Even more impressive as an unforeseen byproduct of the release of Kip’s book into this screen format are the marketing opportunities that have presented themselves as the release date has approached. My wife and I have read Kip’s book so many times that the pages of our hard cover edition are literally falling out of the binding. The edges are blackened from our fingertips and the glue no longer holds the pages to the spine of the book—which is quite thick. When my children were very young, my wife used to take them to the pool in Mason, Ohio and let them play while she read that book for many, many hours contemplating the contents. It is one of the great books of science ever put to print. So it was bewildering to me to discover that the Interstellar websites shown below have released a game based on the film that is just fantastic. Paramount has just released the new Android game on Google Play based on director Christopher Nolan’s upcoming sci-fi epic Interstellar and it is a tad different from the normal movie tie-in as the player can not only create his or her own solar system but can also explore it as well as others made by fans.
This game is no space shooter but one that is supposed to simulate real physics as you pilot a ship through these solar systems. Here’s a quick bullet list of the game’s features:
Create your own solar system and share it with friends
Customize planets, stars and asteroids
Pilot the Endurance through friend’s and other fan’s solar systems
Upgrade your ship to increase durability and range
Earn mission patches for completing objectives
Based on Newtonian physics with simulated gravitational fields endorsed by the movie’s science advisor Kip Thorne
Slingshot between planets and return research data to Earth
Navigate past massive black holes
Needless to say I downloaded the app onto my iPad and I spent the entire weekend playing it—nearly nonstop. It was absolutely fascinating to traverse through Kip Thorne’s treasured book finally with a video game played on my tablet. Absolutely stunning! The most fun in the game is navigating past the black holes, which are rendered accurately and really for the first time ever. Part of the means for getting to worm holes so that you can punch through various layers of folded space-and time, is by sling-shooting passed the dreaded black holes.
If you have the means and scientific inquiry, this is a must have app—a real journey and best use imaginable for a few moments at the airport waiting to catch a flight. It duplicates some of the most basic concepts of Kip Thorne’s book so wonderfully. For instance, one of the ways that you collect power to stay in space is to move into orbit around a sun. It is difficult to maintain a trajectory that puts you in that sweet spot orbit, but once you do, you can load up on power to further your voyage. The trouble is, while in orbit around a sun, its imprint into the space-time continuum is much slower than the time on earth. So while you are communicating with earth on your missions, time for them is moving at a much more rapid way than it is for you during your power collection around suns. Also, the distance between planets involves many millions of miles which is passed by instantly in the game. It does calculate out the years the endeavor is taking so that it is understood how much time is passing on earth while all this effort is being undertaken.
What this does is shatter the concept of time as a liner type of thing that is currently understood. Instead, it plays with time as a force of momentum relative to where you are and what kind of mass the object you are near has on the space around it. To this effect space is divided up in the game with a grid system that shows the imprint the planet or sun involved has on the surrounding area. Within that imprint time will be affected differently than in other places within the galaxy, or galaxies involved. For a simple app, it is yet another example of a giant leap forward for human endeavor, to have such a powerful conceptual tool on a device that you can whip out in a McDonald’s over lunch and play a quick mission involving advanced physics concepts.
Often it is these by-products of such endeavors that films like Interstellar bring to the table of contemplation. And I am so excited that Kip’s treasured book is finally making it to formats of understanding that are so accessible. I knew when I first read the book Black Holes and Time Warps that there was something very special going on, and always thought that a fantastic movie could be made based on the concepts. But few in Hollywood really have the mind for something like that. I never fantasized that someone like Kip Thorne would be given a seat at the table to actually produce such a thing for mass audiences. And in a game app designed to bring awareness to the movie for marketing reasons, the Interstellar game does two things, it helps introduce people not familiar with Kip Thorne’s work to some of the basic ideals that have to be understood to relate to the actual movie. But for someone like me, who already loved the book, it provides the opportunity to dwell in that world in a virtual reality that has so far only been possible in a physics equation and the most active imaginations. It is just a wonderful addition to what is proving to be a very exciting time to be alive.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to navigate passed a black hole in a distant solar system so that I can get to the worm hole that takes me back to earth before everyone is dead by the time I get there. And I’ll do it while eating a Big Mac, drinking a nice cold Coca Cola, and eating some upsized French Fries. Capitalism at its finest!
It should be surprising that the conservative columnist George Will was protested against at Miami University—but it wasn’t when over a 100 people lined the streets to banter against his lecture series. It is understood that virtually every college, especially those who receive public funds, are progressive institutions—meaning they deliberately seek to attack traditional American life and the capitalist success specific to the North American continent. When liberal speakers give lectures on such universities, nobody says anything against them. But if the speaker is a conservative, then most of the time there are hecklers and protestors organized by the university clubs and radicalized functionaries to provide verbal assault against any opponent to progressivism. The Pulse Journal reported the fiasco:
“I’m out here protesting because I think that Miami, as an institution, shouldn’t be supporting the type of sentiments George Will expressed. I’m not trying to restrict anyone’s freedom of speech, but this is our freedom of speech as well,” said Lana Pochiro, a Miami University student from Newton Falls, Ohio. Not all of the protesters were from Miami University. “I think this man is being paid far too much by a university that clearly does not condone the opinions this man advocates … I think it puts a bad light on the university and a bad light on the community,” said Charles Mullenix, a senior at Talawanda High School.
Will didn’t address the controversy during his lecture, called “The Political Argument Today,” which dealt largely with the country becoming over-reliant on government. However, Will did respond to a question about his controversial column, saying that he meant to criticize the idea that those accused of sexual assault would be denied due process.
“Our society has decided rightly that rape ranks close to and not far behind murder as the most serious crime. Therefore, we have rightly said rape should be subject to severe penalties. Therefore, it is particularly important that people accused of this heinous crime have all the protections … (but) lawyers of the office of civil rights in the Department of Education, wielding the hammer of withdrawal of federal funds, which no school, public or private, can withstand, is now forcing colleges to say that all the due process normally associated with criminal investigations must be suspended,” Will said.
The protest against Will is purely driven by the desire for social evasion at Miami University—and not the actual facts of the matter. There are fewer places in the world—including whore houses—where unsolicited sex imposed by males upon females takes place than on a college campus. I have lived on the University of Cincinnati campus for a number of years, and I have spent a lot of time on the Miami University campus—even as a speaker myself. There are more young girls raped under the guise of intoxication on college campuses than anywhere else, because of the large collection of young people concentrated into a single point on a map. To pretend otherwise, is to avoid the grim reality of sex abuse which occurs every single day on college campuses.
The cause of this sexual abuse is not so much the alcohol, which is so frequently blamed; it is the loose and permissive nature of the typical liberal which is nearly the exclusive caretaker of such colleges. They create the atmosphere which makes rape on college campuses a regular occurrence by promoting sexual promiscuity, drunkenness, and social behavior that is not connected to responsibility. When women are raped at college parties, the blame goes to the alcohol instead of the reckless conditions of the youthful gathering. The women blame their drunken state, the young men blame the same, and the college blames the parents for sending them reckless children. The blame goes to the only parties not in the room, so it continues on perpetually. Secretly the college loves the behavior because the sexual antics on college campuses assist their progressive cause of breaking down the individual sanctity of the student so that they can remake such individuals into collective sloths.
George Will wrote his controversial article which was protested by the Miami radicals to address a portion of this sexual culture which dominates college campuses at every level in every city. Because nobody at the campus wishes to address this functional evil propagating under their responsibility, they instead attack anybody who might point it out to them. This is why conservatives are attacked when they speak at universities and why liberals are left nearly unmolested. The institution and its creations—which these student radicals were—see conservatism as something that is intended to end their very existence, so they attack it aggressively in whatever form it presents itself.
Colleges are not bastions of free speech seeking to protect the Constitution with intelligence and an educated electorate. They are cesspools of liberalism designed to manufacture drones of slack-jawed slugs intent to destroy traditional America to pave the way for a progressive European styled revolution of collectivism over capitalism. Not everyone who attends such colleges falls for the scam, but most do and spend the next two decades of their life fighting off the devastating effects of those four to six years of constant exposure to liberalism. To show that they are functioning as an institution of free speech colleges like Miami University do allow speakers like George Will to give their oratory dialogue. But this is only to keep the federal money facet on into their coffers. By practice, they attack any message which appears on a college campus with great aggression in an attempt to advance progressivism deeper into the American consciousness. And they do it with the full support of the upper echelons of college alumni. Collectivism over the individual is their practicing mantra, and to that end, sexual surrender of individual sanctity above the collective desires of mass society. That is the military goal of progressivism and its desire for the next step of the human race.
That is why Miami University silently encouraged the protest of George Will and every progressive at every news outlet, and institutional body who heard the story subtly cheered for those 100 people. Sometimes, in cases such as this, silence is the loudest declaration of endorsement that there is.
It was quite revealing to watch the real Tracie Hunter speak in front of a church and hear her justification for breaking the law and abusing her power as a juvenile court judge in Cincinnati. Her crimes involved using her position of power as an activist toward the black community without addressing what the cause of the problems were—which were on full display by Tracie Hunter herself at a Cincinnati church shortly after charges were brought against her as a sitting judge. Her antics and sudden revelation of her public persona as an activist was on full display in a shocking way. It wasn’t just in how she said it, but in what she said—which can be seen in the video below around the halfway mark. In short, she indicated that the crimes she committed were because God had healed her from a serious car accident, so has dedicated her life to God and his service. Among that service was her activism in abusing her power as a Hamilton County judge.
Seeing who she really was only confirmed the suspicions that many public officials like Barack Obama, and radicals like Eric Holder use their power to perform similar acts against the law purely out of an ideology of victimization that is common in such religious congregations as the one Tracie Hunter spoke to—and in the same radical manner. Her speech was a window into the mind of such nut cases—who actually believe in the merit of social collectivism and use God to hide their inner corruption behind a mask of virtue. Even more shocking were that many people around her during the speech were proclaiming, “YES,” and “I HEAR THAT,” as if what she was saying were things they all believed.
It is not racism, as there was a white guy on the stage with her—it was purely an ideological failure and a lack of understanding of how life really works, and what constitutes merit. People like Tracie Hunter, and her followers have surrendered thought to God and claim to be guided by his invisible hand. But with such an abandonment of logic, how can they ever be certain that the invisible hand guiding their lives toward corruption, perpetuation of violence in the black community through activism, and intellectual foolishness, isn’t the work of a vile devil? The real force at work is laziness at not even wanting to commit thought to the condition of their lives—but to follow emotional tides of sentiment based on village mentality collectivism propagated by ignorance. And they justify that ignorance, and their natural laziness propping up their lack of intellectual curiosity by claiming they have dedicated their lives to God—letting some invisible being residing in the folds of the universe as their guiding light to break the law and spread evil across the earth. This is essentially the defense of Tracie Hunter as justification for her crimes.
Rather than bring justice to the young juveniles of her court, Tracie Hunter only threw them back out into the rat race of government driven slums created by the welfare state. Not wanting to point out the social failures of the poverty programs of the LBJ administration during the mid-60s, they simply tossed the responsibility back toward God and pretended to be working on his behalf yielding young black kids back into violence against one another—then proclaiming that all her crimes were “for the children.” Such statements were then followed by a congregation of mind numb fools saying “AMEN.”
The church listening to Tracie Hunter are the same type of drones who believe that Eric Holder is not a criminal, and that Barack Obama is not a functioning communist. They are the same types in fact who are still falling for communist rhetoric all over Africa, which is keeping their countries in a state of decrypt economic conditions. When Tracie Hunter exclaimed the name of Nelson Mandela there was a roar of approval from the congregation—apparently those same enthusiasts were aware that the South African leader was a radical communist, which is why he was put in jail in the first place. It wasn’t for the color of his skin, but for the radical political beliefs he held to incite a communist takeover of South Africa.
The unspoken definitions for things often cannot distinguish the aims of 20th century communism from churches like the one that Tracie Hunter enunciated so voraciously from the podium. They often have the same goals and aims filled with good intentions. But their implementation often carries them into the realm of law breaking and counter-capitalist objectives. Tracie Hunter made the decision to break the law as a judge interpreting the conditions of the black youth dangling by her fingers for the fate of their lives through a lens of unspoken communist thought which runs rampant through many communities of color hidden behind the Sherman tank of racism. Nobody dares call out that communism for fear of being called a racist, but the definitions between communism and Tracie Hunter’s justice—just as it was Nelson Mandela’s, or Barrack Obama’s is indistinguishable. The kind of social activism reliant on communism to advance the cause as though inspired by God is what Tracie Hunter was speaking in her speech backed by several pastors.
It is the rejection of capitalism that causes the people under the spell of Tracie Hunter to suffer under other groups of people who are driven not by racist desires, but those of free markets and competition. It is the cause of the youth that appeared before her inciting her to use her power of position to manipulate as if to fight back against the vile evils of capitalism—as if she were marching to the very trumpets played by God himself from a cloud floating above the welfare office. But to clearer minds, it is not a God, but something of a vile evil which maintains shackles upon the legs of many youth tricking them into believing that it is freedom that they are chained to, instead of perpetual enslavement. Radical devotees to social change—from a capitalist society to a communist one is the hidden rhetoric of Tracie Hunter and her church followers. And they are not shy about their desire to penetrate public office to execute their aims—and when they are caught—to point toward God and toss the blame for their actions at that invisible ruler shirking all responsibility for their actions. It should then be of no surprise that their communities continue to fail as does everything they put their hands on. The reason Tracie Hunter failed is the same reason that Barack Obama continues to fail—and the reason that South Africa has floundered economically under Nelson Mandela for decades—it is because they are worshiping behind the mask of God a deity of collectivism. And when they are caught advancing evil as they do, they use God as their shield. And if that doesn’t work, they cry racism. Then they break the law and do anything they can to advance the intentions of evil for aims designed outside of the scope of the Holy Bible driven by words never printed upon a written page.
Over twenty years ago I read a book by Kip Thorne about black holes and time warps that was a treasure I will never forget. In it the theoretical physics applied I knew would alter the way human beings relate to virtually everything in their lives. It has taken a long time, but finally that applied science is emerging into a film that I think will shatter the perceptions many have of their reality and I am ecstatic about its release in theaters everywhere on November 7th. I have been waiting a long time for this movie as the subject matter is one that excites great passion in me. The topic of black holes as a category of science is an obsession of my wife who spends most of her time contemplating them and how they relate to the universe. It makes for some interesting dinner conversation. As I pay attention to politics and social sciences to a large degree, she would rather not have her mind encumbered with such sluggish perceptions. But when it comes to theoretical physics and the morality of the universe—she blooms like a spring flower. The movie is called Interstellar and was developed by Steven Spielberg then taken over and directed by Christopher Nolan in 2010, whom I have said so many positive things about as a young film maker.
When the movie Back to the Future came out, the film left a mark on the public consciousness that changed social vocabulary. It was a Spielberg produced project that made discussions about the space-time continuum a topic of dinner time conversation. Mankind became smarter because of the comedy Back to the Future due to the presentation of the theoretical science involved. A few years later Spielberg did it again with Jurassic Park and the concept of DNA building of living creatures. Complicated discussion about DNA engineering soon filled the airwaves and mankind took another complicated step forward. Only through the popular action movie Jurassic Park was the hard debate about DNA framed for public dialogue. In the new film Interstellar the concept of space, time, and even the life of the earth will be brought into a focus yet unexplored properly. That is because Kip is the executive producer of this important film and Christopher Nolan along with composer Hans Zimmer are willing to take epic risks to portray these complicated elements on-screen for audiences who had been previously unaware of these scientific concepts.
Warner Bros., who produced and distributed some of Nolan’s previous films, negotiated with Paramount, traditionally a rival studio, to have a financial stake in Interstellar. Legendary Pictures, which formerly partnered with Warner Bros., also sought a stake. The three companies co-financed the film, and the production companies Syncopy and Lynda Obst Productions were enlisted. The director also hired cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema since his long-time collaborator Wally Pfister was busy working on Transcendence, his directorial debut. Interstellar was filmed with a combination of anamorphic35mm and IMAX film photography. Filming took place in the last quarter of 2013 in locations in the province of Alberta, Canada, in southern Iceland, and in Los Angeles, California. The visual effects company Double Negative created visual effects for Interstellar.
Thorne was born in Logan, Utah, the son of Utah State Universityprofessors D. Wynne Thorne and Alison C. Thorne, a soil chemist and an economist, respectively. Raised in an academic environment, two of his four siblings are also professors. He became interested in science at the age of eight, after attending a lecture about the solar system. Thorne and his mother then worked out calculations for their own model of the solar system.
Thorne rapidly excelled at academics early in life, becoming one of the youngest full professors in the history of the California Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. degree from Caltech in 1962, and Ph.D. degree from Princeton University in 1965. He wrote his doctoral thesis, Geometrodynamics of Cylindrical Systems, under the supervision of relativist John Wheeler. Thorne returned to Caltech as an associate professor in 1967 and became a professor of theoretical physics in 1970, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor in 1981, and the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1991. In June 2009 he resigned his Feynman Professorship (he is now the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus) to pursue a career of writing and movie making. His first film project will team him with Christopher Nolan.
Throughout the years, Thorne has served as a mentor and thesis advisor for many leading theorists who now work on observational, experimental, or astrophysical aspects of general relativity. Approximately 50 physicists have received Ph.D.s at Caltech under Thorne’s personal mentorship.
Thorne is known for his ability to convey the excitement and significance of discoveries in gravitation and astrophysics to both professional and lay audiences. In 1999, Thorne made some speculations on what the 21st century will find as the answers to the following questions:
Is there a “dark side of the universe” populated by objects such as black holes?
Can we observe the birth of the universe and its dark side using radiation made from space-time warpage, or so-called “gravitational waves”?
Will 21st century technology reveal quantum behavior in the realm of human-size objects?
Thorne has made contributions to black hole cosmology. Thorne proposed his Hoop Conjecture that cast aside the thought of a naked singularity. The Hoop Conjecture describes an imploding star turning into a black hole when the critical circumference of the designed hoop can be placed around it and set into rotation.[5] That is, any object of mass M around which a hoop of circumference can be spun must be a black hole. As a tool to be used in both enterprises, astrophysics and theoretical physics, Thorne has developed an unusual approach, called the “Membrane Paradigm“, to the theory of black holes and used it to clarify the “Blandford-Znajek” mechanism by which black holes may power some quasars and active galactic nuclei. Thorne has investigated the quantumstatistical mechanical origin of the entropy of a black hole and the entropy of a cosmological horizon in an inflationary model of the universe. With Wojciech Zurek he showed that the entropy of a black hole of known mass, angular momentum, and electric charge is the logarithm of the number of ways that the hole could have been made. With Igor Novikov and Don Page he developed the general relativistic theory of thin accretion disks around black holes, and using this theory he deduced that with a doubling of its mass by such accretion a black hole will be spun up to 0.998 of the maximum spin allowed by general relativity, but not any farther. This is probably the maximum black-hole spin allowed in nature. He, along with his mentor John Wheeler, additionally proved that it was impossible for cylindrical magnetic field lines to implode. Both Hawking and Thorne have theorized that a singularity exists in the interior of a black hole.
Wormholes and time travel
Thorne was one of the first people to conduct scientific research on whether the laws of physics permit space and time to be multiply connected (can there exist classical, traversable wormholes and “time machines“?). With Sung-Won Kim, Thorne identified a universal physical mechanism (the explosive growth of vacuum polarization of quantum fields), that may always prevent spacetime from developing closed timelike curves (i.e., prevent “backward time travel”). With Mike Morris and Ulvi Yurtsever he showed that traversable Lorentzian wormholes can exist in the structure of spacetime only if they are threaded by quantum fields in quantum states that violate the averaged null energy condition (i.e. have negative renormalized energy spread over a sufficiently large region). This has triggered research to explore the ability of quantum fields to possess such extended negative energy. Recent calculations by Thorne indicate that simple masses passing through traversable wormholes could never engender paradoxes – there are no initial conditions that lead to paradox once time travel is introduced. If his results can be generalized, they would suggest that none of the supposed paradoxes formulated in time travel stories can actually be formulated at a precise physical level: that is, that any situation in a time travel story turns out to permit many consistent solutions.
Relativistic stars, multipole moments and other endeavors
With Anna Żytkow, Thorne predicted the existence of red supergiant stars with neutron-star cores (Thorne–Żytkow objects). He laid the foundations for the theory of pulsations of relativistic stars and the gravitational radiation they emit. With James Hartle, Thorne derived from general relativity the laws of motion and precession of black holes and other relativistic bodies, including the influence of the coupling of their multipole moments to the spacetime curvature of nearby objects. Thorne has also theoretically predicted the existence of universally antigravitating “exotic matter” – the element needed to accelerate the expansion rate of the universe, keep traversable wormhole “Star Gates” open and keep timelikegeodesic free float “warp drives” working. With Clifford Will and others of his students, he laid the foundations for the theoretical interpretation of experimental tests of relativistic theories of gravity – foundations on which Will and others then built. Thorne is currently interested in the origin of classical space and time from the quantum foam of quantum gravity theory.
All of that complicated dialogue will be presented with a coherent and compelling story driven by the director Christopher Nolan. It will be an epic event to say the least as many of Kip’s theories described above will be presented in Interstellar. For my wife and I it will make for marvelous diner conversation afterwards—an event that is rare indeed. It’s the kind of thing that we talk about often and it will be a pleasure to see such obscure topics presented in a way that elevates the future dialogue of the human race. On November 7th 2014, mankind will take a new step forward toward a fate that has not yet been written.
A regular citizen shown in the video below pulled over a police officer—a government worker who believes that they are exempt from the law. The officer was driving an unmarked police car and using it for traffic citations—which in Washington state is illegal. The private citizen knew as much and pulled over the bewildered officer. Notice the arrogance of the officer in believing that because he was a police officer, that he was held to a different standard than the rest of society. Wisely, he realized that the citizen knew more about the law than he did, so he shut his mouth rather quickly—but his irritation at being called out for illegal action was classic.
This is what you get when you have unionized employees in charge of society. Unionized behavior doesn’t work in private industry and it certainly doesn’t work in the public sector. It is because of the lack of competition in promotions, raises, and benefits acquisition that there is so much incompetence in the public sector centering around union contracts paid for with tax payer funds. As predicted at this site four years ago, time is running out for this kind of behavior as city managers and councils are beginning to understand that the only way they can manage tax funded resources is to introduce competition to the equations so that they can get better value for the consumed dollar.
Two remarkable stories happened over the last week resulting in the cancelling of union contracts by public officials. One is the dissolving of the Lincoln Heights police department in Ohio due to excessive insurance costs triggered by union driven law suits so to move the bar of progressive activism far to the left—which has cost Lincoln Heights a lot of money. They decided to just drop their police department to stop the bleeding—which was an excellent decision. The other is the Philadelphia school system cancelling their teacher’s contract because of the excessive cost of health care contributions. The union over the years refused to budge on their golden plans with little contributions from themselves which has broken the bank leaving the only responsible thing to do is to just drop the contract. I have reprinted each story with the original links below. The Lincoln Heights story was the result of a WCPO I-Team investigation and is what journalism is supposed to be about. The Philadelphia schools system story is a Fox News feature. Both have their roots in the same crises located in different parts of the country to show that this is not a regional problem. One is in a relatively conservative area, the other a very liberal one. In the coming months and years this will become a much more common occurrence as it is the only way to properly manage tax payer resources from the greedy hands of public sector unions who just don’t know when to stop asking for more, and more, and more.
CINCINNATI – Lincoln Heights police and fire departments were shut down Thursday after a “lapse in insurance coverage,” but at least one service returned Friday morning.
Hamilton County dispatchers said the fire department reopened, but the police department will remain closed.
Public Entities Pool of Ohio (PEP) – an insurance group that provides property and liability coverage to public entities – terminated the village’s insurance at 12 a.m. Thursday, forcing the departments to shut down.
“It was a yearly renewal,” Lincoln Heights Village Manager Stephanie Summerow-Dumas said. “It was time for a renewal and (PEP) made the decision (to cut coverage) because of certain variables.”
Those variables are lawsuits, according to PEP Executive Vice President JT. Babish.
Babish said coverage was pulled due to the “substantial negative financial impact” of wage disputes, employment harassment, wrongful terminations, allegations of wrongful arrest and violations of civil rights within the departments.
Twenty-three of those claims have resulted in lawsuits – nine of which are still being defended, he said.
PEP officials said the village could not keep up with the costs of those suits.
“Any company would look at that and see if they want to be vulnerable to offer insurance,” Summerow-Dumas said. “I’m sure that came into play and they looked at some of that.”
Lincoln Heights emergency dispatchers were advised to tell callers to contact the Lockland Police Department and Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, which have taken over emergency duties.
The closure of Lincoln Heights’ safety services comes on the heels of an I-Team investigation looking into allegations of corruption inside the police department.
Philadelphia schools cancel teachers’ union contract
PHILADELPHIA – The troubled Philadelphia school district abruptly canceled its teachers’ contract Monday, a surprise move designed to force health care contributions after two years of stalled labor talks.
The announcement came at a hastily-called meeting of the state-run School Reform Commission.
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District officials said they have no plans to cut wages of the 15,000 teachers, nurses and other members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. They would pay about $55 to $140 per month for health care premiums, and face other benefit cuts, starting in December, unless the move is challenged in court.
The American Federation of Teachers called the vote Monday “a well-planned Hail Mary ambush” by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, who faces a tough re-election fight next month.
“Corbett’s School Reform Commission has amped up a war on teachers and support staff,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement. “The commission would rather attempt to impose a contract than work with teachers to figure out what is best for Philadelphia’s kids.”
The district, one of the nation’s largest, has 135,000 students. Officials have eliminated 5,000 jobs and closed more than 30 schools as they cut nearly $1 billion in expenses in the past few years. The district perennially struggles with a structural deficit caused by rising pension and health care costs and payments to charter schools, which serve an additional 65,000 students.
Officials said the benefit concessions were on a par with those made by administrators and other workers in recent years.
“Requiring teachers and other employees to contribute to their health care costs is a change and a sacrifice, but contributing to health care benefits is the reality of today’s workplace,” Superintendent William Hite said in a letter to parents. “Limited resources require difficult decisions.”
He expected the teacher health care contributions to yield more than $50 million in savings and new funding per school year. At the same time, Hite urged parents to keep pushing state lawmakers for what he called a fair funding formula.
“Philadelphia families have made extraordinary sacrifices: students come to school every day in buildings that lack critical resources necessary for teaching and learning,” said SRC Chairman William J. Green, a longtime Philadelphia councilman appointed to the post by Corbett earlier this year.
Corbett just two weeks ago signed off on a $2-a-pack cigarette tax in Philadelphia, which city leaders had sought to raise $83 million a year for the school district.
One Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Mike O’Brien of Philadelphia, called the SRC’s unanimous vote to break the contract Monday “an exercise in union busting.”
“It’s certainly a violation of all laws dealing with collective bargaining,” he said. “I think it winds its way into the federal courts.”
Union officials planned an afternoon news conference.
City schools have been under state control since 2001, but have always worked under a negotiated contract. Under the takeover law, teachers do not have the right to strike.
Only a few dozen people attended the surprise session Monday morning, according to parent activist Helen Gym, who said she only learned of the meeting at midnight.
“It’s a disgrace in terms of public governance and democracy,” said Gym, the co-founder of Parents United for Public Education.
“As parents, we’re obviously concerned, because the only thing that is really holding our schools together right now is the teachers and staff,” she said. “I just don’t know how we’re going to sustain and keep a talented teaching force without a contract.”
If you have wondered what Fabio Lanzoni has been doing lately—who used to be a spokesman for the National Cancer Institute—he is now an advocate for Dr. Burzynski’s cancer treatments. This is not a happy place for the medical industry where a major celebrity has come out as a spokesman for the controversial doctor. Christina, Fabio’s sister, was treated and did end up dying of cancer but the track record Burzynski has is extremely good—much better than current treatments. You can see a special panel that Fabio participated in on behalf of Burzynski during a film festival showing the movie, Cancer is Serious Business Part II where he talks about his sister’s treatment and the path to life he worked so hard to provide her
To learn more about Dr. Burzynski read the information below by Dr. Mercola providing testimony about the cancer treatment doctor. The essence to the trouble that has come toward Burzynski is that he is the sole holder of the patent for antineoplastons which is the method he uses for treating cancer. If Burzynski’s antineoplastons become the industry standard, much of the 70 year old cancer fighting technology that is currently in practice, which pharmaceutical companies currently utilize will become obsolete. There is a lot of money in keeping people sick. There is also a lot of money to be made off of people’s deaths. Just consider the amount of revenue that is consumed through “death taxes” which states count on as part of their budget. As sad as it is, many in the medical industry are short-sighted enough to put such concerns ahead of the health, and quality of life of their patients. It’s not a sad conspiracy; it is a fact of modern life. The old guard of the medical industry is deliberately suppressing cures to maintain their federal funding structures and political status quo. Most in the medical industry desire to keep people sick to preserve their livelihoods. People like Burzynski are actually trying to cure people so that they can return to a normal life that does not involve a weekly visit to a doctor’s office.
Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski received much deserved publicity with the release of the 2011 film, Burzynski—The Movie.
Eric Merola’s award-winning documentary showcased Dr. Burzynski’s remarkable cancer discovery for all the world to see, and explained how he won the largest and possibly the most convoluted and intriguing legal battles against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in American history.
Dr. Burzynski’s story now continues in the compelling follow-up film: Burzynski—Cancer Is Serious Business, Part II. This second film details his continued struggles and victories, and explores the current status of Antineoplastons’ clinical testing—now (finally) sanctioned by the FDA.
Dr. Burzynski’s Cancer Treatment
Dr. Burzynski, trained as both a biochemist and a physician, has spent the last 35+ years developing and successfully treating cancer patients suffering with some of the most lethal forms of cancer at his clinic in Houston, Texas.
The treatment he developed involves a gene-targeted approach using non-toxic peptides and amino acids, known as Antineoplastons. I personally interviewed Dr. Burzynski about his treatment in the summer of 2011.
He coined the term ”antineoplastons” and defines them as peptides and derivatives of amino acids that act as molecular switches. However, as genome research blossomed and science progressed, Dr. Burzynski discovered that antineoplastons also work as genetic switches.
They actually turn off the genes that cause cancer (oncogenes), and turn on or activate tumor suppressor genes—genes that fight cancer. His treatment strategy, which he refers to as “Personalized Gene Targeted Cancer Therapy,” includes mapping the patient’s entire cancer genome.
This involves analyzing some 24,000 genes in order to identify the abnormal genes. Once they’ve determined which genes are involved in the cancer, drugs and supplements are identified to target those specific genes.
Antineoplastons work on approximately 100 cancer-causing genes, but traditional oncology agents (including chemotherapy) may also be used, typically in combination with antineoplastons. This expanded direction of “personalized gene-targeted treatment” has permitted people who would otherwise be denied access to the still-unapproved antineoplastons to benefit from his treatment.
The War on Cancer Cures
As the first film in this series clearly revealed, the FDA began scheming to eliminate the threat Dr. Burzynski and his discovery posed to the cancer industry as early as 1977, when Dr. Burzynski first tried to get antineoplastons approved.
The reason he was (and still is) considered a significant threat to the cancer industry is because he’s the sole patent holder of the treatment, which means he’s the sole beneficiary, should the FDA approve Antineoplastons—not a pharmaceutical company and the bosses thereof.
As a matter of fact, Dr. Burzynski is the first and only scientist in United States’ history to enter the federal drug approval process for a proprietary cancer therapy without any financial support from the American government, the pharmaceutical industry, or the cancer establishment.
Vast amounts of money are at stake, since FDA approval of Antineoplastons would not only threaten conventional chemotherapy and radiation, it would also result in billions of dollars of cancer research funds being funneled over to the one single scientist who has exclusive patent rights—Dr. Burzynski.
The sad fact is, as stated by Dr. Julian Whitaker in the featured film, that true medical breakthroughs are suppressed these days because they “put at risk the entire financial underpinnings” of medicine.
If a medical breakthrough replaces failing therapies, the cash flow and profits of those failing therapies are lost forever, and the industry simply chooses profits over cures… Instead of investing in actual cures, medicine, over the past five decades, has invested in awareness campaigns. But, as Dr. Whitaker points out, awareness does not cure the disease, and will never lead to a cure, no matter how much money is raised by these campaigns, for the simple fact that there’s too much vested interest in therapies that fail and perpetuate a money-making disease.
Cancer Is Serious Business
In recent years, the focus for cancer therapy has increasingly shifted toward individualized gene-targeted cancer treatment, such as that provided by Dr. Burzynski for the past decade. So it’s no wonder, really, that the industry has tried so hard to get rid of him, in order to protect their own profits and access to research funds. Burzynski—Cancer is Serious Business, picks up where the first movie left off, detailing Dr. Burzynski’s continued struggles and victories, and explores the current status of Antineoplastons’ clinical testing, now sanctioned by the FDA. It also follows the progress of several of his patients. As described in the film’s synopsis:1
“For most patients undergoing Burzynski’s treatment, their advanced cancer itself runs secondary to the constant barrage of skepticism coming not only from their local oncologists, but also from friends and family who feel their loved ones are making suspect treatment decisions—even though mainstream oncology has already left many for dead.
As the story unfolds, you will observe a real-time change of hearts and minds from many of these doctors and families. Unlike the first documentary, Part II showcases interviews with board-certified oncologists, surgeons and neurosurgeons, who witnessed patients leave their care, soon to return in great health after opting for the Burzynski Clinic.”
National Cancer Institute Acknowledges Antineoplastons’ Success
Incredibly, in August of last year, America’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) finally acknowledged and cited some of Burzynski’s peer-reviewed Antineoplaston studies, as well as findings by Japanese researchers who have been independently reproducing Antineoplaston clinical trial studies since the 1980’s, without any involvement by Dr. Burzynski. One of the most remarkable admissions by The National Cancer Institute is the following:2
“A Phase II study also conducted by the developer and his associates at his clinic reported on 12 patients with recurrent diffuse intrinsic brainstem glioma. Of the 10 patients who were evaluable, two achieved complete tumor response, three had partial tumor response, three had stable disease, and two had progressive disease.”
What’s truly remarkable about this is that a brainstem glioma has simply never been cured before in the history of medicine—Antineoplastons hold the first cures ever! In the featured film, you will also learn how a Japanese team, consisting of pathologists, oncologists and surgeons, has conducted the first-ever independently-run randomized controlled human clinical trials on Antineoplastons, and the results thereof. According to Dr. Hideaki Tsuda, MD with theKurume Medical University in Japan:
“After 27 years of independently testing Antineoplastons—including randomized clinical trials, we found that Dr. Burzynski was right. It’s obviously not anecdotal anymore.”
The Story Everyone Needs to Know
Dr. Burzynski has developed a cancer treatment that surpasses all other treatments on the market today, and the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry knows it. They also know his treatment threatens the entire paradigm of the cancer industry, which is based on expensive treatments with a high rate of failure and retreatment.
For the past 15 years, they’ve harassed him, tried to take away his medical license, and even tried to put him in prison for life—all in order to protect the status quo. Adding insult to injury, you and I have been paying for the brutal opposition to Dr. Burzynski’s cancer treatment this whole time. The US government spent $60 million on legal fees for just one of his trials alone.
Still, Dr. Burzynski has prevailed, and the truth about his gene-targeted treatment is finally receiving some well-deserved acknowledgment. After all, Dr. Burzynski has published over 300 articles on Antineoplastons, many of them peer-reviewed. And more than 100 independent Antineoplaston studies have been published, including those from Japan.
Support a Cancer Cure, Not Merely the Awareness of the Condition
Earlier this year, a group of patients and patient advocates launched a campaign to have Antineoplastons accepted worldwide as a “standard of care” for the treatment of cancer.3 For more information, please see www.iwantanp.com:
“Unlike all other cancer research campaigns which rely 100% on awareness alone, we realize that awareness itself does not cure the disease. Medications such as Antineoplastons are what can lead to the cure of the disease of cancer.
If the United States still refuses to allow Antineoplastons into its marketplace, we will then make sure another country will be properly funded to set up the proper channels for Antineoplastons to be approved for their marketplace. Another avenue would be simply opening up a massive Antineoplastons clinic allowing thecancer patients of the world to seek treatment using Antineoplastons.
Upon gaining either market approval—or the funding the construction of an Antineoplaston clinic overseas, our funds will then go to make sure everyone who cannot afford to travel overseas to receive Antineoplaston therapy—can do so by requesting money through this organization.
Either way, whether the market or its government’s regulatory agencies want Antineoplastons available to its citizens or not—Antineoplastons are here to stay, and the members of our global human family deserve the right to have access to them.”
The work of Dr. Burzynski is a game changer that will alter the way cancer is treated in the future. The crisis that exists now is not science fiction intended for some distant society. The solution is right there in front of us, just as energy methods exist that are far superior to modern means, skycars are available for manufacture right now, but lack any political support to implement, and even regenerative medicine has the ability to grow and replace every organ in the human body making modern health care providers a worthless enterprise. Think of how many people, many of whom are reading this right now work directly for, or around the health insurance industry. Consider what would happen if regenerative growth simply eliminated the need for surgery, or getting sick all together. Most of those people would be out of a job. More jobs would be created for sure, but most of the administrative positions that really just entail pushing paper from one place to another would be downsized. It is for that reason that progress is slow on implementing the kind of technology that actually improves the human condition.
Cancer is big business for medial care providers at every level. If cancer just dropped off the radar of concern, like it will once antineoplastons are widely used, a lot of the false wealth created that goes into medical industry pockets would dry up and disappear. That is the reason that people still die of cancer and the federal government is the primary guilty party in suppressing the new technology. Their biggest concern is not the death of people, but in the employment of them. No administration wants to be the one who sees a massive jump in unemployment, especially one that occupies more than 5% of the American economy just to cure people of a disease that should already be extinct.
Cancer cures aren’t the only suppressed technology out there, but it is one of the most impactful, and immediate ones. There will be a lot that will change in the very near future so much of the stonewalling done by modern bureaucrats will prove to only unnecessarily kill people for no reason. Even old age is quickly becoming a really dumb idea that will easily be avoided so to save all the terrible cost of health care to the elderly. Once a cure for old age comes into play, what will become of the mortuary industry? What about the nursing home industry? Or even the many hip and knee replacements that are currently conducted due to bones losing their bone mass? All of that loss and degradation is ridiculous and unnecessary. What holds us back is our old adherence to ancient medicines and security of livelihoods. Additionally, in the case of mortality—our religions—are outdated as well. Dr. Burzynski is just one example of a vast wall of conspiracies that are so openly played against the human race resistant to the inevitable changes that are coming. In the mean time, because of short-sighted selfishness, many people will die for absolutely no reason at all because the cure is right in front of them—but they aren’t allowed to have it—due to a trusted medical industry more interested in the serpents of the caduceus than in actually treating people. What those like Burzynski is proposing is to reinvent the very nature of medicine and redefine the industry for the 21st century.
I had a history all through my youth of telling those in authority how they should conduct their lives. I was bored to death in school and had no interest in it outside of the 2nd grade. Everything after that was simply a gradual withdrawal from a sick and twisted system. Occasionally I would tell a teacher how they should teach better—and I would do so just to try to stay engaged—but it never worked. So I tuned those education elements out of my life completely. I deemed them completely worthless and wasteful. The moment I could escape from them, I did and I never looked back with an ounce of regret.
Right out of high school I made more money as a car salesman than any of the adults I knew at the time so their constant uttering’s about college made no sense to me. I did attend the higher institution several times, but it was just as ridiculously stupid as public school was, so I eventually left to start my own company. Back then, even at 22 years of age I had a history of telling the presidents and owners of the companies I worked for how they should conduct their business. Some of these were big companies with very wealthy and arrogant owners and the last thing they wanted to hear was some young kid telling them how they could maximize their profits, and create new product lines for their future. It was a kind of running joke among the work forces that were around me at the time that I would produce these lengthy, extravagant letters telling company owners how to do their job—and I often let them have it heavily when I did such a thing. One company I had worked at for a number of years (19 to 22 years old)—was good honest factory work, but was a hard place filled with hard people. It had a terrible morale problem. I wrote the president a letter telling him that he could solve the problem by coming down out of his office and shaking hands with the people who made him money. I told him such actions were free and that he could wash his hands off when he was done—and it would do wonders for his productivity. I sent the letter through my floor supervisor who thought I was out of my mind. But he couldn’t disagree with a thing I said, just that the letter was harsh.
The president took the letter hard, and became very angry but did the things I told him to do. He thanked me a year later for an increase in profit of nearly 10%. This was a combination of a lot of things—most of which was directly attributed to decreased employee turnover. So that president sought me out often to help make key decisions in the future. This is a relationship that I would take with me at virtually every place I was ever employed in the future.
I was bold with my words because I have never in my life feared losing a job. I have always viewed employment as a kind of consultation job where my real passions resided in my personal endeavors. I never intended to hold a traditional job, so I had no concern about pissing off my bosses, just as I never cared to piss off my teachers. Compliance to authority figures is just never something I had a desire to do at any point in my life. Maybe as a small child I wanted to make my parents happy during the learning stages of reading, identifying colors, and walking, but this quickly went away. I always did intend to be self-employed as my mind was an idea factory that never shut off. And I was tapped into it 24/7.
At the age of 19 I filed for my first patent, a new kind of tool called a torque socket extension. I had a very negative experience working with a company that markets new inventions determining it to be a complete scam. So I started my own company called Cliffhanger Research and Development. It was to be an R&D company that would do everything from advanced machining to advanced medical breakthroughs. Instead of telling other companies how to conduct their lives and businesses, I would just let them follow the lead of Cliffhanger Research and Development. It was called Cliffhanger because the ideas were from the cutting edge of reality.
I had a whole list of projects to develop under Cliffhanger Research and Development and the start of them took me on quite an adventure. I ended up in court many times, speaking to the mayors of cities often, and running up against a lot of resistance primarily due to my age. I wasn’t yet 25 years old, so there were always mountains of skepticism that had to be overcome just in the perception of other people’s realities. I was friends with people who took $10,000 lunches daily and had many of them eager to listen to my advice. They didn’t discriminate against me for my age; they just listened as they were always on the look-out for a competitive edge.
One of my Cliffhanger projects took me to a trade show at the McCormick Center in Chicago. It was a funding mechanism intended to drive revenue to all the other projects on the table, so it was a big deal to me. I risked everything to show up for this convention as it was one of those pinnacle life moments. I had quit my good job in Ohio and sent my family down to Gatlinburg, Tennessee to purchase property for the move of our company headquarters there. To cover income in the mean time I picked up two jobs until revenue from the McCormick convention started paying off—I was set to be a roller coaster operator at Dollywood, and at night I was going to be a waiter at the Pigeon Forge Shoney’s. That would cover the loss in income from my day job in Cincinnati.
While in Chicago I learned several harsh realities that were life-changing. Even though many of the rich friends that I had warned me, I hoped that my ideas would punch through their skepticism. But youth in this case worked against me, because what worked in my mind could not be applied to a society not functioning from the same illumination. What I learned at the McCormick Center in the summer of 1994 was that what mattered more than what you knew and could invent was who you knew and what they could do for you. That was a concept that I simply rejected, and it cost me a lot of money to walk away from. I would not allow Cliffhanger Research and Development to become hen-pecked by lecherous governments, corrupt deal makers, and barnacle like lawyers. So I walked away from a deal in Chicago that could have set me up for life, but destroyed my company with an infusion of influences that were not unlike the many company presidents whom I had insulted for being complete idiots. It became clear to me that what made those company presidents idiots was their allowance of these influences into their life and biting on the temptation to sell-out their origin ideals in trade for financial security. I did not have the money to take Cliffhanger Research and Development to the next level without help, and I couldn’t accept the type of help being offered because the conditions allowed for complete louses to piggy-back off my efforts for no other reason than they brought money to the table—money obtained through political maneuvers that were very disingenuous.
I knew a scam when I saw it. As a car salesman right out of high school there was money laundering going on at the highest level of that company meant to disguise drug sales. I learned a lot by watching that place operate from behind the scenes and would listen with interest how the local police were all in on the deal. Most of the money being made was not through cars, it was in the sale of drugs. I saw as a very young man how the top and bottom of society fed off each other. So I quit that job in favor of an honest factory job—there I saw much the same type of thing between the company president and the local political establishment. He’d often take politicians out onto his boat on the Ohio River to schmooze for tax breaks and shelters. He wrecked that boat and got into a lot of trouble with a young woman who wasn’t much older than I was at the time causing me to loose much disrespect for the guy. And even when I wanted to file a patent for new inventions, the leeches were there to suck off the top of other people’s ideas and water them down with their infusion. Now in Chicago the deals were epic—to get the money you’d have to sign away your rights essentially to the creative process—and this was the reason I created Cliffhanger Research and Development in the first place.
My wife and I had a hard discussion in a Gatlinburg restaurant to make. Our entire lives were at risk. We had sold our house; our realtor had screwed up that deal as well leaving us in a world of hurt. To make the deal in Chicago would essentially kill the other purposes I had for Cliffhanger Research and Development. It would be absorbed by a larger conglomerate not yet even arriving to an age of its own maturity. It was like feeding a child of mine to a dirty old sex pervert for their temporary gratification and it hurt. So we decided to abandon the Chicago deal, abandon the Gatlinburg headquarters, and go back to Cincinnati to fight it out to keep our home. That’s what we did for the next several years.
Coming back to Cincinnati I served as my own attorney in challenging our realtor. I served as our own attorney in covering several law suits which tried to prevent our exodus from the type of consumption being set up in Chicago and nobody understood why my wife and I were upset. All we had to do was take the money, and we’d be wealthy—which is why people went to college, built careers, and sold themselves out politically to others—was to get money. People in the know thought that my desire to preserve my intentions for Cliffhanger Research and Development was youthful naïveté and simply didn’t understand what drove our intellectual decisions. In the realtor case and the Cliffhanger case it was ownership that I was after, the ability to retain my rights so that I could navigate them to success. And in that process were hordes of second handers who simply existed as barnacles—parasites to creative thought.
There hasn’t been a good second opportunity to put the name of Cliffhanger Research and Development back into the competitive marketplace. As my wife and I discussed at the Gatlinburg restaurant many years ago, I had other things I could do so I was never desperate for the money—and was never in a strategic position where I had to sell out Cliffhanger Research and Development to lesser minds. So I turned to writing because it allowed an author to make the world not necessarily as it is, but as it should be. Making Cliffhanger the main character of these future stories about a vigilante who used to be a CEO of Cliffhanger Research and Development allows me to paint the world as I think it should have been that day at the McCormick Center. It allows me to correct the mistakes that humanity has made and to put the world as it should be within the context of Cliffhanger.
Needless to say, there is an edge to Cliffhanger that is uncompromising. I write things there that few publishers would allow today in our politically correct world. I write Cliffhanger with the same spirit that I operated Cliffhanger Research and Development under. My wife likes that character because he is uncompromisingly good—like herself. And when we talked about what to do about the R&D company while in Gatlinburg it was her idea to put all these stories into a fictional context so people might learn from them. It has taken a while to put the proper emotional distance behind me to deal with the type of plot lines that are involved in the Cliffhanger stories—and this is what has lead to these present decisions.
Now you know a bit about my past dear reader, that I have not previously revealed. It is the reason that I write so much on this blog and elsewhere, and why there is an uncompromising approach to the material. Much stronger forces have tried to quell that self-assuredness when I was much, much, younger, so there isn’t any chance now of reaching through to my sensitivities and con me into a lighter approach.
As I made the decision to preserve Cliffhanger Research and Development within my own heart and soul by turning down significant amounts of money to retain my intellectual property, I will do the same with Cliffhanger and all the stories that follow—because I can. I don’t need to bend myself to the shape-shifters of the times. I think it is ironic that H.P. Lovecraft the pulp writer from the 1920s is just now obtaining a marketplace respect. He died extremely poverty stricken because there was no value for his stories in the roaring twenties by an industry concerned about other types of things. Now it is impossible to go to a Barnes and Noble book store and not see some reference to H.P. Lovecraft. I suspect that Cliffhanger will have the same type of transition—the immediacy of the political moment will find him reprehensible. But history will come to love him long after our days have extinguished. And that will be fine with me. The reason to do anything is because it’s the right thing to do, and as often has been proven—the masses do not have a clue as to what that is. I use Cliffhanger to articulate that righteousness through the hazes of confusion that have been purposely placed to consume our thoughts toward irrationality. Some things are more important than social acceptance and it is in that long view that Cliffhanger Research and Development will exist in immortality.
Adrian could think of no other response, “You do not represent the law, you are an outlaw and are responsible for the deaths of enough people to fill our courts for the next decade.”
“Thank you,” Cliffhanger said behind a mask which concealed his face. He wore the standard outback style hat and a poncho that blew in the wind like a cape as had previously been reported to his reputation. Sunglasses covered his eyes so there was no face to give away intentions to Adrian and his men. Only his words were as solidified as granite in an ancient quarry. “You have made my point for me. With the amount of crime that you alone are guilty of, courts have no time, or ability to process them all leaving the villains of the world to shower evil upon the lives of the many innocent. That is why I am here—no trial, no reports to file. And of all those villains, you are but a toe which helps it walk. Now, it is time to slow that walk down to a crawl.”
That is a small segment of the first chapter from my new project The Curse of Fort SevenMile which revisits the world of the vigilante Cliffhanger first introduced in my 2004 novel The Symposium of Justice. For my readers here I am happy to provide a teaser which is seen below—a very small section of the opening chapter first draft which is going very well. As I’ve jumped back into the world of Cliffhanger much of the work I’ve done over the last decade are filling the pages easily leading to a number of very interesting chapters. The below segment is essentially the president of the local F.O.P. of Fort Seven Mile Adrian Fellini demanding more money from the mayor and city council due to the rise in violence due to the roaming vigilante behavior of Cliffhanger. The mayor in this case is a young woman who stepped into the role as the former mayor had desired an affair with her and made her vice-mayor to maintain a proximity to her. After his death in the events from The Symposium of Justice, she is now in charge and she lets the F.O.P president know her thoughts about his demands.
This is just the first step of a project that will prove to be a massive ongoing endeavor. The plan is to release these chapters one by one over the coming months, but eventually they will fill rather large books inspired by pulp fiction. As a writer I am concerned about a great number of topics and the character Cliffhanger provides for a very rich canvas to paint all those issues into a coherent storyline that is suitable to the old pulp serials of the distant past—when literature and entertainment was at a peak that I greatly respect. The following section from The Curse of Fort Seven Mile doesn’t give away any spoilers as to plot points of any destruction to the integrity of the drama, but will provide some insight into what can be expected. So please do enjoy the following selection and stay tuned for much more to come.
Excerpt from The Curse of Fort Seven Mile
Chapter One
Misty Finnegan maintained her calm and her two allies on council sat stoically amidst the animal-like chatter of the rabid police officers smelling blood in the water due to Fellini’s comments. Without anger to fuel their antics, the clapping officers subsided into murmurs then quickly lost their enthusiasm as Fellini squared his shoulders confidently toward the council members. His posture indicated thathe felt his previous statement had been a check-mate against Finnegan and her council. But then Misty pushed her dainty hair behind her shoulder blades and let her tongue lose as if a knight combating a vile dragon had cast forth a lance intended for decapitation. “As you all know—those of you clapping and drumming up banter like vile baboons thumping their chests at a zoo, I am up for election next year. Of course there is a risk that the people of Fort Seven Mile may not vote for me during the next election. It is possible that they may witness my actions here before you today and remove me from office. If that were to happen it may be possible that I’ll lose the many offers of free lunches, the attempted bribes, the lecherous conduct of those looking for an advantage in their businesses with campaign donations to the candidate they put their money on, as if we were all as politicians a number on a gambling table. It is possible that these are the last months that I will be mayor of this city, or hold an office in its historic building.” Misty paused for effect. “It is possible that I may be forced to return back to my home to focus on my children and husband without a care for the outside world—that I may not feel thepressure to attend every charity event in town, every ribbon cutting, every attempt to have someone desire to have their picture taken with me only to be propped up and displayed as if I were a trophy in obtaining power. It is possible that I may be free of this burden for the rest of my life knowing that I did what was right and can sleep well at night cognoscente that I stood up for proper management and conduct of the Fort Seven Mile tax payers based on my own opinions and judgment. It is possible—all of it. And because all things are possible, here is what I have to say to you. Your police officers garner too high of a wage. There are too many of them and they pass their time too often harassing the good tax payers of Fort Seven Mile with traffic citations and cat-calling harassment—much of which I have had to suffer through myself. They are always late to a crime, and only show up to gather evidence. Their ability to stop crime is negligible at best
Fellini had heard enough, “negligible at best! How dare you make such an assertion!” The other police officer members rumbled angrily toward Misty Finnegan with red-faced utterances. “It is the thin blue line they walk, these officers of Fort Seven Mile who sacrifice their lives for the safety of our citizens.”
“The only sacrifice at play are those from the tax payers to pay their high salaries.” Misty said cutting off Fellini before he had a chance to continue. “You referred to the bandit Cliffhanger, Mr. Fellini. You spoke of him as a menace but who else has been present to stop crime before it happens, instead of after? Who else has risked their life in such an audacious manner than the masked outlaw known as Cliffhanger? Certainly nobody in this room—if so let them come forth now and make the pronouncements of valor which can eclipse the heroics of Cliffhanger.
Fellini was about to erupt with anger. “So you are a sympathizer to a known outlaw, a criminal, and a murderer? You speak highly of a menace to the fabric of society and an open violator of the law!”
“I speak as a member of the legislative body of our community to define law as our times dictate—not to carry on the mistakes of our past as they were manipulated by the likes of yourself, Mr. Fellini. Misty Finnegan sat forward and placed both of her elbows on her elevated desk. “You must remember your place, we were elected to legislate, and if that effort proves to be a failure, then the voters will remove us. We were not elected to dance from the fingertips of union presidents and allow open extortion of our tax payer dollars. If you want to see Cliffhanger off the streets of Fort Seven Mile, then be where crimes are committed before they happen and beat him to the effort. If you did such a thing, your officers may just catch him in the act. Then and only then will you be qualified to decide who is the criminal, the one who is trying to restore justice to Fort Seven Mile, or those offering to stop crime if only their pay checks would become more bolstered.”
A desperate silence filled the room as the spirits of intelligence had fled the minds of police union members upon hearing Misty’s dialogue. Adrian Fellini after many years of serving as a police officer and over a decade as the president of their labor union for the first time in his life was lost for words. Hestruggled to find them, but none were present causing him to stare blankly at the seat of Misty Finnegan. He wasn’t alone, not a word or murmur so much as a cough emerged from the mouths of the other officers who had gathered in solidarity believing that tonight’s ceremony would bring them wealth, not a grim reality of such audacious disrespect and contempt from an elected official. Worse yet, the rest of the council members made no show of chastising Misty Finnegan which was the worst of it. Two members of the five on council Fellini knew supported his cause, but because they were now outnumbered by the election of LaRue, they kept their mouths shut. Their finger to the wind told them that political change was coming to Fort Seven Mile and two primary figures were the cause of the sudden insurrection. Cliffhanger had embolden the population to question their authority figures disrupting the election cycle, and Misty Finnegan’s sudden acquisition of power in the wake of Mayor Goodman’s death was obviously going to her head. For three years she had hardly made a peep during public hearings and now she was giving anti-police speeches and openly supporting insurrection.
Misty Finnegan continued to speak for quite some time but Adrian Fellini had phased out her words. All he could feel now were the stares of his union members bearing holes in the back of his head looking for action. This insult could not be allowed to stand. The new mayor would have to be taught a lesson and be brought in line. Fellini didn’t like the public relation trouble that came with enforcing such punishment, but if there was ever a time for it—now was it. The F.O.P. labor unions across the nation over time had managed to maintain quite a lot of fear just through the threat of a reduced workplace presence. Always in the back of people’s minds were the early days of the union when dissidents on both sides were sometimes beaten into compliance. Without the threat of force the union was toothless, and it was obvious that Misty Finnegan did not fear that possibility. As leader of the Fort Seven Mile Fraternal Order of Police, it was up to Adrian Fellini to remind Finnegan of the implication of her actions and to fall into compliance.
He reasoned that with the recent upsurge of violence in Fort Seven Mile by the hands of Cliffhanger, that the media would be much more forgiving than they might otherwise be. A beaten mayor hospitalized for standing against the police dedicated to serving the public was a bet Fellini was willing to make in coming out on top during the court of public opinion debates that would inevitably come after.
For a brief moment he considered that a humiliating gang rape of the pretentious Misty Finnegan would be pleasurable—as she was an extremely handsome woman. Such a disgrace would mark her for life and shut her mouth forever. But, after what Cliffhanger did to “Scarface the Rapist,” the child molester Tanner who had just recently recovered from his wounds in that showdown organized by Mayor Goodman to rally support for an upcoming police levy, paving the way for the same raises that Fellini was now seeking support for—Fellini had second thoughts about the effectiveness of that strategy. A rape might make Finnegan a more sympathetic figure to the female voters of Fort Seven Mile whereas a good old-fashioned beating would be more appropriate in this case.
Of course everyone in town would know who was at fault, but would they care? Probably not, in all his years of police work, he knew the best way to make a compliant public was to bring fear to their minds. Nobody wanted to be on the wrong side of the law—and his police officers were the law. They were that thin blue line and nobody wanted to be on the wrong side of it. So Fellini rationed before Misty stopped lacerating him with her speech that tonight after the public hearing on her way to her car, she would be beaten to within inches of her life and hospitalized for insurrection. Fear would return to the minds of Fort Seven Mile which would lead to respect. Social order would then return. It was weak policy toward this type of rebellious conduct that had created Cliffhanger in the first place and now public officials were being emboldened by his antics. It was time to put a stop to it otherwise there would be no raises for his officers. Instead by the talk of Misty Finnegan, there may actually be lay-offs, and that was not going to happen on Adrian Fellini’s watch. The more he thought about it, the viler his evil deeds against Finnegan became filling his mind with excitement. As a benefit, it might even occur during this beating her cloths would be torn away in such a way to fill his nights with the sight of her innocent beauty robbed by him and his selected men. Upon such a visual saturation he would sleep soundly that night with dreams of passion released from prisons of pent-up aggression
Fellini quickly found three other rabid officers from his members willing to hide in the shadows with him dressed in black with their faces concealed waiting for Misty Finnegan to leave the council chambers for the night. As usual, she was the last to leave—all the other members had scurried to their cars and left for the day shortly after the late evening meeting had ended. When Finnegan had finally stopped talking most of the officers had left including Adrian showing their public displeasure with her words. In the end only a few curious citizens remained—none of them members of the police force. There are always pleasantries exchanged at the end of those types of meetings, but soon thereafter the other council members headed for their cars. Misty had remained in the mayor’s office for at least a half an hour after Mary Lawson had rolled out of the parking lot. A lone white GMC Yukon SUV remained parked under a lone parking lot light waiting for the mayor to occupy it.
The Finnegan’s were very wealthy—by far the wealthiest family in Fort Seven Mile. Rumors were that Misty’s husband Fletcher had won the lottery, but it had recently been revealed during a newspaper expose about Misty’s rise to power that neither of them had ever purchased a single lottery ticket in their lives. Their vast wealth had been created by her husband and his business dealings from a previous life—which was astonishing given his reputation as a simple grill cook at the popular hamburger restaurant, Republics. The couple owned a vast castle built on the outskirts of town which was the talk of every member of this rural Ohio farm community. Fort Seven Mile was considered a small town pretending to be a big city and was the battle ground between many modern controversies. But the most audacious of which was Misty’s strange husband—a supposed genius who chose to waste his time as a grill cook while his wife climbed the halls of power through politics.
There was much speculation that Misty’s flare for politics and rumored affair with Mayor Goodman was in her disapproval of her husband’s low social ambitions. For a beauty like her wanted to be seen and relished in the public light. Her wedding ring was a small little thing that showed poor taste in social delight—yet their home was certainly not part of any fashion trend ongoing anywhere in the country, let alone the world. The castle they lived in had now stood for over ten years and resembled a medieval structure that looked like a miniature version of a Crusader fortress. They held over two hundred acres yet performed almost no farming. The lifestyle within those fortress walls that Fletcher and his wife Misty conducted was the constant obsession of Adrian’s police officers. As public as Misty was, Fletcher was quite aloof and despondent toward social causes. Fellini could never remember a time that Misty was on the arm of her husband during a charity event or other political gathering deepening the mystery.
Perhaps her words in favor of Cliffhanger were that she fancied the bandit’s power. She obviously had an eye for strength and in the wake of Mayor Goodman’s life, who else could fill such an unquenchable appetite? Even the hired assassin personally brought in by police Chief Clyde and Mayor Goodman had found himself dead the night the water tower exploded. Mayor Goodman’s strange obsession with that water tower was quite another topic of speculation as strange electronic devices were found in the wreckage. But the big news story had been the hit man R.L Justice who had terrified Fellini during his brief visit. The giant hit-man ended up in the middle of the highway dead crushed by a tractor-trailer. Misty Finnegan just happened to be at the scene with her husband and their two young children. Another powerful man dead conveniently close to Misty Finnegan—there was a lot more to the young idealistic mayor than what she showed the public.
Chief Clyde had not been the same since the fight at the flooded river where most of the police officers of Fort Seven Mile had set a trap for Cliffhanger with the assassin and his personal assailants in command. Many body bags were filled that day including Mayor Goodman. Chief Clyde had been uncooperative and fearful since. Even when asked to be a part of this effort against the new mayor he refused—terrified that Cliffhanger might hunt him down in some way.
However there were three strong men—good long serving officers who were more than willing to take their batons to the skull of the dainty Mayor Finnegan. Four strong men against her would be too much as the back door opened into the parking lot and she emerged into the darkness. Adrian’s men remained concealed—they had done this type of thing before and knew how to behave. There would be no words of greeting to Finnegan, or warning. They would just overtake her and beat her into unconsciousness as quickly as possible making the whole thing look like a robbery. They wouldn’t try to kill her, but sometimes accidents happened. If she did die, there would be one less politician to deal with. On the upside there would be little future resistance from the public in providing pay increases to police officers when it wasn’t even safe for the mayor to walk to her car
Misty felt eyes bearing down upon her as she hastened her pace toward her SUV. She pulled out her keys and unlocked the doors even with a distance of thirty feet yet to travel. Evil was lurking somewhere in the shadows and the night was filled with warning—especially after all the police officers unceremoniously left the meeting without a word. Trouble was brewing and she suspected that many eyes watched from behind every window, every car, and every shadow. But she had been trained for this kind of thing and now was the time for it to reveal itself. Her role had changed and it was time to take the next step
Much to her fear, a rustle could be heard behind so she stopped and turned to face four assailants each with the police batons extended ready for action. She had just entered the light cast upon her vehicle from above by the lone light. She had almost made it, but there was no way to get to safety now. The heels she wore would not allow such swift action. She desired to run, to flee as fast as she could, but she remembered her training, and held strong. “I know that the face behind that mask is you Mr. Fellini. Your movement brings disrespect to your desire to conceal yourself.”
The body in the lead stopped and hovered with uncertainty.
“You don’t have to do this,” Misty warned as though a concerned mother. “You have not yet committed a crime.”
Three of the faces looked at the leader who stopped in their tracks with paralysis. “You know now that I cannot let you live,” Adrian muttered without even considering the words. “You have crossed the line and now there isn’t even deniability to mask these brutal necessities.”
“Mr. Fellini, if you do not put those weapons down, you may not live through the next two minutes,” Misty uttered with a frightening self-assurance.
For those who know my fiction writing, you can guess what happens next. For everyone else, you’ll be in for a treat. The action scenes such as what was in my Tail of the Dragon novel provides a good reference. Stay tuned for the rest of the story and the follow-up chapter titled, “Latte Sipping Prostitutes,” coming soon.
I once had the rare privilege of being called an “elitist” by Carlos Todd while speaking at a Liberty Township zoning hearing. So my comments about an event his grandson Todd Hall organized to rally Governor John Kasich at the Ronald Reagan building on Monday October 13th to a second term should be understood with clarity. I like Todd, he’s a nice fellow, but he’s running the Republican Party the way his grandfather did two decades ago, and it’s not working. The political tides are moving in a different direction and he doesn’t have the sail to those winds and this is a warning to him and those who are working with him so to save themselves before it’s too late. Todd and I have worked together before and when he listened, he had success. When he hasn’t, well things fell apart. So take this as a warning.
Early on Tuesday morning Hall sent out an email about the event citing that there was much excitement during the evening, that Cindy Carpenter, Sheriff Jones, and Bill Coley were speaking and that it was a packed house. Well, as the pictures here show, it was far from a crowded room that came out on a Monday evening to see the Governor of Ohio. I’ve seen more people show up in that building to rent boats for the lake on a Saturday afternoon. The amount of people who showed up to see the current governor was disgraceful. Just a few years ago—three to be exact—we packed the barn at Carriage Hill to welcome the Governor to Southern Ohio in support of the SB5 fight against public sector unions. But that night ended in a loss and the GOP reorganized to rally behind the moderates and push out the “right-wingers.” That was a stupid move.
So it should be no surprise that the only people at the rally, which should have filled the room with thousands—were political office holders and direct financial backers. It was an inbred event aimed at reconciliation of the party instead of addressing the differences. The first mistake was that it featured Sheriff Jones who spoke so poorly against John Kasich during the SB5 fight—but now was speaking at his rally. People see that kind of two faced opportunist as lecherous and very unattractive—and not worth the gas to put in their car to see, let alone donate money to the party. And Cindy Carpenter who is technically a liberal was there speaking as a representative of conservativism, that’s like inviting Bill Clinton to a morality conference. Most people who stand to make money off their political alliances—who were at that rally might have short memories because their livelihoods demand it. But for other people—the real conservatives who reside in Butler County, they have long memories—and they are looking for winners, not hand-shaking moderates.
For context there was much dispersion over the recent Cincinnati Bengal game which ended in a tie with the Carolina Panthers that took place just the day before the Kasich rally. Sure the Bengals didn’t lose the game, but they didn’t win it either. It is that kind of blasé political approach that guided the sparse few at the Kasich rally on Monday. People don’t get excited to see Kasich shake hands with his political Judas Sheriff Jones—they want to see Kasich body slam the union spokesman. If Kasich did that—more people would show up—not just the insiders who make money off the political process, as either office holders or business people seeking government contracts—but real people with real passions
When Carlos Todd called me an elitist it was in the context that I suggested that Liberty Township should strive to mold itself after Indian Hill—a successful and affluent community in the Cincinnati region—as opposed to a conglomeration of mixed development township with United Dairy Farmer stores every mile across the region. As much as I enjoy development and the creativity of capitalism, sometimes more is less. And when it comes to maintaining real estate values for the long haul, homes don’t need to be located near trendy endeavors. Today’s shiny new development is tomorrow’s slum—so I encouraged those leaders within the Republic Party over a decade ago to be mindful of the future and not the short-sighted development that puts money in their pockets tomorrow. Ethically, Todd’s interest in politics was not philosophically driven, but profit driven which makes him one of those crony capitalists unlike the laissez-faire capitalists that I advocate with much celebration. People are aware that there is a problem with such people and that their intentions are less than sincere. So their passions toward the cause of conservative philosophy is quelled and they are left without a spokesmen.
Political advocates and the money that comes from them want action, passion, and an adherence to a philosophy. The split in the Republican Party which took place in Butler County recently was reflected at this rally for Kasich and is the deliberate isolation that these moderate conservatives—bordering on out-right liberalism have created for themselves and the more traditional branches of the party. And unbeknownst to them they have played right into the strategy liberals have conducted against them allowing for this gradual erosion of value within the Republican Party. They listened to their critics and distanced themselves from the “radical right-wing” just as the liberal masses hoped they would. As a result, nobody of any passion showed up at the Kasich rally leaving Todd Hall to attempt to put a good spin on the event—which was embarrassing at best for a sitting governor who actually did straighten out some of the finances in Ohio
I’ll vote for Kasich but not with pleasure and pride. It will be a painful process not unlike scheduling surgery. Kasich is not what could be called a strong conservative—he is a moderate at best. For instance, he often states that he has a friendship with former Governor Strickland. I could not have such a friendship. To say such a thing indicates common values and beliefs that go beyond professional respect. Respect and friendship are not the same things. Kasich deep down inside believes some of the things that Strickland does leaving a small string of commonality that leads to friendship. In this way current Butler County Commissioner Don Dixon used to be a Democrat but converted because the politics of Butler County under Carlos Todd meant that Democrats would never get elected in such a conservative county. So he changed political parties to survive in that environment. Another Butler County Commissioner Cindy Carpenter if she lived in San Francisco or even New England would be a Democrat. Her behavior is undeniably liberal and she is Sheriff Jones’ right-hand woman in Butler County. There is nothing coming from Sheriff Jones and Cindy Carpenter that is going to excite the conservative base who lives in Butler County. They see through the haze at the reality that they have very weak representation in elected office as conservatives.
Kasich himself has spent the last couple of years seeking votes for Medicaid expansion essentially endorsing Obamacare. So there is nothing exciting there for real conservatives to invest their passions into—they will likely hold their noses and vote for Kasich, but they won’t waste their time on a Monday night to hang out with a sell-out and rally him to a victory. Sell-outs are easy to see, unique people with real passions are not—so this is why nobody showed up to the Kasich rally
It is easy to call people like me a radical elitist because the real concern is that moderate politicians like those at the Kasich rally can’t suddenly become ethical. It is easier to just isolate themselves from the competition of thought. It is more comforting for Todd Hall’s Republicans to compare themselves to their liberal rivals as opposed to their actual conservative base. Without that conservative base—and in Butler County it is the David Kern Republicans—there will continue to be eroding support for political events and the money that needs to be generated by them. The situation is quite serious as the evidence is in the event organized by Hall for the sitting Governor. In this part of the state he finds his strongest support. Just imagine the reaction in places like Toledo and Cleveland just days before the election. That is the cost of sitting in office and behaving like a liberal.
I first learned about the Ebola virus from the 1994 thriller The Hot Zone. The disease has been around for a while and was contained successfully for over 20 years to the African continent. For reasons that seem to be pulled straight off the pages of that best-selling book, the level of stupidity regarding the containment of the disease over the last couple of months have only fueled the conspiracy theories that a massive desire to depopulate the world with a deadly virus are true. The failure to contain travelers from the hot zone of Africa is the first give-away. Then the failures to stop contact with infected victims in the United States has been the other indicator. There seems to be more to the story than just lackadaisical stupidity on behalf of the government workers at play. Conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones and musical artist Chris Brown have justifiable concerns to their active imaginations. It doesn’t take much to draw conclusions that something is array.
The filovirusesEbola virus (EBOV), Sudan virus (SUDV), Marburg virus (MARV), and Ravn virus (RAVV) are Biosafety Level 4 agents. Biosafety Level 4 agents are extremely dangerous to humans because they are very infectious, have a high case-fatality rate, and there are no known prophylactics, treatments, or cures. Along with describing the history of the diseases caused by these two Central African diseases, Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Marburg virus disease (MVD), Preston describes a 1989 incident in which a relative of Ebola virus named Reston virus (RESTV), was discovered at a primate quarantine facility in Reston, Virginia, less than fifteen miles (24 km) away from Washington, DC. The virus found at the facility was a mutated form of the original Ebola virus, and was initially mistaken for Simian Hemorrhagic Fever (SHV). The original Reston facility involved in the incident, located at 1946 Isaac Newton Square, was subsequently torn down sometime between 1995 and 1998.[3]
With the sudden rash of cases dominating the news cycle—eclipsing all other stories including the ISIS debacles, IRS crises, the continued failures of the Obama administration at virtually everything—a bit of panic has ensued into the mainstream leaving MTV to actually discuss the issue. Below is a small article from MTV actually castigating a black artist for reckless comments about an Ebola conspiracy theory. Ironically, this is one of the few times a major progressive network has come out against the type of rhetoric that is coming out from people in the African-American communities like Louis Farrakhan.
“When it comes to updates on his new music, videos or graffiti, Chris Brown is a great source of information. But … if you’re looking for reliable, timely news on the Ebola epidemic, Breezy is not really your guy. See, on Monday (October 13), amid news that a second person in the U.S. had tested positive for the deadly virus after coming into contact with the nation’s first patient, who is now deceased, CB took to Twitter to spout his conspiracy theory on the spread of the disease that has killed thousands in Africa.”
If Chris Brown had sent out a Tweet about the Ferguson riots, MTV would have been all over themselves in support of the celebrity—but on this case, they are oddly critical. This of course points to the kind of conspiracy that is a product of Alex Jones who is often bombastic in his predilections, but often makes some interesting observations that deserve investigation. His belief reflected on the Info Wars website seen below is that this recent outbreak of Ebola is part of a Globalist process conspiracy—meaning that the disease is being deliberately spread through bureaucratic means to depopulate the earth before medicine can possibly react to the danger—as shown in the quotes below.
“The specific object of the Globalist Ebola process conspiracy is here theorized to involve diminishing the linkage, in public consciousness, of Ebola with nationality status. Globalists have huge immigration plans for the U.S., and they do not want Ebola (or any other infectious disease, for that matter) getting in the way of those plans. That is why their Ebola policy protocols—as absurd as they are (discussed shortly)— read the way they do, that is why we have been exposed to a cloud of lies emanating from Dallas and dispersed through the MSM, and that is why Duncan was discharged with antibiotics soon after his first visit to the Emergency Room of Texas Presbyterian.
Because the theory is a process conspiracy theory and therefore rooted in subverted policy, it has application not just to Duncan, but to future Duncan’s as well. The argument proceeds as follows. First, a brief observation concerning risk is offered which, even though obvious, is necessary because without it the argument will make little sense. Second, the CDC’s Ebola Screening and Isolation polices are examined, and, on the basis of the risk observation, shown to be not only wholly inadequate to the task they were allegedly crafted to meet, but quite likely to make the Ebola contagion problem even worse. Third, evidence is provided in support of the idea that the Ebola process conspiracy theory offers a simple, and very plausible explanation, of certain important assertions of fact, and inconsistencies, emanating from Dallas that are otherwise rather difficult to explain. Throughout, the connection to the issue of nationality status will be obvious.”
There are aspects to both conspiracy theories, whether it is a fear that there are forces who want to kill black people with the disease, or a global conspiracy by the elite banks to depopulate the earth so to save it from the thriving masses leaving mankind to begin again under the care and guidance of a rich elite—the stupidity in controlling the disease has supported those fears. But what is not a conspiracy is the reaction that Americans have had toward the disease, a shallow cowering fear that has emitted short of panic as the news coverage has intensified over the last couple of weeks. Any Jihadist terrorist who might desire to kill themselves and many others for Allah is likely already thinking of ways that they can contract the disease and catch a flight to the resort towns of Mexico where incoming customs are lax that detainment is nearly impossible. Mexican tourist towns think of only one primary objective, vacation dollars spent on their economy. They are too short-sighted in those cities to think of the implication of a world-wide Ebola outbreak. From there it is easy to walk across the American border to attend a college party or dance club at a nearby city. Two weeks infected and dripping with a feverish sweat, the terrorist could contaminant thousands of people in a single evening that would then infect many thousands more in the ensuing weeks. If someone wanted to create terror against the most successful capitalist country in the world, Ebola would be the way to do it, especially given the reaction to the few incidents already popping up in North America. Given the ease for which it was spread and the incompetence of the government to contain it the only logical conclusion would be conspiracy.
The reason that the 1994 book The Hot Zone was such a terrifying best seller is due to the theoretical proximity it has to reality through either incompetence or conspiracy. Either way, we are vulnerable to the grim realities of a devastating disease and must take caution. Part of that caution is in knowing how to avoid it. The second part is in taking action to replace the type of people who have shown such gross incompetence at their government positions to allow for Ebola to migrate from Africa to America either by purposeful design or sheer stupidity. Those responsible need to be removed from positions of decision-making so that proper managers can take their place with a level of competence that necessitates the performance expectations that Americans have in living free of such deadly diseases as those spawned in West Africa.
The conspiracies spawned off of this latest Ebola scare are rooted in incompetency—they are born when people suspect that they aren’t being given all the facts of the matter leaving their imaginations to fill the gaps. It is not they who are at fault—it is not Chris Brown or Alex Jones who are the nut cases in advocating conspiracies when it comes to Ebola. It is the idiots who let it leave West Africa for destinations on the continent of North America. The warnings were there from the start, but obviously those in charge had forgotten the warnings given in The Hot Zone. Now—it’s too late. Ebola has gone from a scare to a grim reality that is now non-fiction and beyond speculation.
