Witches at the Door

Not to offend anybody currently fretting over alien DNA depicted in   The X-Files,  but I never much cared for the show, despite more than a passing interest in the UFO subject.  Should I wish to "thank" creator Chris Carter for anything, my thanks-a-lot is directed toward the results of his mixing fiction with legitimate UFO research and coming up with a series so well-produced and sometimes so eerily reminiscent of truth that a whole society of gee-whiz UFO "fans" has been spawned -- they who know and care little to nothing about reports which don't culminate into absurdly wild tales.  Oh well, that's show biz. . .

Speaking of UFOs. . .there continues some controversy, based upon older letters, regarding psychiatrist Dr. Benjamin Simon's professional and personal opinions about the alleged Barney and Betty Hill UFO abduction case.  Was it "real" or not?  I'm no head-shrinker, but I'll just say this:  Dr. Simon apparently was endowed with a superb reputation and education, only enhanced by his many years in his field.  However, if some abduction reports are exactly what they are, there probably isn't a psychiatrist in the world who ever experienced an abduction, or who had classroom hands-on training in abductions, and who is consequently equipped to provide a truly comprehensive analysis.  That is, one can't get one's hands on a test abduction as easily as one can obtain bones to assemble a complete human skeleton.  In addition, the standard DSM (medical coding)  manual would dictate that alleged abductees MUST automatically harbor some mundane psychological diagnosis, yes?  If a physician can't study abductions in the lab, how can he or she possibly draw conclusions based upon education and field training they don't possess and likely never will?

In a similar vein, we've noted the occasional, yet aggravating and  predictable articles by know-nothings or some member of academia, explaining away the entire UFO mystery by means best concocted and understood by the writer.  As we examine the contents, these writings almost always seem to provide a rehash of older stuff perpetrated by debunkers, dressed up with contemporary bells and whistles. How sad when "scholarly" articles demonstrate only those unfortunate occasions when science and scientists live in two different worlds.

So, you want a president willing to reveal secret government UFO files?  Well, sorry, but we already had the opportunity and pushed it away.  No, this is not a reference to the glamorously indictable Hillary Clinton -- I've the late Barry Goldwater in mind.  There was Senator Goldwater back in the sixties, running for president, but taken down, not only by the Democrats, but by his own GOP as well.  Too conservative, you know?  Anyway, Goldwater was a distinguished Air Force officer and pilot who had already run into brick walls when attempting to get government UFO information on his own.  Had he been president, I really think he could have been "the one" because he enjoyed the respect of military and government insiders at all levels.  Clinton could be queen of the world, but I doubt she would ever garner the trust and respect Goldwater elicited from higher-ups among government and military officials.  Just another example of how and why political parties suck as they decide to either prop up or destroy people at their whim.  Yes, George Washington warned us about the parties, all parties.

THE LORDS OF CANCER, INC:  I'm so grateful for two reasons just to be an ordinary old guy, and not some huffy medical research Ph.D.  First of all, I don't need to choose my words carefully, per the scientific method.  Second, I don't need to use all-occasion phrases, such as,  "Harrumph, harrumph, well, we don't know EXACTLY why this reaction occurs when you do that, but there's no reason to worry about. . ."  Yes, and bonus -- No need to lie my ass off (I'm sorry, am I allowed to say "lie" in this blog?) to make sure my reputation sparkles publicly even when I screw something up in the lab.

My current enthusiasm in this regard stems from an interesting article by George Johnson in the New York Times of February 22.  Seems the current cancer research industry is just starting to believe that maybe, could be, might be there is a teeny-tiny possibility that cancer cells are. . .get ready for it. . . contagious.

Hmm.  My question is, what took 'em so long? Isn't this maybe, like, um, common sense?  Oh, now I understand.  Common sense.  Those words and dinosaurs. . .

Maybe the place to start is the womb.  According to medicine's own definitions, the fetus itself is a disease, a parasitic disease sapping the carrier (mother) of vital nutrients as it claims her life, body and soul for nine months.  Call it what you will, but the pregnancy process rivals illness, and incubation is a companion word functioning fine descriptively for chicken eggs, human pregnancies and illness.

Many years ago, I interviewed and wrote a newspaper article about a physician noted for her work in alternative medicine -- that is, research not dominated by the A.M.A. or other "iron fists" which tend to ball-and-chain medical practitioners throughout the land.  I could only deduce from what I observed that she and her colleagues were leaps and bounds in knowledge ahead of the usual physician lot, and a troubling connection with human illness, industrial and environmental toxins appeared reasonable.

Even back then, "clinical ecology" physicians involved with such research were rightfully horrified at dangerous levels of formaldehyde in carpet and wood products and other sources.  A favorite target was new mobile homes, their air quality suffused with highly toxic amounts of formaldehyde and other presumed carcinogens.  Then "modern" medicine dismissed the very possibility of cancer caused by the home in which one lives.  Fast-forward to 2016, and the CDC has investigated and condemned formaldehyde-enriched lumber entering the U.S. from China.

The apparent spike in childhood carcinoma, disease and deformities, more than likely, harbors a relationship to the blooming quantity of chemical toxins infiltrating our daily lives, not to mention deplorable nutrition, but there may be another element involved -- contagious cancers.

The New York Times article references sparse cases where humans seem to have acquired contagion cancers and, apparently, certain animals are noted for cancers which travel from one member of the same species to another.  Even a tapeworm is referenced which invaded a human, carrying its own cancer cells and ultimately passing on the carcinogen to its unknowing host.

According to the NYT piece, the medical community still seems reluctant to accept that cancer spreading from one human to another may be routine -- however, medical opinion may be changing, ever so slowly.

Is AIDS not a cancer?

If widespread contagious processes, perhaps destined for an upswing as time goes on, are confirmed --and why wouldn't they be?-- imagine what this might mean:  Tender or passionate kisses, coughs, sneezes, sex, marriage, long-term intimate relationships and one-night stands, sharing eating utensils and drinks, sharing an elevator with others, all of these and more may have doomed us years ago.  Yes, we outside of "normal" medicine might be suspicious that even years of intercourse between two committed parties may routinely trade carcinogenic pathogens, resulting in harm perpetrated on human immune systems and a culmination in invading cancers of various organs.  External toxins alone may be only a small part of the answer, we suggest.  Can grandma's innocent kiss and a minute amount of saliva planted on an infant's mouth start the child off on a journey to a weakened immune system attacked by granny's cancer cells much later in life?

In comparison, that  X-Files  alien DNA looks pretty inviting, doesn't it?

Oh, NOW He Cares About the Constitution

The "constitutional responsibility" of a fraud. 

News of Supreme Court Justice Scalia's final exit barely made the rounds before President Obama scurried before the cameras to proclaim his constitutional obligation to nominate a replacement.  He probably put the hurry into his step because Senators Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell beat him to the TV scene with promises that no nominee should be confirmed until a new president takes command.  Maybe a bipartisan miracle will occur this year, or maybe not.

Predictably, the Democrats screamed displeasure and called for immediate action.  At this point, does one not harken back to Sen. Harry Reid's tight-fisted control of the Senate, when he refused to allow virtually any Republican-sponsored bills up for a vote -- ever? And the great Obama himself railed against a Supreme Court nominee back when he briefly served as a senator.

They want equal treatment?  They're getting it -- IF the milksop Republicans hold on this time, and just say no to whatever progressive demon-from-hell nomination -- ready to establish laws instead of interpreting them -- Obama pulls from the pit.

But now Obama cares about the way America is supposed to function?  He couldn't even handle his Oath of Office without going rogue.  In fact, on the last day of his presidency, when Obama leaves the White House for the last time, may we suggest the presence of a police car, rear door open, and Officer Friendly, carrying handcuffs of a size appropriate for an ex-president, as he's arrested for reasons best alleged and determined by legal staffers intimately familiar with political violations and violators?  And don't forget the rest of the bunch as they drip out of the Washington woodwork! As if.  But don't worry, we may soon have another black president because. . .

No, no, not Dr. Ben Carson, though I would embrace his election win heartily.  Instead, we're talking about recording artist (?) Kanye West, who has blabbed his intentions to run for president one day.  While we're sure his self-confidence rarely fails, it was a tad interesting this week when he announced drowning in debt to a "tune" in excess of 50 million dollars.  One might look upon this development and wonder, hmm, we already enjoy a 17-plus trillion dollar deficit -- could Kanye West possibly raise the deficit faster than Obama?  We're betting that President Kanye West could.  Um, not looking upon this as a helpful presidential qualification, but all of this does remind me, an old white guy, that once again it is. . .

Black History Month:  Last year, as I recall, some influential black people called for an end to BHM, not because there was anything wrong with it, but because it's just time to put it away on a memory shelf somewhere, mission accomplished.  A review of the previous year's events almost draws one to the conclusion that "Black History Month" was replaced with an "Only Black Lives Matter" millennia.   Okay, so you're black and proud, good for you.  Maybe your ancestors were slaves, often treated abominably by white folk on Southern plantations or in brutal households.  Got it.  But remember, too, that your predecessors were routinely sold into slavery by Islamists in Africa who shared both origin and skin color of the human merchandise.  The slave trade.  Black folk selling other black folk. Is that what President Obama references when he goes off on some weird tangent about "contributions" Muslims have made to the United States -- slavery?  That appears the most obvious.  Hey, don't blame me, I haven't been sitting in the White House, nor at the Dept. of so-called Justice for seven years, whipping up division in the name of diversity.  Keep embracing the fraud, failed cities and hopeless dream sugar castles promised by Democrats from coast to coast, and keep wishing endlessly for hope and change as a majority again risks toying with communism in the voting booth.  Speaking of the voting booth. . .

Donald Trump has ramped up his game as a human insult machine.  He sounds like a rinky-dink insult comedian in a bad dinner theater nightclub, but going that extra step and threatening to sue Ted Cruz and perhaps whatever or whomever gets in his way?  This is not how we want the country run.  Today?  I'm still thinking Ted Cruz.  While I don't care for everything he espouses, he acts like a grown-up and handles himself rock-solidly.  Will Trump run as an Independent after all?  Does he really want to be president? 

Will Hillary, dog-barking all the way to potential victory, or Bernie become the eventual names of choice as the GOP circus tent threatens to collapse upon itself?  The sprint-to-socialism prospect is simply too horrible to contemplate.  Voters, particularly the young, who elect far left Democrats this time around will literally sign a death warrant for hard-won freedoms unique to the United States.  Too bad young people's delusional or hopelessly progressive/liberal college professors plow a load of crap into young minds to poison whatever thought processes remain before they even reach the voting booth.

More thoughts on the Zika virus:  As events move quickly, it appears science can't even be certain Zika is the culprit for specific birth defects, or that mosquitoes should be implicated as the primary vectors.  Trouble is, we currently enjoy an era where both the mainstream media AND scientists eager to be the first on their Petri dish to take credit for new data bump into each other on the path to fame's fleeting tour bus, resulting in "news to confuse."

The newly expressed "stand-down" is a beat-down on America:   Border agents warn that the White House issued orders that they stand down on the borders, thereby allowing illegal immigrants to pass almost freely.  According to one officer, we may as well not even have immigration laws in this atmosphere.

President Obama has clearly urinated away his Oath of Office, and should logically be held criminally responsible for his actions.  Depending upon election turnouts for various positions across the country, preventing obstacles by those in politics who have held the reins of obstruction for far too long, this should not be seen as unreasonable at some time in the future, in my opinion.  That's my version of "hope and change."

Papal Theatrics:   I suspect we'll have to build two walls at the border -- one to keep out illegals and another to keep out the pope.  In "God's" name, what brand of socialism would this pope have the United States adopt?  I'm fine with his freedom to preach, but when he pretty much demands that illegals and "refugees" march north to enjoy those great U.S. welfare benefits -- the ones we pay for -- it's time to say this pope is a dope.  Thanks for coming, thanks for leaving -- now stay in Italy behind your own Vatican walls, please.  Or do Vatican walls signify that the pope isn't a Christian?  What's good for Donald Trump is good for the judge pope.

Taking a bite of the Apple:  While Apple phones get smarter and creepier, I'm still lounging around, waiting for the end of the hard drive and a replacement that users can EASILY, EFFECTIVELY AND PERMANENTLY destroy once the electronic end has come.  You wouldn't throw your file cabinet and all your precious files into a dumpster, potentially allowing just about anybody to explore your personal information -- why should hard drive destruction acrobatics be such a chore of uncertainty and brute strength?  Anyway -- while many conservatives seem to disagree, I can't believe that those who believe in a "right" to privacy would want Apple CEO Tim Cook to allow the FBI or any government agency to gain the key to decryption.  I think it's a matter of the greater good -- in this case, millions of users expecting privacy vs. a government entity which, make no mistake, wants total and absolute entry into iPhone technology so user devices can be infiltrated at one's whim.  Today, it's one terrorist's phone -- tomorrow, everybody's.  Additionally, international hackers will have a new field day, learning the technology as they always do, attempting to break and enter phones from afar.  Yes, this is a tough one, because terrorist information is essential.  But if the Obama administration and its machinery had concentrated on securing the borders AND taking ISIS and Co. seriously from the start, we may not have ended up in this situation.  While I'm the last place to go for sympathy and joy over the evolvement of high-tech (the trust and EMP thing, you know?), I'm afraid I need to support Cook and Apple on this one as they pursue reason in the courts.  It's all about maintaining that alleged free and open society some or most of us have the delusion of believing we experience every day.

Will the Zika Seek Ya?

Scary stuff, this Zika virus.  Viruses are strange little non-critter critters anyway, and these days a lot of young folk probably assume any initial reference to a virus has everything to do with some vicious computer attack. 

I suspect that we humans have long overstayed our welcome on planet Earth.  Were we not cranked up with intelligence, ingenuity, opposable thumbs and a basic quest for essentials such as food, water, medical care, sex and celebrity gossip, we'd have bought the farm hundreds or thousands of years ago.  Viruses, depending upon the status of one's immune system, would be our executioners, no matter our kindness in serving as their unwilling hosts.

Maybe we're approaching a permanent, yet long drawn-out bedtime for everything human, and a major focus of environmental or unknown sources turning out the lights appears to center upon the brain.  The increase in Alzheimer's, autism, brain tumors and various neurological disorders may signify a direction in which we are all headed, to a destination none of us really wants.

While the Zika virus assures a terrible death for infants born with a skull too small and a brain consequently unable to function properly, an attack carries yet another horror for children and adults exposed to Zika:  The potential, evidently, to acquire the Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological condition which sneaks up on you, and almost before you know it you're flat on your back, unable to move so much as a muscle, perhaps even unable to breathe on your own.

I'm not unacquainted with the G-B syndrome.  During my enlisted years in Air Force hospitals I encountered several such patients, everybody from a 13-year-old girl, to an airman in his twenties, to an elderly man.  Patients require a high and expensive level of care, and the condition can keep one paralyzed for weeks, necessitating months of post-hospital care and exercise.  If you're lucky.

If an asteroid, radiation from outer space, alien chefs or something deep within the Earth doesn't take us all out eventually, maybe viruses will do the dirty work.  Funny thing with Zika is, it kinda looks like attorneys, at last, won't be able to sue the pants off anybody, should their clients become infected.  Zika appears to be an equal opportunity menace, and nobody seems to be pulling the strings -- even if science discovers that genetic manipulation from years way past figures into this.

Phonysynthesis

You and I don't matter much.  This profundity makes a perfect runway landing every time politics raises its slimy head and a cavalcade of self-interests disguised as friends indeed arrives on the scene.

So Iowa's Big Occasion is here today, and by mid-evening U.S. citizens and hopeful legions of not-so folk will have a pretty good idea of who's in and who's out as a presidential hopeful.

Will the GOP choice really come down to simply Trump and Cruz?  What will win out, business acumen or constitutional expertise? Blowhard windbag or soft-spoken thoughtfulness?

Maybe Iowa's approaching blizzard renders no coincidence, because something as pure as the wind-driven snow is badly required for a nation in disrepair.  Will opportunity be snatched by the candidate who can best implement it? I suggest Cruz, but I don't live in Iowa.

Then there's the Democrat side.  What the hell happened?  There likely wouldn't even be a place for John F. Kennedy in today's Democrat Party.  The "blue dogs" are all but gone, and the socialists and communists (plus at least one Marxist we know of who lives on Pennsylvania Ave.) have invaded an already corrupt political party and driven it closer to the edge -- not that the GOP lurks all that far in the distance.  But, omigod!  The Democrats!  It's down to an aged socialist cum communist and a faded old political heiress devoid of fresh ideas and equipped most noticeably with the vocal screech reminiscent of Medusa under a hair dryer.  Oh, I know -- "they" owe her this little forage into politics. Again. One more time.  Bill's wife, you know.  Be impressed not.  No wonder Hillary promises to release government information regarding UFOs -- that's all she's got left, and it's not nearly enough, not even with John Podesta manning a shovel to both dig her in and dig her out.  With even newer e-mail revelations coming along this very day regarding lives of intelligence contacts put in jeopardy via carelessly placed e-mails, there may be no place or direction in which Hillary Clinton & Co. can dig, period.