In the final stages...

Hi there PyreBurners. As you may have noticed, I'm in the final stages of the new and improved KHPB. I'm still having issues with the comments, so I'm keeping put for right now.

See you soon!

Fighting them over there, so we can die over here...

This story should scare the heck out of everyone.
After seeing the aftermath of Katrina in LA., and now the total distruction of a small city in KS, one has to wonder what's going to happen when we here in MI have a disaster...

Tell your elected officals that we need our National Guard troops home now!

This link comes by way of AmericaBlog.com . Thanks, Joe for letting us know we have to prepare for the worst.... on our own!

National Guard Troops MIA for disasters

Blog-o-fights more common?

Okay, Okay. I know I’m slow to get this blog moved. I didn’t know having to design a blog from scratch would be so hard or time consuming. In the mean time, I’ll try to post here once a day until I unveil the new location.

One thing that’s been on my mind of late is the tone of discussions in the comments of many blogs. I’m not talking about the trolls who come over to create a scene, but regular posters who are getting vicious for no apparent reason. It’s happening on several blogs I visit on a regular basis. I don’t know if it’s Dubya fatigue, having to put up with the regressives’ constant badgering, or if it’s the fact that the Democratic leadership seems to be dragging their feet in changing the balance of power in D.C.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been snarky, rude and quick to anger as of late. If you’ve been someone in the crossfire of my rants… I apologize.
How do we change the tone in the comments? I don’t know. Maybe we have to realize that not everyone will feel or think the same way we do. Finding common ground and working from there might help. Learning to ignore outrageous posts and not comment on them would be better than accusing someone of being a bit “short-bus material”.
I wonder if this can be done. I will try to do better in the future, but I can’t promise not to blow up at the occasional troll.
As I look at the world around me, I see the anger building in the non-cyber realm as well. People are quick tempered, out for blood, and ready to drop fists at the slightest faux pas. Is it something the air or water or have we just come to the boiling point as a people?

UPDATE

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post. I'm in the process of moving over to a new blog site. When KHPB is moved, there will be better tools to autopost, a live chat room for live blogging an event, and the chance to get away from holoscan and it's limitations.

I'm almost ready to go live with the KHPB 2.0, so stay tuned and watch this space for the notice.

My kids’ food may be tainted.

UPDATED 04/06/07

I cannot call my kids, pets. They are so much more than a domesticated animal. They have personalities, they have feelings, and they also have their moods. I’ve raised them, taught them what is acceptable and what isn’t, and provide them with all that I can so their life can be joyous.
Now, the FDA and Menu Foods (manufacturer of ingredients for almost all of the US dog and cat food brands) are refusing to identify the source of the contaminated wheat gluten. Here are the details as of right now.

NOTE: This situation is changing all the time. I will keep you up to date as best I can.

Date unverified (ca. March 2 2007) Menu Foods has 9 of 25 cats die after taste tests.

March 16 2007 Menu Foods recalls 60 million cans and pouches of wet style cat and dog food manufactured at their Emporia, KS plant.

March 17 - present The list of cat and dog food continues to expand, now including a dry cat food marketed by Hill’s Science Diet - Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry food

Date unverified (ca. March 23 2007) Researched indicate aminopterin
found in the recalled foods.

March 30 2007 The FDA disputes finding aminopterin as the cause and focuses on imported wheat gluten from China.

March 31 2007 Menu Foods states that the suspect wheat was imported from China to an US wheat gluten manufacturer.

Both the FDA and Menu Foods refuse to name the manufacturer.

Upon some digging, I found there are only three manufacturers of wheat gluten here in the US. They are;

MGP Ingredients (they announced on March 21 2007 that they haven’t supplied wheat gluten to Menu Foods in over 18 months.)

Manildra Milling Co., an Australian based company (according to their own records, they only use US and Australian grown wheat for their products)

Which leaves us to the last suspect…

Archer-Daniels-Midland Co
I will report back if I find they can be ruled out. (UPDATE: Ruled out)

(UPDATE: The wheat Gluten was manufactured by Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company in China.)

If I find that a company is using unregulated sources for what my kids eat, I will launch the biggest pet food boycott this country has ever seen. Also, it may pay to take heed that wheat gluten is also found in many of our (human) consumption products. I hope the FDA will take this serious and investigate if the tainted wheat gluten is now in our food chain. (UPDATE: Concern that the tainted wheat gluten is in our food supply is being investigated)
More to come…

Can you hear the bubble bursting?

We are learning that the housing market is in trouble. Many people took out ARM (adjustable mortgage rate) loans. This seemed fine at the time. The monthly payments were low and they could borrow up to many times their yearly income. Now that the market is slowing, the lenders are cashing in their chips. Those extremely low monthly payments are beginning to double, triple and in some cases, quadruple. I remember a Michigan based company advertising on the radio. They promised that you could make monthly payments towards the principle and the interest payments would kick in later. How many people, dreaming of owning their first home, jumped on the wagon? These are the people I feel sorry for. This is their dream being foreclosed upon.

Now, there is another type of person in peril. These people saw the low interest rates, found houses in upscale locations, and planned on how they would take out these ARM loans and flip (resell) the house before they would have any interest payments. These are the people who drove up the costs in the housing market. They created the overpriced bubble to begin with. These people will have to lose their condo in Naples and retreat to their overpriced homes up north. These people will never have my sympathy. They deserve to fail.

The last type of person is the lender. I’m not talking about any of the honest lenders that are out there. No, I’m talking about the predatory lender. This person seeks those who have questionable credit histories, and promises them they can afford a home way beyond their means. This is the lender that seeks out someone with a McJob, earning McWages, and shows them they can get a $300,000 home for only $700 a month. Mr and Mrs. McWage Earner believed the lender. They didn’t question the details, and were just happy to finally get out of that bad neighborhood and into a great home. This type of lender should be brought up on charges.

Well, there we have it. The housing market in a nutshell. Homes worth $100,000 being sold for $500,000. People on the west coast were driven out of the major cities due to the obscene costs of housing. In my area of the Midwest, homes that normally sold for $80,000 went for $200,000. The realestate agent I was working with kept trying to get me to buy. She restated that the interest rates were are their lowest point, and the housing prices were sure to only go up… I knew better. How? I remember lessons my grandpa told me while growing up. We were farmers, and I had no intention on staying on the farm when I grew up. Grandpa knew this and he tried to impart his wisdom upon me. You know you’ve all heard the sayings; If it’s too good to be true , or You can’t get something for nothing… these were drilled into my head. (along with “If it’s fun… it’s not work“, but that’s for another therapy session.)

I read the reports, did my homework, and followed the housing market everyday. I could see that it was way over inflated. When prices rise that much, that quickly, they cannot sustain… it a fact of economics. I knew that people weren’t reading the fine print that told them while they may not have interest payments for the first year, the interest would fester and expand each month they paid only on the principle. I told my agent that I was going to wait it out for awhile. While she wasn’t happy with my gloom and doom assessment, I knew I was making the right decision.

Last fall, I found the house. Normally, this house would have gone for nearly 100K but due to the slump in the market, being in a financially challenged area of MI, and the sellers nasty divorce, it was valued at $70,000. it’s a 3bd/2bth, 1586 sq’ 2 car garage on a city sized lot but out in the country. Built in 2000, it also has 2 decks and all appliances included. Not bad I thought to myself. I could talk them down to $55k or $60k I thought. After sitting for a couple months, this divorcing couple needed to unload it ASAP. As a joke, I offered $15k. After a week, I got a call saying that they could only go as low as $19,875. You can guess I was at the bank that morning filling out the loan application. Now had this couple been in foreclosure, I would have felt bad. That may have even ended the sale for me right there. But how many others are going to look for these deals, not the divorce sales but the foreclosures, and rip them out from families?

I want you to know that I hold no ill-will towards those who make a profit from the sale of property. Truth be told, we did the same on a property. But there is a difference on a 10%- 15% gain verses an over inflated 30% - 70% gain like what happened a couple years ago. Flippers are getting what they deserve, and the rest of us will pay for it for years to come.
Now there’s talk about some sort of bail out due to the bursting market. I would agree to this on certain terms.

1, First time home buyers who were fooled into the ARMs should get a reprieve on interest rates.
2, Flippers should be exempt from any help.
3, Any company found guilty of predatory lending should be forced to liquidate all assets and pay into a fund for those in item 1.
4, Any financial help is a one time deal. No repeats.
5, If you are an item 1 person, you must take classes on basic economics to prepare yourselves for the next time you try to get something for nothing.

That's my take on this. Help those who need it, and make sure no help goes to those who caused it.

A new bedtime story for progressive kids...

It now seems the gloves are off concerning AG Alberto Gonzales. Now the GOP is starting to join in with the displeasure of being lied to.
What?!? The AG lied??? You can’t be serious?

Well kids, it’s time for another chapter from the book of GOP - Grand Ol’ Perjurers.

Tonight’s chapter is brought to you by Alberto V05, not just a hair care product anymore… now it will also be the prisoner number for our current AG. Now back to the story.

Once upon a time, there was a king. He ruled the land with contempt and foolishness. The king relied on his faithful advisors and servants to uphold his mighty grip on the villagers. After many years of watching the king squander the wealth and good name of the kingdom, his advisors became discontent with his majesty. Still other advisors and servants took it upon themselves to behave as the king and began to cheat and steal from the villagers. Upon learning this, the king was afraid. “If the people know of this vile activity, they will blame me” said the king.
That night the court jester, Rovian, suggested to the king that he had the answer to all their problems. “Contact your advisors and tell them to round up the mayors and counselors of the villages. Find out who doth pledge loyalty to you and banish those who doth not. After all, do they not serve at the pleasure of the king?” The king, joyous in this plan, sent his jester, Rovian, to meet with the head royal counselor, Lord Albert. Together, they devised the plan to recognize the least loyal of the village law keepers and dismiss them for false reasons.

Now, these village advocates were in the process of gathering information about the servants of the king who had committed great wrongs against the villagers…

To save time, and my keyboard… I’m skipping ahead to the end of the chapter.

Rovian the jester hid away for the rest of his days with his loyal friend Sir Gannon of Gukkert. Lord Albert was tarred and feathered by his own family, and the king relinquished his realm and fled to what is now modern day Paraguay with his wife, Lady Pickles, and their two daughters, Princess Partyth, and Princess Faketh Id’th. Alas, the king’s mother, so distraught over the sudden departure of her son, worried her beautiful little mind into her grave.
The moral of the story is…. Well….. Never mind. Trying to explain the moral would be like trying to explain the pronunciation of the word NUCLEAR to Dubya. Oh, and Alberto… some advice. Quit reading Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. You need to quit believing his quote about lying. “Even while lying, you’ll be believed if you speak with authority.” The villagers aren’t buying it one bit. Oh, and let Dubya know about this too, ok?

Back in the tundra

I'm back from my travels and ready to go. I'm writing some new postings and will update the blog tonight.

Another day in Paradise

I typing this from the tropical surroundings of central Florida. The island music is playing, the sounds of a waterfall is in the background and there is a warm breeze blowing over the palms.
I wish I could be here every day of the year, but that isn’t in the works for at least another 11 years (early retirement).
So what’s been happening while I’ve been on the road.
Another GOP darling has been outed as a former male porn star, escort, and hypocrite. How many times does it take for the average American to see that the party of “morality” is nothing more than a giant orgy of duplicity. If you are an average homosexual, trying to make a living, keep a home and succeed at your job… and just happen to support the Democratic party, you are evil and must be destroyed. If, however, you are a gay-for-pay hustler who has more money shots than the Hilton girls, you are grand as long as you salute the Bush Royal Family every morning. The regressive party cannot go one month without reminding us of the how their children were forever scarred due to the Clinton penis, but when Mark Foley has his sticky hands caught on the pages… or is that his hands on the sticky pages… can’t remember, that is topic non grata.
I read through many websites on a daily basis. One of those is the press releases from the LCR (Log Cabin Republicans). Now there is a group I cannot understand. If you subscribe to the financial ideals of the Republican party, then fine… go independent, libertarian, or whatever 3rd world party you want. But to pledge your support for a group of bigoted, self-centered, deception mongers is beyond contempt.
I’ll write more about this another day as I don’t want to spoil the perfect sunset in paradise.

Open Thread time...

Vacation time is here...

I'm leaving very early in the AM, bound for Florida.

I'll post again as soon as I get to a Starbucks along the route.

Consider this an open thread...

(If I can figure out how, I'll try to post a few pics from the drive down using my cam-phone.)

Trolls are on the prowl

While Keep the Home Pyres Burning is too new for a troll infestation, it seems that other progressive blogs are swarming with 'em.

What is a troll you might ask... Well, in the blogosphere, a troll is someone who incites conflict into comments without reason. In our progressive world, trolls normally are regressives (GOP), and dislike that fact that more and more people are finding out that the Party of Lincoln is really more like the Party of Quisling.

Trolls get their inspiration from Head Trolls like Rush (Oxy-Moron) Limbaugh, Ms ANn (pass me the duct tape) Coulter, and Michelle (I hate all the foreigners, except for myself) Malkin.

If one encounters a troll, do not attempt to engage it. Ignore it and move on.

As for trolls here... when they come, and they will, rest assured that when their comments become "trollish" and they violate the one sacred KHPB rule, they will be banished under the bridge.

WOW... sorry for the delay in posting

Well, I'm back in KHPB Central and ready to go...

UPDATE:

My story about ABC and Fight the Good Fight Ministries got someone's attention. I've been asked not to write about this right now due to legal action being taken.
What I can tell you is that at goodfight.org, they are selling videos that use clips and interviews by various artists. This video claims that artists such as The Beach Boys, Rolling Stones, Garth Brooks and many more, are satanists. Goodfight claims that Rock and Roll music causes, among other things, homosexuallity. (NOTE TO GOODFIGHT: You really should do some research. If you did, you would have known that Showtunes is the genre of choice for the heterosexually challenged.) These interviews were originally produced by ABC television for their Beatles special. TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) aired a video and they also didn't credit ABC. I'll keep you posted when I find out about the legal aspects.

I'm going to be away...

I'll be away for a few days to attend the funeral of Glen's Uncle Joe in Alabama. Uncle Joe was tough as nails, gruff, and US GI all the way, on the outside, but had the heart of an explorer and the compassion of a poet, on the inside.
I will miss our heated political discussions, our shared love of Mexican food, and our time spent out on the veranda watching the birds play in the Spanish moss hanging from the trees.
Uncle Joe, my life has been blessed to have known you.

Still waiting...

I'm still waiting on a reply email from ABC. I gave them 'til this evening to respond to my questions. In fairness, I have to allow them to reply to my inquiries before posting what I know. While I can't go into all the details just yet, I can give you the basics.

ABC produced a television special. During that special, many artists were interviewed about the subject matter. An extremist religious organization uses those interviews, copies each clip, and skews them to defame the artists themselves.
The organization produces a special, makes it available for sale on their website, and doesn't credit ABC for it's program. In the meantime, the host for the religious special, a famous 1980's actor, spins words and video to push bigotry to an all new high. Some of the defamed artists include; Robin Williams, Garth Brooks, Rolling Stones, Beatles, and the list goes on and on...

Now the slanderous program is being played on an over-the-air network.

I promise to fill in the details, provide contact info, and share the replies from ABC as soon as I can.

Almost done...

Here's another open thread to tide you over 'til my posting. I'm waiting on a few replies before I post the story. I expect to break the story on Wednesday evening if all goes right.

Sorry for the delay

I'm in the process of researching an important story. Heads up to ABC and various music, film and television performers. Seems the religious extremists are using you to spread their hate. I bet there will be lawsuits in the near future. More on this within the next few days.
This is your evening open thread.

New Coin Design???

With the roll-out of the new presidential dollar coins, I thought I'd throw in my bid to design the GWB coin. I know it's a rough draft, but for .0001% of what the administration is spending in Iraq, I can do better. To learn more about the new coins, "click here for the US Mint Site"

Sad, sad little man...

Tim Hardaway, has-been NBA star, hates gay people. You can read all about it here at the AmericaBlog Link

Maybe we should all try to make Mr Hardaway feel better and send him gift subscriptions to OUT Magazine.

Consider this your overnight open thread.

WOW!!! Won't someone in the administration tell the Prez...

He's NUTS!

I wrote a 10 page article showing the decline of W's mental status over the past few years.
I will not post it. I do not want a free trip to Gitmo nor do I want Poland or the UK to offer assistance to the CIA to spirit me away to some old prison tucked away in Moldova. Instead, please visit AmericaBlog's Coverage of the Twisted World of Georgie"

Evening Open Thread

Looks like George is finally reading a self-help book.

Maybe we should have all chipped in and got him this one way back in 2001.

Oh well, thread away Pyre-Burners...

Turkey isn't happy with the US on the Kurd issue

Abdullah Gul, who holds the dual title of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, was in D.C. to talk about the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party).

This is a serious issue that will affect US - Turkish realtions for a long time to come.
Turkey views the PKK as terrorists and the US cannot get involved due to the current Iraqi government. This will be interesting to see how the administration attempts to handle this crisis.


The New Anatolian from Ankara Turkey - Link article dated Feb 8th 2007

Pat Robertson's Words of Wisdom

I was scanning the regressive's holiest sites and came upon this jewel from CBN (Pat Robertson's website).

QUESTION: I was married for 23 years when my husband left me and our children. He says he never loved me. Now he seems as happy as can be, boasting that he cant wait to find quote the one. Is it wrong for me to pray that his new relationships fail? Im still deeply hurt. Is there healing for me?

ANSWER:There is if you let it go. Your husband is deeply, emotionally flawed. There is no question. And you should regard him as somebody who is slightly mentally morally sick. Anybody who does this kind of thing and says, “Oh, I never loved you, and I’m going to find the one.” It’s absurd. So if somebody is flawed, and he obviously is, you don’t need to have resentment, nor do you have to pray that he’ll be fouled up in his next. You leave all that in God’s hands. And believe you, God will bring plenty of bad things in his life without you helping. So just let it go and praise God and say, “Lord, I love you.” Fill your life with the goodness of the Lord.

I'm sick and tired of these lame excuses for religous people. Maybe your god is full of hate and makes bad things happen... hmmm who does that sound like? Could it be...... SATAN!?! Isn't that special... For more of this fecal festival, you can view it on this link...

warning link isn't humanity friendly - CBN website

Finnish Green City in Red China

Finland, known for it’s advanced standard of living, will soon be exporting more than just cell phones. Finland will build an Eco-City near Beijing.
Read more about this at the Helsingin Sanomat from Helsinki, Finland.

Helsingin Sanomat English Version Link

Over night open thread

Time for the Daily Show, then bed. Here's your moment of open thread.

Regressives come in all flavors, including Vegemite

You might remember Australian PM John Howard’s comments about 2008 Presidential candidate Barack Obama; “If I were running al-Qaida in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory, not only for Obama but also for the Democrats.”. It seems these words may come back to haunt him.
Read the Feb 13th article in the Herald-Sun from Australia.

Herald Sun Link

Afternoon Open Thread

I'll be away for the entire afternoon and early evening, as I'm going to a funeral for a close friend's husband.
While I'm away, take the time to jot down a few thoughts on what's happening in your corner of the world.
See you tonight.

Let me get this straight...

Okay, first it was "for the children", now it's because of the tailpipes???
Pam's House Blend has a great posting about Mr Shapiro so head on over to the coffehouse and take a peek.

Question for Mr. Shapiro: How many keys have you put in your tailpipe lately?

Pam's House Blend Link

Dixie Chicks Vindicated at Grammys

You may not be ready to make nice but the music industry is. The Dixie Chicks were nominated for five Grammy Awards, and they took top prize in them all.
Record of the year goes to… The Dixie Chicks with “Not Ready To Make Nice”
Album of the year goes to… The Dixie Chicks with “Taking The Long Way”
Song of the year goes to… The Dixie Chicks with “Not Ready To Make Nice”
Best County Performance by a Group with vocals… The Dixie Chicks with “Not Ready To Make Nice”
Best Country Album goes to… The Dixie Chicks with “Taking The Long Way”
Way to go Dixie Chicks! Believe it or not, I was a fan of the Chicks long before they were blacklisted. If you haven’t heard the song “Not Ready To Make Nice”, I urge you to go to their website and listen to it.
This is the ultimate finger in the air to many country radio stations and country artists that treated the Chicks unfairly.
By the way, to Toby Keith… I hope the Chicks record a song just for you… something like…
“How Do You Like Me Now”… and while I’m thinking about it, Toby… Stick that boot up your own butt, has-been!

Northern lights over Oslo, Norway

A great picture from Aftenposten.no
Having lived in Norway, I have to say the nothern lights shine brighter here than anywhere else I've been.

PHOTO: Håkon T. Sønderland

Oh yeah, consider this your evening open thread.

The sunset coast of Michigan welcomes two GOP'ers

Western Michigan... known for many things like beautiful sunsets over Lake Michigan, the tulips of Holland, and the Mecca for Christianists.
It figures that Grand Rapids would host two of the most rabid regressives in the GOP.

Note to the RNC, Please keep touting these religous extremists as one of yours. IT will be nice to retain the congress and add the White House in '08.
365gay.com Link

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) has a Theory

Seems that Rep. Dinogas figures that man isn't the one to blame for Global Climate Change... it's T-Rex toots...
Huff Post Story Link

Sunday Morning Open Thread

While I'm taking in the Sunday news shows, I thought I'd start the fire with an open thread.
Here's your chance to be as "off-topic" as you want. Discuss Pres. Putin's statement about the next cold war chapter, the Pope's comments on Italian domestic affairs, does NASA screen it's astronauts??? Depends, or any other topic under the sun.

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego???

It seems like the current administration’s efforts in rooting out terrorism is nothing more than a game. Nearly every evening we hear the MSM (main stream media) proudly proclaim the demise of yet another top Al-Qaeda leader for Iraq. How can it be that there are so many leaders of terrorism concentrated in one country? How can it be that we still haven’t found the one person responsible for the events in the United States nearly six years ago? I have an idea and I call it the Boogeyman Hypothesis.

In order to make children stay near the group and protect them from predators, many psychologists believe that our early ancestors may have started the mythical Boogeyman. Throughout the ages, in various cultures, the Boogeyman has evolved into a creature that preys upon children who misbehave. Most often, the monster is hiding under beds, in closets, or behind closed doors. Mere mention of the apparition’s name is enough to strike fear into the heart of a child. Some parents might take advantage of the dread and use it to their own advantage. Want some alone time with the better-half??? Just tell the kids that the Boogeyman eats children who stay awake after dark. You don’t want little Johnny getting into the hidden stash of Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Editions that you are saving as collector items? Let him know that the Boogeyman was last spotted in the locked closet in the garage. Let’s not forget that the Boogeyman can travel as well, so while you are trying to drive the 800 miles to your next family reunion, remind the kids that the Boogeyman is hiding under the car just waiting for a noisy child. That should fill your kids with enough terror to keep them from yelling and screaming for awhile.

“How does this affect the current state of affairs?” you may ask, well let me explain. Fear is powerful, it can be used as a weapon, a deterrent or a means of control. For the sake of this article, let’s create a hypothetical situation.

Imagine having an elected leader, barely able to construct one rational thought, being worried that his population would soon see through the well maintained façade that this leader is highly educated on important matters. Now, imagine, said leader needs to appoint people around him to assert this veneer. While the appointed ones are the only people to know of this subterfuge, there needs to be a way to keep the others from finding out the truth. This is when the Boogeyman Hypothesis comes into play. The leader needs to attach the Boogeyman to an idea, a belief, or a person. To do this, the leader might take advantage of a disaster either natural or man-made. Now the leader needs to create a trigger. A trigger might be; if you don’t eat all your vegetables, if you stay up too late, or if you don’t believe and do as said leader wishes. We now have a recognizable Boogeyman, proof of the monster’s power and abilities, and what will trigger this monster to consume you or your way of life. Lastly, the leader will need to get this message out to as many people as he can, so call in the appointed ones. It will be their job to make sure that everyone in the realm knows of this terrible beast. It is to be stressed that questioning the existence of the Boogeyman not only leads to a quick rendering of the doubtful, but that those who would have reservations of the validity of the claims made by the leader must be punished and shunned lest the wrath of the Boogeyman befall the entire population. The situation may require that every once in a while, the leader or his appointed ones, declare that they have slain the Boogeyman and all is now right in the kingdom. This will prove the sincerity and might of the leader. You can almost hear every man and beast proclaim the righteousness of the wise and powerful leader. Out of the mouths of men and women, fox and fowl, wolf and whale, all creatures will broadcast the joyous wonders of the leader and the appointed ones. This celebration must be short lived in order for the legend to, once again, rise up and provide the exalted ones with a new excuse for behavior guidelines.

I know that this hypothetical situation might seem like a stretch to some, after all, in this day and age, one is bound to ferret out the truth before anything like this could happen. It would seem impossible if not for the fact that most outlets of information rely on knowledge fed to them by those in power. For the most part, gone are the days of investigative journalism. We are being fed spoonfuls of the pabulum that has been approved by journalists, who acquire it from their editors, which requires the go-ahead from the corporate heads, who make their living selling advertisements to major industries, who in turn grant and are granted favors from government, the initial subject matter of the information to begin with. This must be that ever popular circle of life I keep hearing about on the ABC television network, who is owned by the Walt Disney Company, who commissioned the artists to create and perform this vicious circle on ABC. Time to get off this merry-go-round, I’m getting ill.

That’s it! This isn’t a prehistoric game that cave-parents played with their kids. It isn’t an excuse for mom and dad to get a little alone time from the kids. It isn’t even a hypothetical situation playing in the mind of this author. It might just be that we are all players in a planetary computer game. A twisted version of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. If this is the case, it might just be time for us to end the game before someone hits Ctrl-Alt-Delete and reboots our collective behinds into oblivion.

Welcome to the journey

Keep the Home Pyres Burning is a place for everyone to share thoughts, ideas, comments about our world today. All the things you shouldn’t discuss in public are welcomed here. Politics, religion, even posting about the weather is allowed. I’m not ban-happy, but note the one and only rule for this online journey… This is a hate-free zone! If it is felt that a post is in violation of this single rule, it will be deleted ASAP, and after a warning, the poster will be banned. With that in mind, please speak your mind. I will, and I expect you to. I hope to have guest pyre-burners from time to time, and I will always provide you with links to information that I find important. With that said, let the journey begin.