now, we are focusing on the Presidential candidates all of whom have been disturbingly silent on the issue.

Call those who want to be President, and ask them "What are YOU going to do about it? What we're doing now is not working. Doing nothing is not an option. Please take action now."

Your support is the life of our campaign. This is an unbudgeted project that can only be sustained with your generous support today.

We can no longer wait and we must take action . . . too many lives are being lost. So today, I respectfully ask, "What are YOU going to do about it?"

Warm regards and growing optimism,

Sarah Brady, Chair
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Click here for more info.

If this e-mail was forwarded to you, click here to sign up for your own Brady Campaign alerts.

Donate to Support the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

You can also mail a check to:
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
1225 Eye Street NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005

Click here to update your e-mail preferences.

Creativity and Insanity

2007-04-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

It is said, there is a fine line between creativity and insanity. Humans cannot create, creators create. Whereas the creator is a creation of the imagination, it's no wonder so many people go insane.

Race-ism

2007-04-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

If I am a Nascar dad, does that make me a race-ist?

Fund raising

2007-02-04T20:56:00.000-08:00

Fund raising, fund raising and more fund raising. Save the Sequoias, save the whales, elect a president, join a church, social group or organization and once a day or every chance they get to grab your attention they are passing the collection plate, when will this nonsense ever end. Rob from the poor and middle class and give to the rich, it's not charity, it's money laundering. Whether your cause is malevolent or benevolent, the rhetoric is all the same, give till it hurts, or give till your guilty conscience quits hurting.
As long as there are cookie jars there will be individuals ready to stick their hand in them, my advice is eliminate the cookie jars.
Appropriations are the same as fund raising accept the donor has no say so as to which cookie jar his cookies are being stored in, that is left up to your elected representatives who know more about your needs than you do, who really don't care a tinker's dam about your needs, but merely care about the needs of the special interest, who will fund their next reelection.

I Had a Dream

2006-12-27T19:02:00.000-08:00

Wednesday May 18, 2005
This morning I had a dream. In this dream, I am sitting at, what appears to be a kitchen table, or the counter at a diner.
To my left is my father, to my right is my mother, who is now deceased, but appears to be quite healthy in my dream.
In my hand is a small flashlight, the kind that uses two "AA" batteries. There was no cap to hold the batteries in place. I am trying to push the batteries into place with my thumb.
In front of me is a tabloid sized newspaper, displayed prominently on an easel or a music stand.
My mom says "Pray and things will get better"
.
The next thing I know, I am screaming at the top of my lungs "God help me, things never get any better, they just keep getting harder, and harder, and harder"
.
Out of the blue there appears two very bright flashes, which appear to be emanating from the newspaper, or the flashlight in my hand, bouncing off the newspaper.
Transcribed on the newspaper appears to be two sequential frames of a very overexposed, or negative, or x-ray of a human head in distress.
As I am stumbling out of my chair, the words going through my head are "What the fuck was that?" The look on my parents’ face reflected similar astonishment.
At this point I woke up.

My latest, latest greatest novel

2006-12-16T21:15:00.000-08:00

The White Whippet
©2006
by:
John McCullough

As I walked from the house, what should appear?
A racer, a hound, a whippet I fear
As white as a ghost, and swift as the wind
It dashed into sight and then out again
In this flavorless age, for magic at least
Is it wise for a wizard to appear as a beast?

Whatever comparison I found, between a white whippet and a white rabbit is phonetic at best. Chasing either seems a task best left to an acid head. Not that I am a virgin to LSD, but it seems like hundreds of years since last I imbibed.
I didn’t actually chase it, but it just so happened to be going in the same direction that I was heading. As I pulled up to the stop sign at the end of the street, I looked to the left to see if there was any traffic in the lane I had to cross, and I looked to the right to see if there was any traffic in the lane in which I was about to merge. There, in the corner lot, stood the white whippet, giving me a look like it noticed, that I had noticed.

Not that I have any empirical proof in the existence of magic, would that this whippet were to trans…whatever Carlos Castañeda called it, I would be more than willing to videotape it and to show it on the talk show circuit, if the would be sorcerer were willing to be videotaped and I could get him to sign the necessary release forms.

When I was younger, I thought a would be was a wood bee. What slayed me was the number of wood bee assassins. Save the wood bees! Wisdom is a process. There is no coincidence that wise rhymes with eyes, and wizard rhymes with lizard, no coincidence whatsoever.

This story began as an observation, turned into a poem and evolved into story, because, if the truth be told, poetic justice is an oxymoron. If meter and rhyme are your partners in crime, and syntax is your master, at some point, sooner than later you are going to have to resort to the language of the gibbers, a.k.a. gibberish.
At that point why not revert back to a simpler form of communication. Because it is not how you say it, but what? You say!

One letter

2006-08-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

One letter seperates the losers from the lovers.

A line from a dream.

2006-06-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

You not only knew everything you ever needed to know, on the day you were born, but you also knew everything you are going to learn in your lifetime, on the day you were born.

Marketeering

2006-05-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

Marketeering
©2006
by:
John McCullough

It was a night just like this. I was standing at the counter of Boundaries Bookstore. Before I could plop my book down on the counter, the clerk asked me if I had a Boundaries Incentive Card. I said no. The next question was; did I want one? I said no.
I said thank you for your marketing information, and while we are on the subject; do you know what I would really like? The clerk said no.
I would like to give you my marketing spiel. Turnabout is fair play.
Good products
Good prices
Good location
Convenient hours
Honor your employees

Most important, pass this information on to you immediate supervisor, and make sure he does the same.
With these five principals we could change the way America does business.
Marketing and/or Marketeering as I prefer to call it, is a scam.
Convincing people to want things that they don’t need and inflating the price to “Whatever the Market Will Allow” for as long as the market will allow, is a false economy.
I really never had a problem with wanting. My Dear Santa list is a novel followed up by the sequel entitled “Things I Can’t Afford”, a verbatim duplicate of the Dear Santa novel.
I come from the era when the “Wish Book” came out once a year. They had a seasonal supplement but it was filled with useless things like lawn mowers and patio furniture.
Ah, but the “Wish Book” came out shortly before Christmas and despite the two or three hundred pages of pesky clothes, the kind that made your neck itch on the first really hot day of school because of a combination of heavy starch and the wire brush your mom used on your neck trying to remove three months worth of summer neck dirt. But, I digress.
Women’s intimate apparel did not qualify as pesky clothes.

Ah, but the “Wish Book”. The back half contained the heart’s desires of every kid in America. Bicycles, chemistry sets with potential flammable, explosive, irritant, and toxic capabilities.

The wood burning kit. What genius came up with that one? Like every kid in America wanted to become a sign maker in the fake Indian lodge industry.

Lake Winnipesauke This Way →

Here’s a good idea. Let’s stick Jr. in the garage, with a red hot poker and a piece of soft wood and see if we can get a personalized plaque for our front door before he:
A. Burns the house down, including the front door.
B. Burns himself, requiring years of plastic surgery and psychiatric therapy.

I remember the first time the “Wish Book” was placed in my lap and I was told to pick out three things that I could wish for, for Christmas. The family tradition was that I was supposed to circle them and brand them with my moniker; I was way too little to have learned how to write at the time, and way too little to have lifted that heavy catalogue out of my lap. If there had been an emergency I would have been trapped.

Chicken Soup

2005-11-14T20:02:00.000-08:00

Is Chicken Soup a remedy for the Bird Flu?

Gravity

2005-11-01T19:43:00.000-08:00

Gravity is our downfall.

2005-03-23T20:58:00.000-08:00

Which statement describes you best:

A. I woke up at X o'clock this morning because I wanted to become wealthier.

B. I woke up at X o'clock this morning because of a fear of becoming poor.

Storms Come, Storms Go

2005-03-13T20:07:00.000-08:00

Storms come, storms go
Seas rage, the wind blows
The heart aches, the liver burns
You pray for death and the weather turns
Calm comes and calm goes
Where it stops nobody knows

The Origin of the Big Bang

2005-02-24T19:09:00.000-08:00

They have discovered the origin of the Big Bang.
It was a tree. It fell in the forest. There was no one there to hear it, but it did make a sound. It was a bang, and it was big.

Flip the script

2004-10-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

The right to bear arms and form a militia. Unfortunately anything can be taken out of context and the right wing spin on John Kerry's position on the War in Iraq is unpresidented. Voting to give President George W. Bush the authority to go to war as an ace up his sleeve in his negotioations with Saddam Husseins is not not the same as saying hey stupid we are playing the child's card game of War and that ace up your sleeve will trump everything except the Joker. Unfortunately President George W. Bush took it that way.

Evolution vs. Revolution

2004-09-28T14:59:00.000-07:00

As my 21 year old son cries revolution, I am prone to cry evolution. I believe the ability of the human species to reason has already evolved, it just hasn't caught on yet. The leap from cannabalism to capitalism took a long time and they are basically the same. How long does that mean it will take for people to realize that peace and justice are better than pride and greed. If we do not exstinct ourselves in the process I believe someday reason will catch on.

Sloppy Journalism vs. Dead People

2004-09-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday 9/21/04 Steve Gill, host of the Steve Gill Show on FM 99.7 WTN, Nashville,TN commented on his outrage because Dan Rather went on 60 Minutes and did a report about George Bush being a"Fortunate Son" in his avoidance of combat duty in the Viet NamWar, based on false documents and unreliable sources.
George Bush declared war on the nation of Iraq based on false documents and unreliable sources.
Steve Gill believes Dan Rather should resign, or that CBS should fire him. Does that also mean that Steve Gill believes that George Bush should resign, or that he should be impeached?

IT: a work in progress

2004-08-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

IT
©2003
by:
John McCullough
I'm sitting in a hotel room trying to think of the word used for a group of initials which represents a string of words, like AA or snafu. What if I have lost the ability to think? What if my brain is completely full? What if it is malfunctioning? What is it? It is.
I am no longer sitting in a hotel room, which neither implies that I am standing or in a hotel room.
The depth of my depravity is directly proportionate to the amount of time that I have left over at the end of the day.
I can change the world. I can dig a hole in it. It may not be better or worse, but it will be different.
This is the beginning to my great American novel. I will need at least one $5000 advance to fini shit, the shit to end all shits. I realize this is paramount to extortion.
The word is acronym.
It is amazing. How much life reflects art?
Some acronyms are created prior to the selection of words they are designated to represent.
FUBAR is not one of those acronyms.
UNITING AND STRENGTHENING AMERICA BY PROVIDING APPROPRIATE TOOLS REQUIRED TO INTERCEPT AND OBSTRUCT TERRORISM (USA PATRIOT) ACT OF 2001. Is it, or isn’t it? That is the question.
Chevalerie d'Institution et Regles Catholiques, d'Union Independente et Traditionaliste
(Chivalry of Catholic Rules and Institutions of the Independent and Tradionalist Union)
CIRCUIT
Isn't it amazing? How much pride is wasted on the least accomplished? The more accomplished one is, the more one realizes how little one has to do with one's own accomplishments.
Ain't, ain't a word, because ain't, ain't in the dictionary. Good God I am glad that I am not a linguist.
Timothy McVeigh was executed yesterday. Is capitol punishment a deterrent to capitol crime? I believe it is a sadistic reaction to a sadistic action. I believe it has more to do with Newton's Law than legal justice.
Justice: It is not us against them, it is just us.
This week was a benchmark in the march against right wing political mania in the media. In the midst of listening to Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by: Al Franken, I got an opportunity to hear a rebroadcast of the NPR interview with Bill O’Rielly featured as the guest on Fresh Air. Bill O’Rielly got so flustered by what sounded like a twelve year old girl that he turned tail and stormed out of the studio like a big wimp. I was not nearly as exuberant when Rush Limbaugh came on and made his confession of addiction, but as I know from my own experience, humility is essential to recovery from addiction. If anybody could use a dose of humility, it’s Rush Limbaugh.
IT

The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. The Celestial, the Terrestrial and the Immaterial.

Letting Go

2004-08-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

Letting Go
©1997
by: John McCullough
Sometimes when I'm feeling bad, I try to make it right
I try to change the world and I can put up quite a fight
But when I'm tired of fighting and I'm tired of being right
I say a little prayer to God and everything's alright
And it's more than all I have and it's more than all I know
It's a simple little prayer to God, I call it Letting Go.
There are two words to the title, there are two words to the verse
I say it while I lay in bed and several times at work
And it's more than all I have and it's more than all I know
It's a simple little prayer to God, I call it Letting Go.

Kill the Noise

2004-08-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

Kill the Noise
©1997
by:
John McCullough
When I talked too much
I cannot hear the mission
When I close my eyes
I lose my inhibitions
When I shut my mouth
I hear without conditions
Why do I ruin my chances for survival
Early departure means dead on arrival
The word in the book only comes with one edition
A small still voice
Kill the noise
The deer in the headlights doesn’t hear the voice of reason
They die on the highway either in or out of season
The only protection that I need for my direction
Is a small still voice
Kill the noise
Do this and you shall live
It’s the greatest gift that I can never give
It’s a small still voice
Kill the noise

A Nursery Rhyme for the Stubborn Child

2004-08-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

A Nursery Rhyme for the Stubborn Child
©2003
by:
John McCullough
Sunlight does it shine as bright
Even when it’s out of sight
On cloudy days and in the dead of night
And even if the clouds were gone
The circling hordes of carrion
Would take away my vision of the sun
Moving in cyclonic fashion
Spiraling in patient passion
If I should lose my will to carry on
They’ll swoop down and consume my flesh
And pick my bones and leave the rest
And rest a while and let my stuff digest
They’ll strip me of my nutrients
And shoot me out in excrement
To tumble freely on my last descent
The worms will further harvest me
And turn me into history
And life is such a mystery to me
Sunlight does it shine as bright
When bones are bleached to pearly white
On cloudy days and in the dead of night
Child of six up past eleven
Aspire to reach the age of seven
Close your eyes or turn your thoughts to heaven
The End
Amen
Good Night

When in the Course of Human Events?

2004-08-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

When in the course of human events is it O.K. to be liberal or to criticize the establishment.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another.
I am writing this criticism in response to DELIVER US FROM EVIL Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism by Sean Hannity. Whereas I believe Sean Hannity has implied that any and all liberalism is evil.
What is liberal: According to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition;
liberal: BROAD-MINDED esp : not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or traditional forms.
What is "a" liberal: It is a label.
Ad hominem labeling discourages debate. I believe my beliefs are primarily liberal, therefore I would not be offended, in the least, if you called me a liberal.
One additional reference from Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition defining liberalism: a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties. This brings me to my first criticism beyond the jacket liner of DELIVER US FROM EVIL Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism by Sean Hannity. On pages 2 and 3 Mr. Hannity states:
" It’s difficult for liberals to see such moral questions clearly because most of them are moral relativist. They reject absolute standards of right and wrong. In their worldview, man is perfectible, human nature is on a linear path toward enlightenment, and the concept of sin is primitively biblical."
Here is where I beg to differ, the etymology of the word human indicates that it is derived from humus meaning earth, in other words humans are dirt. We are all endowed with seven deadly sins: pride, greed, anger, lust, envy, sloth, and gluttony, and three cardinal virtues: faith, hope, and charity. We are seven parts rotten and three parts good, we are seventy percent rotten, all of us. That includes myself, Sean Hannity, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Charles Manson, the Pope, Madonna and the little boy who lives down the lane.
Evil exists. It is live spelled backwards.
To qualify my statements concerning the seven deadly sins, I refer to The Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions, "To avoid confusion over the names these defects should be called, let’s take a universally recognized list of major human failings-the Seven Deadly Sins of pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth."
What I was threatened with if I did not stick to the program was drinking and death. I did not consider this revelation any more offensive than being cast into hell for disobedience or struck blind for masturbating.
Bill of Rights
Amendment 1
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
On September the 16th, President of the United States George W. Bush stated:
"This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while"
Mr. Hannity wastes no time in mentioning The United States of America’s Judeo-Christian heritage on page 14 and on page 15 Mr. Hannity states:
"A group of Islamic extremist attacks us because we’re a largely Judeo-Christian nation that supports Israel, and we’re supposed to keep silent about our faith?"
Pages 25 through 39 are devoted to the holocaust and pages 292 through 296 of the epilogue are dedicated to Israel and the Palestinians.
Politics and religion are a dangerous combination. Personally I believe a majority of religion is politics. The post apocalyptic Jerusalem will have twelve gates and look a whole lot like the Emerald City. After the apocalyptic genocide what will be the need of a gated community. I am pretty sure the 4 million Palestinians refugees will be taken care of by the apocalyptic genocide.
The Romans occupy the Holy Land. God sends Jesus the Son of God, being one with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost to the rescue. The Jews convince the Romans to crucify Jesus. 400 years later the Christians turn power over to none other than the Romans. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
I believe the greatest threat to America is any law that Congress passes respecting aid or comfort to Israel.
Israel is an establishment of religion. Therefore any law that Congress passes respecting aid or comfort to Israel is a violation of the First Amendment and is therefore unconstitutional.
I believe the second greatest threat to our American way of life is any law attempting to provide vouchers to parents to allow their children to attend private and/our religious schools. In my lifetime I have seen the deterioration of wages and benefits, people are working longer hours, the possibility of a one income household keeping their head above water is virtually nil, retirement is about as stable as a crap shoot, and as we know the house always wins, and now we want to plunge our kids into the dog eat dog world of corporate privatization. Religious schools are an establishment of religion. I believe any law attempting to provide vouchers to parents to allow their children to attend private and/our religious schools is a violation of the First Amendment and is therefore unconstitutional.
Support our troops. Thou shalt not take the name of our troops in vain. Get real, the institutions that are taking the lions share of the $400,000,000,000.00 annual defense budget are not our troops, they are companies like Halliburton, McDonald/Douglas, Boeing, General Electric, the Rand Corporation, and the Carlyle Group.
Trust me it’s hard to justify a $400,000,000,000.00 annual defense budget. Desperate attempts to justify this boondoggle have included the Falkland Islands War? Granada? A line in the sand? A line in the stans(Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, etc., etc., etc., …)
So far we have been threatened with nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The threats have not come from our enemies, they have come from our State of the Union address. What the actual defense budget of our combined international threat has thrown up against us is:
SCUDS
IED’s
Box cutters
a shovel which was used to dig a six foot spider hole for Saddam Hussein to hide in
That would be $100,000,000,000 for each of the above line items.
Dwight D. Eisenhower said before leaving office "Beware of the military-industrial complex".
Oh when will they ever learn, oh when will they ever learn.
I am not saying we don’t have mean people who want to injure us, mortally if necessary, but unfortunately a majority of those people are supposed to be the people we are counting on to protect us.
Jingoism, nationalism, pride, greed and corruption are just as responsible for the death of our troops as radical Islamic fundamentalist ever thought about being.
Wake up and smell the coffee, flag waving, gun toting, neo-conservative nut jobs are ruining our country and they don’t give a damn about the men, women and children, foreign or American, military or civilian who are dying to justify their cause.
A client state in the middle east and a more powerful military-industrial complex, money and power, power and money. It is capitalism gone psychotic. And the top 2% who are profiteering off of this insanity are the ones who are benefiting most from the George W. Bush tax cuts, putting a greater burden on working Americans to fund the $400,000,000,000.00 annual defense budget.
It’s like Robin Hood, only backwards, oh, and it stinks and it sucks and it is absolutely evil.
What I don’t understand is what Sean Hannity is getting out of this? He is by no means one of the top 2% who is managing his estate up into the seventh generation, he may be a wealthy celebrity but the truly wealthy would look down their nose at him as if he were Jed Clampett.
For further study refer to http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/nouveau-riche
Clinton bashing. Character assassination.
On Thursday July 22, 2004 I heard Sean Hannity interview Commissioner John Lehman concerning the Sudanese offer to hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States, Lehman stated there never was a confirmed offer to hand over bin Laden. The source of that information was questionable.
Getting to yes. An old technique I recall from selling overpriced vacuum cleaners to unsuspecting victims, it’s the oldest trick in the book and there are plenty of books to tell you how to get there.
I have heard Sean Hannity use the question "Is the world a better place now that Saddam Hussein has been captured and the rape rooms and the mass graves have been shut down"
Mr. Hannity you are leading the witness.
Now come on, is that a fair question? I mean what kind of puppy kicker would say no to that question?
Mr. Hannity would it piss you off if the Iraqi court found Saddam Hussein not guilty, reinstated his job and demanded back pay from the United States?
Mr. Hannity would it piss you off if Ted Kennedy wrote SEAN HANNITY SUCKS in the snow with his own urine in front of your place of residence?
Just answer the question or I am going to have to end this article.
The End

Middle East Peace Plan

2004-08-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

Middle East Peace Plan
Step 1: Have the UN form a new nation of Palestine, formerly known as the state of Florida.
Step 2: Provide any and all necessary UN peace keeping and security forces to secure the coasts, the borders and the interior of the new nation until such time as the new Palestine has sufficient arms and forces to protect their own coasts, borders and the interior.
Step 3: Allow any and all Palestinians to settle in the new nation now known as Palestine. Settlement will involve sufficient housing and property, which may lead to occasional forfeitures by remaining residents of the state formerly known as Florida.
Step 4: Encourage any and all current residents to remain in the new nation of Palestine, formerly known as the state of Florida as long as they are willing to surrender their United States citizenship and apply for Palestinian citizenship. Those who are chosen to stay will be subject to Palestinian law.
Step 5: Those who chose to leave, or have their applications denied will be forced to deport to an undisclosed refugee camp until such time as they can be assimilated into the remainder of the United States.

Bart and Lisa Simpson vs. Albert Einstein

2004-08-21T18:12:00.000-07:00

Bart Simpson is traveling at ½ the speed of light, when he passes Lisa Simpson, who is standing still on the planet earth. Each child has a synchronous timepiece which is triggered to display 0:00:00 (h:m:s) as Bart passes. Simultaneously a laser is emitted from Lisa’s location. Bart and the laser are on a race to the sun.

At 0:04:00 on Lisa’s timepiece Bart passes ¼ AU (AU = the distance from the earth to the sun) and the laser beam passes ½ AU. When Bart passes ¼ AU he observes the readout on his timepiece. Much to his chagrin it does not read 0:04:00 because of Bart’s speed, the diminishing effects of earth’s gravity and the increasing effects of the sun’s gravity. Is there any way to calculate the read out on Bart’s timepiece? I am going to have to estimate the readout on Bart’s timepiece would read 0:02:00, because it would be consistent with the span between his position and the position of the forward most end of the laser beam.

Do LaGrange points have any significance in these calculations? Would Bart’s mass increase at ½ the speed of light? Is there any way to graphically display the topography of the warped space/time the travelers would be subjected to?
At 0:08:00 on Lisa’s timepiece Bart passes ½ AU and the laser beam passes 1 AU. When Bart passes ½ AU he observes the readout on his timepiece I am going to have to estimate the readout on Bart’s timepiece would read 0:04:00, because it would be consistent with the span between his position and the position of the forward most end of the laser beam.