Keeper of the Clown Bell

The foundations of the US republic can be looked at from two similar but distinct perspectives: Liberty or  Equality Liberty and Equality Choosing 1 or 2 will have a significant impact on one's "pursuit of happiness" and it has been my observation that those who choose door #1 are unsatisfied, bitching, moralizing buzz kills. It's top of mind because of the hysteria surrounding the  Religious freedom restoration law recently passed according to the constitutional process specified by the State of Indiana the preamble of which reads: TO THE END, that justice be established, public order maintained, and liberty perpetuated; WE, the People of the State of Indiana, grateful to ALMIGHTY GOD for the free exercise of the right to choose our own form of government, do ordain this Constitution. And what is the first order of business after this throat clearing? ARTICLE 1. Bill of Rights Section 1. Inherent rights Section 1. WE DECLARE, That all people ...

The situation in and around the holy land does NOT look good . But hey, no one can control these towel-heads anyway and Barack has done a lot of outreach over the past 6 years so it's hard to blame him, right? Not everyone is so forgiving. “We’re in a goddamn free fall here,” said James Jeffrey, who served as Obama’s ambassador to Iraq and was a top national security aide in the George W. Bush White House. Well, JJ was a Bushie before he joined team 0 and he oversaw Iraq - take a look at that country. Mess.  So I'll discount the hype even if the independents take it seriously. Politico's Adam Baron sets everyone straight by explaining What We Get Wrong About Yemen - I love the "We", what frigg'n "We" is he talking about? The "We" running Politico? The "We" inside the beltway that get things wrong? The "We" of "We The People"? Perhaps it is the Royal "We" - He who laments the fact that he's ...

Hufpo Religion encyclical 03.26.2015AD reads " Head Of The Episcopal Church Says It's 'Sinful' To Ignore Climate Change " Empty Chairs Unfortunately for Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori  America is full of sinners  - or maybe that's a good thing - honestly it's hard to tell how preachers feel about it: no sin and they're out of business too much sin means no ones listening to them anymore Apocalypse I think, as far as the Episcopal Church is concerned, we're deep in stage 2 and slouching toward 3. Maybe Gallup is an instrument of the devil but they claim that only 1 in 4 Americans worry about Global Warming , um, Climate Change and that half of us don't even think about it - A sin, and we couldn't care less. Maybe the Episcopalians are solidly in the Climate Change worry camp, but wait a second, I'm an Episcopalian and... Oh shit. Could the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints be squeezing out the old ...

“Welcome To The Future” announces the STACKED web site and then it goes on to say... The secret? A brain pill. We’re not saying you can be rich like these billionaires. Being an entrepreneur is one of the most physically, mentally, and emotionally draining endeavors one can take on, and only the most determined succeed. Even if you aren’t an entrepreneur yourself, it is worth considering those reasons that entrepreneurs choose to use smart pills: brainpower “feel good” “not yourself” get a task done stress can be a good thing amphetamine drugs have a number of... increase blood flow significantly less than a daily coffee habit highly tested, high-quality products Best of all, it works! - customer testimonials are listed. "new doors opened", "read Tao Te Ching and Sun Tzu's Art of War with no problem", "helping my husbands concentration", "I've tried everything on the market" - The wonders of the smart pill are manifol...

I found the ISIS "kill list" and it ain't pretty - What can be done about these wicked wahhabist's? There's no way to pacify their roiling rage and I doubt that The West is going to give up on its hit list. Maybe ISIS will pick different targets in their future which looks bright . Brighter than that of the music industry at any rate.

Holy Shiite, I'm worried now - really worried. I don't know how the Prez is going to find redemption in this years March Madness Bracket competition after what happened over the weekend. Baracketology is shot all to hell and we're only at the sweet 16 - What if UK looses to the hillbillies from Morgantown? Cat Barber might be able to joke about it , but I can't believe anyone in America can be laughing at this point - I guest the nation still has a little hope that the West will save some of the president's dignity. Even so, it's not good when a purple State basketball team is dis'n FBPOTUS as its first order of business after winning an extraordinary game against #1 seed Vanilla, er, Villanova or Nova as 0 likes to call them. Where's the customary respect for the office of the presidency? Is this the GOP Wolfpack or what? Even more discouraging is the fact that SB Nation dot com would not even let BHO's defenders comment on this story - t...

I'm wondering if The International Society for Stem Cell Research is going to join the Dolce & Gabbana boycott ? Or haven't you heard about the sissy-fit all the D&G pop star customers are having over the designers observation that children conceived with IVF are "synthetic?" Even Ciccone has  jumped in the mix. Funny how that word, synthetic, has grown in popularity over the last 100 years. One might even say that we live in a synthetic age - At lest that's what a group of leading biologists seem to think. And they're sort of concerned about it . “We need some principled agreement that we want to enhance humans in this way or we don’t,” Dr. Jaenisch said. “You have to have this discussion because people are gearing up to do this.” "Gearing up" indeed.  

Richard Saul Wurman is a brilliant man and I have great admiration for his body of work - His ACCESS Guides for example are a fantastic resource for discovering a city and it's history (and other things too). His concept for TED was "to bring together interesting people and see what happens" and that's a direct quote from his mouth to my ear. I couldn't help thinking about this quote when I read a FastCompany article today about Monica Lewinsky as a "victim" of cyberbullying. Every picture tells a story and not all of them are on-line in cyberspace. "What we need is a cultural revolution. Public shaming as a bloodsport has to stop," she said. "We need to return to a long-held value of compassion and empathy." At the end of her talk, Lewinsky received the longest—and loudest—standing ovation of the conference. For those who might not remember the Lewinsky Scandal (as it's usually called), or Staingate as I like to...

Put Vladimir on hold, ISIS in Tunisia now(?), yawn, and send Bibi a dead fish in a box - Obama's got to address an annual national issue that can not wait ! No, not the Federal Budget, not even the Easter Egg Roll (do they still call it that?) - None of that crap matters - we're talking the March Madness Brackets fool and that's all we're talking . The Hill clues us in on what's happening - 0 picks UK to win - and delves into the Presidents historic performance as far as Baracketology is concerned. Last year the Presidents picks secured a "rank of 2,987,736 of all brackets submitted to ESPN" - not bad for a nation of 300M+. Yes, he hasn't picked the champ since his first year in office, but you could say that is consistent with everything else he's flubbed, and this year he's got a good chance of improving his average by getting on the Kentucky bandwagon (maybe he's just trying to show bi-partisanship with Mitch and Rand). I'm pi...

It cost $25 per person to walk into the Museum of Modern Art in NYC - wonderful building & garden with great food (additional cost) right in the middle of Manhattan - belly of the beast you might say - and some godawful art. It's not a blanket criticism, I've seen some wonderful stuff there, but I've also seen a number of "special exhibits" that boggle the mind in their campy, inside-joke, banality. Asking patrons to pull out a C-note for a group of 4 to examine this crap is hilarious I'm sure to the curator and the creator alike, but there is something unethical about it to my lights. In fairness MOMA claims that each visitor actually costs them $50+ (that's 2007 dollars) and with the QE 1, 2 and 3 there's bound to be inflation so you could say $25 is a bargain - I'm sure that's what the Museum brass tell themselves when (if) they ever think about it. Fortunately, MOMA has a website which provides the penny-wise art lover a prev...

Celebrating St. Patty's day I call your attention to one of the great clowns of Irish history (and America) - the magnificent Johnny Patterson. A wonderful article written in The Independent by Collin Murphy points out some of the highlights and low-lights of his life. His fellow Irish clowns wrote and performed a play to honor his life and music but other than that he is mostly forgotten. But he is not forgotten here at the KOTCB blog - Here, we consider Johnny Patterson a true brother in our battle to pull humanity up from and out of the machine. Orphan, famine survivor, drummer, circus run-away, brilliant performer, brought to America to entertain the masses, overstayed his green card by 9 years, daughter killed by an elephant while he was in the States, returned to Ireland a wealthy drunkard, continued to perform for a circus that actually shot live ammo at it's audience - This is an Irishman of the old school. We have no visual record of his gifted clowning but we do h...

SXSW, Inc. is having it's Austin party all week and my how things have change since the late 80's. Once a hub of hipster creativity mixed with Lone Star "country" realism ATX has really let this one blossom into a uber-fest-freak-show. Don't get me wrong, Austin is a great place , but this event has evolved from a very cool, in the know, happening to a corporate trade show projecting cognitive dissonance around the globe. Tinder users in Austin are being punked while homo sapiens are protesting for their lives . It's all about Innovation, Inspiration and Creativity don't you know so get to it, and Love Pepsi while you're at it.

The silver-spooned surfer was interviewed by Margaret Brennan today on Face the Nation, though I don't understand why John Kerry would care to "face the nation" when his attention is clearly focused on the wider world - the international community as they say. Whatever. We've been here before and we'll probably be here again and no matter how much people like William Saletan writing in Slate try to obfuscate the truth it comes down to weather US citizens are willing to have their government submit to a "global test" and passing grade to justify its foreign policy decisions or behave like petulant children and "go it alone." Back in 2004 Kerry got spanked by the cowboy on this proposition. As Saletan makes note: Bush rejected this test. "The president's job is not to take an international poll," he said at the time. "Our national security decisions will be made in the Oval Office, not in foreign capitals." Times...

Today is Pi day - 3/14/15 or 3.1415 or the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. An irrational and transcendental number it has been studied with sacred reverence from the dawn of man. Squaring the circle can lead to some very odd revelations , but as a practical matter existence (material existence anyway) depends on it. When you really delve into the structure of the material world, as a layman, it grows more and more mysterious . There might be some big brained scientists out there who understand creation and the material world at a much deeper level and can explain the irrational and transcendent foundation of the world. But from my understanding it seems like all of science is a house of cards, elegant and complex though it is, built upon an approximate base. Which leads me to clownify the New Atheists and their mission, such that it is, to vilify religion and promote belief in (reverence for) "science" as a practical alternative to religious...

For 20 years this bombastic gadfly has been barking into the homes of lazy American cable subscribers stupid enough to set their boob tube to his frequency. For the past few years (7 to be exact) he's been on a racist rant about President Obama and how Republicans EVERYWHERE can't cope with the melanin in BHO's skin - As thought the GOP gave a rat's ass what color a politician is (ever taken a close look at John Boener's skin color?) Last night Chris Matthews went off the rails again with his Hardball closer . Listing all the mean things conservatives have done to Obama over the past 6 years: Wanted him to accomplish noting Wanted him booted from office as quickly as possible Called him a liar Invited foreign leaders to "denigrate" the Presidents foreign policy (without informing the Pres) Asked Iran to continue building a nuclear bomb (it's sort of confusing - you have to read the way Matthews worded it) And then he finished with this do...

Sigma Alpha Epsilon loves to sing songs I guess that this is one that didn't make it into the official songbook: "There will never be a n***** in SAE. There will never be a n***** in SAE. You can hang him from a tree, but he can never sing with me There will never be a n***** in SAE." How many n*****s actually want to be SAE's in the first place? I'd take a pass on the frat and I'm a cracker. I know it's insensitive and cruel and even animalistic (except that animals can't ride on a bus, dress in a tux, formulate lyrics and sing songs) but shit happens when a frat boy gets drunk that he often regrets. Sometimes a frat boy will wake up on the floor or in the yard or in the back seat of someone's car (someone he doesn't know) on a Sunday morning and wonder, "what the fuck happened last night?" They do stupid stuff and frats keep them all in one place - sort of like gangs in the inner city it provides these guys a home an...

This pretty much sums it up.

I haven't worn a watch in over 10 years - time is, for me, everywhere. Time is on my phone, on my computer, in my car, on my cable box, on my credit card receipts, on roadside signage it's everywhere!  Which makes me wonder why the New York Daily News is so concerned about the success or failure of the Apple Watch ? Some people will surly love the Apple Watch and gladly plunk down $10,000.00 for the privilege of wearing it. Count me out - I really don't care to have Tim Cook tracking my whereabouts and vital signs 24/7 and God knows what the NSA will do with the Apple Watch info. Now I know that I shouldn't judge the New York Daily News too harshly, they're only trying to sell ink on paper which is an even more anachronistic business model than watchmaker so who can blame them for showing some concern? But if you listen to Yuval Noah Harari and Daniel Kahneman over at edge.org discuss the past and future under the heading  Death Is Optional you st...

Looks like John Kerry is taking the blue pill in an effort to abort HRC and though I'm not sure how infanticides work in the normal male body, the silver-spooned surfer's biology might be so odd that he actually pulls it off. It's no surprise to me, having watched her carpetbagging highness over the years, that that the Democrat establishment is going to put her out to pasture and I suppose they waited patiently keeping their powder dry in an effort to prevent another young dreamer like Barack Obama from making a bid to grab the brass ring. Sorry Pocahontas Warren and Martian O'Malley - There will be no Gary Hart or Howard Dean in this years fashion show because 2016 is going to be a big league slugfest and that means only 1st string white male starters get to play. One of the funniest memes touted by the GOP shills and know-it-all commentariat is that the Democrat Party " has no bench " meaning they have no viable candidates behind Hilary R. Clampett and ...

Soon after the Hayden Planetarium reconstruction was complete I took my 5 year old daughter to explore outer space on this amazing multimedia experience ( The Search for Life: Are We Alone?)  they'd concocted. It was like the Pink Floyd laser light shows of my youth x 1,000,000 with the narration of Harrison Ford growling on about distant galaxies and nebula and whatnot. It was fantastic and about 10 minutes into the ride my girl grabbed my finger in her little hand and whispered,  "are we still on earth?" Good question. Neil deGrasse Tyson played a significant role in making that event happen and for that I commend him and his work at the American Museum of Natural History - It's all the other stuff that sort of bugs me. By other stuff I mean "science evangelism" and log rolling with the smart set that has, I'm sure, been great for his wallet and ego, but maybe not so great for real science. I always find it odd when a scientist leaves the lab for the...

Getting a little long in the tooth so maybe not the best idea to fly off in the 1940's single engine airplane, but if you're Han Solo you don't let that stop you. The plane was made around the same time you were born - 1942 so what could go wrong? Oops . Love the fact that he crash landed on Penmar and that doctors were on the fairway who rushed to administer first aid. Thank God he wasn't flying his space ship. "The focus and the concentration and the attention to detail that flying takes is a kind of meditation. I find it restful and engaging, and other things slip away. " Harrison Ford

"Democrats called it a fishing expedition." Of course they do because that's exactly what it is - There's a big bad pool of email sitting on private email servers at the Clampett compound in Westchester County and the GOP wants to cast in a line and see what they can pull out. Looks like Eric Hoteham was hanging out with Hilary and set up the mail server so that she could conduct her business without the prying eyes of pesky government busybodies. No Freedom of Information in Clampettland, but someone's going to catch some emails and flay them real nice.

Is there nothing of greater importance to American Jews than the Democrat Party? If your name is Richard Cohen the answer is no - today WaPo published his op-ed and I must say, his comments literally blew my mind: Title - Israel’s moral argument is on the line (because of Bibi's talk to Congress) You've got to be shitting me, right, that Israel's elected Prime Minister in addressing the US Congress on the subject of Iran (Iran people!!!) is calling the morality of Israel's existence into question. You can read this codswallop yourself but let me give you the annotated version: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party" = BAD "That was 1948 at the very creation of the state." Israel is an artificial creation of post-WW2 victors (actually Israel has existed for millenniums) "Truman was being lobbied to recognize Israel." K Street causing trouble in '48 just like today (might I point out that not only was Truman being...

Oh what could have been... in 2006. Judge Jeanine Pirro should have taken on Hilary Clampett in the NY Senate race. She would have been a great candidate and slammed grandma relentlessly - instead she joined Fox News and now bashes Obama every Saturday night on her show . Her opening statement is, week in week out, some of the best stuff on TV. Check it out: I mean look at the delivery and the sarcasm and disgust - it's really funny. Funnier than Sat Night Live or the Daily Show because it's real and unvarnished disdain. She's not even trying to joke about it. How I would have loved to see her apply some of this to HRC in a debate and who cares if she would have lost in the end, the spectacle would have been worth it. Instead, as I'm sure you remember, John Spencer former mayor of Yonkers ran for NY Senate on the GOP ticket and lost to Hilary 67% to 31%.