July 4 2012 ...

I am quietly listening at home to roar of the fireworks in several areas including NYC. It fills the air with the excitement that is this time of year. I am reminded as John Adams was dying on this date in 1826. He could hear the roar of the cannon celebrating what he pushed for. He wrote in 1776 that he would expect to hear in the future cannons, bells, and pageantry  to honor this great day. As he died he could hear those very things going on in the country around him.

Remember his toast given a week before his death and a commission came to see him and asked for him to give a toast. He said he would give nothing more than the toast "Independence forever"

Thank you John Adams  We still do not recognize the great things you did..  But someday there may be a monument to you in Washington DC.  You deserve it more than practically anyone who has a monument there.

July 4th 2012

I am quietly spending time here at home during this historic day. It is hot and I have not been in the mood to go anywhere lately. So I will quietly celebrate the holiday on my own. What does this day signify ?  It has been made into many things and many of them are not quite correct.

Remember independence was declared on July 2 1776...Although even still it did not mean as much as we make of it now. It was a document that was treason. all who signed were surely aware that death was a close option.


The paperwork was signed on the 4th.  It became by error and pretty much right from the start that the 4th was the day..But Adams wrote on July 3rd 1776...That yesterday it was finally done.

So yes this is the day we call our birthday..In many ways it is not. The declaration did nothing really but state what we believed. It did not give us independence. That would take many years of fighting with soldiers and politicians.

Our real birthday is the signing of the Constitution. Which created the country we now live in. The country of the Declaration and the Articles of  Confederation (which was our first constitution of sorts) was bagged and left behind...  So remember our real birthday is Sept 17, 1787  That is the day the current United States of America was born.

On this day remember 3 US Presidents died.

John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
James Monroe

It is fitting also that the great Atlas of Independence John Adams died on the 4th.  He was the man who gave  us the nerve and power to fight. No one comes close to him in creating our and fighting for our independence from a political standpoint at least. But even still he held a musket in defence again a possible British attack..Few others in that convention did that. However some did more, much more.  i will write of them soon.

 Specially not in that catogory was Jefferson who was mainly the scribe of the document.  I have no love for Jefferson, but he also died this day. Always the coward, always hid behind others, yet we honor him for all his great works and that stupid monument in Washington creates a false impression of who he really was.  But in June and July he did the only real brave action of his life and that was to join with the others in revolution.

Today I will hear of mainly of Thomas Jefferson and all of his great works and maybe by small chance John Adams. So you see how much history gets changed around. That's life. That's history!

 

You never know who you are going to meet in a cemetery. In this city of the dead I had a rather lively conversation with a spiritualist.

I decided to take a stroll through Newark's Mt Pleasant Cemetery. It had been a number of years since I had done so. I last went there in 2005 and thought that it would be nice to see it again.
 I had a lot on my mind and I sometimes find this kind of place a good one to just chill out. Where I can think and let out a little pressure. I needed that and this is the place to find yourself sometimes.


I went and saw some of the mausoleums and fancy structures.  I stopped over to see Mary Edison's grave for a while. I just relaxed there and sat on the stone seat provided by her husband Thomas for when he came to see her.
While I was pretty much in my own little world not paying much attention to what was going on, I heard a voice say "Thank you for coming to the cemetery"  I was a little shocked as I did not see anyone anywhere. Then I saw a fellow dressed in Traditional African items carrying a  spear. I must confess I was a little surprised and a bit scared as you do not meet many people anywhere, let alone a cemetery carrying a spear.

But this warm young gentleman said with a smile "Thank you for visiting the cemetery, so few people do. And the dead want to be seen now and then. That is why they erected all of this"  He gave me his name and told me he was there to calm the spirits. He was a spiritual guide of sorts.

 So he sat with me for a while as we joined into conversation about the spirit world in which he frequents. It was fascinating and I learned that he comes there often to look after the graves and the dead. He told me that the spirits use the number 9 in their conversation. He talked of many things, Newark, the people buried there and people living outside the gates, the state of the world, slavery, shootings and murders and much more. I talked to him about some history of Newark, slavery and sharing some thoughts I had that might help him.

 So after having both  learned a few new things he and I went our own ways. I went to the car, he went back to the dead and looked after them. Both of us maybe a bit bewildered on this chance encounter and this most unique and unusual conversation of the likes I doubt I will ever have again.

I am not one to think much of the spirit world, but who knows? All I know is that the cemetery there has a great supporter and the dead there have a great advocate!

I am tired of Religion and Gods..It is really man's worst and most destructive invention.

I have come to dislike religion more and more as time goes on. For I have found it to be one of the most evil cults on earth. Now there are so many  religions today and each is about as ridiculous as the other. We have Christians of all kinds, Muslims of all kinds, Jews of all kinds, Mormons, and a mess of others.


I cannot say there is no such thing as a God. I am a Deist and do not believe that the Gods of religion exist. I do believe there may be a ruling power to the universe. What ever that may be,


  Man has been inventing Gods since time began. It is part of our culture to create a deity, make up a few good stories about it and then worship it. It is how we have worked since we evolved from apes.
Don't forget give it lots of money too!  Money and religion go together. 


It is big business that I think should be taxed



 It is fun to read some of the nonsense that comes out of the mouths of the  Christians and Muslims. As they dislike each other and have been killing each other in the name of religion for well over a thousand years. What is godly about that?  Anyone really think about that? To kill each other in the name of some God?  


Why does religion attract such stupid people?

  Why do we kill each other over a fairy tale? God is (which ever one you believe in) the biggest BS story ever created. 
It is embarrassing to ones intellect to have to even think that people really believe this babble. I have a feeling that many of those who say they believe, in reality do not. But they do not have the guts to say it. I would also guess that a good 50% of those who say they are religious feel most of it is nonsense.

 Also did I forget to mention that many in the religion industry say nothing cause it is too good a cash cow!


The United States was formed deliberately with no religion or God in its founding documents. The Declaration says creator. A creator may be a comet for all we know.


 James Madison made sure that there was no Clergy in the meetings of the Constitution. He wanted it to be free of religion and its problems.  The founders of the United States were Deists, and looked at religion as very odd. To them it was very odd indeed, but needed to control the populace. 


Washington would go to church services for political reasons and remove himself before he would have to be forced to take communion of which he did not believe.
 Thomas Jefferson  rewrote the New Testament and removed all that looked foolish, nonsensical, and for in his thoughts stupid. The book was very thin when he finished.
James Madison was a deist, Benjamin Franklin  fell close to atheism,   John Adams said that half the troubles of the world dealt with the cross.


 In later days Abraham Lincoln wrote a paper on the foolishness of religion and had a lot of good laughs over it.. But was told to get rid of it when he ran for President. He used religion to sway votes and control people. He was much like those of the past a deist. Any one of the great thinkers could see past the smoke and mirrors of religion. 
One has to remember that political leaders will always use God as a part of a speech or saying. Lincoln did it wonderfully. He did not agree but knew he had to sway rather unintelligent people. He found that using God, the bible and various religious overtones won him the heart of the people. 
Perhaps the greatest intellect ever who was President, John Quincy Adams wrote that he still read the bible but had become increasingly doubtful of its truths.  
Even in this day and age politicians will use religion to sway the vote. He is a god fearing man !!  That should get you a few votes. I know people who use religion in their business as it attracts people. They feel that this person is better and more trustworthy. 
Lastly on American history. We have had lots of wars and always pray to God to make sure we kill the enemy. To slit his guts, to kill his children, to ruin his life, to wreck his family, and lastly to reap ruin on his descendants. That is always a nice thing that we pray for.  Of course that is what God is for to help you in battle to kill others. What  does the other side pray for?  You see how silly this is?  Religion and its cruel nature makes a mockery of polite society


Man and religion are incompatible. 


  Just go to the Middle East and enough is said. Just go to one of these crazy Christian gatherings. My favorites are the mass hysteria that comes from these groups. It is like these religion are doing their best to keep people as stupid and ill informed as possible. It is like slavery.   No slave was to be taught to read as they might figure out they were being screwed big time by their masters. It is also important to remember that religion and the bible was favorable on things such as slavery, murder and putting down women. The New Testament is even worse in many regards. 
The Mormons were anti black till the later part of the 20th century. Antisemitism was practiced by the Catholic Church till the 1960's. The born again crowd and rabid whites were happy to kill and hang blacks as they thought it becoming to their needs, ie. the KKK.
 It has been proved generally, that the more religious one is the lower generally the IQ is. The results are available on line.  Now of course there are exceptions to any rule. There are some real stupid atheists. But if you take each group into a lot you see a great deal of difference.  






http://hypnosis.home.netcom.com/iq_vs_religiosity.htm


This shows IQ scores based on members of religions  Asians are by nature gifted with the largest brains. I have learned that from researchers. Largest does not always mean strongest, however on this study it seems the case.

The Egyptians had Gods and for a while they had only one God, the Greeks did, the Romans, and all the other races created their new gods. The Christian Gods were made up using a lot of the old Egyptian lore. The Mormons made up their religion using the texts of the Christians and some clever fantasy as well.( aren't all of them using clever fantasy to tell the truth) 
  All of these Gods are as real as the Gods some people worship today. The Christian God system, the Muslim God, the Jewish God, the Hindi God, and more. All are the same, all are idols to be worshiped and feared. Because if you do not worship these Gods they will treat you in a very nasty way, cause they love you. But what one always has to see is the need of money, cause Gods who ever they are have a big problem. Their priests talk about their miracles and great works of God. But God cannot help at all. It is a good racket. But God really had a money problem.


To show how very silly religion can be, the Prime Minister of Malaysia said that gays, liberalism and the like  in that country go against the teachings of Islam and therefore against the government. He is going crazy over this nonsense. His tirade was funny to see.  It makes the government of Malaysia as sick as that stupid religion.  Cause the religion is in charge of the government and the government is the religion.  I can quote myself here on what I wrote about this nonsense in Malaysia  and the foolishness of religion and its followers elsewhere.


I see here a vivid example of how a simple idea is corrupted into massive vortex. Religion was invented to control the masses and the weak minded. The idea that a man up in the sky is in charge of your existence and operation, is pretty simple minded to put it lightly. Religion has proved over the last few thousand years that it is an easy and usually profitable way to control others.
This is the same group that tried to outlaw tomboys. I am sorry that is more asinine than almost anything I can fathom. But not content with this little blurb of foolishness the Prime Minister has let out with this mid-evil tirade on what makes for a happy country. On what makes his backward understandings of what makes government work. Religion has no place in government, and government has no reason to be involved in religion. One is fact, one is theory. But allowing himself to speak on authority of a theory, he had damaged fact in government.


For the words of Abraham Lincoln ring out in my ears as I see what has happened here. Lincoln put free speech and the public understands of it in a simple a powerful way and it fits to a tee here.

" It is far better to be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all the doubt".

The Prime Minister has shown he has neither the wisdom or the intellect to follow those simple words. They will come in time to haunt him as there is nothing to protect ones free speech from its abuse. There is a saying that you are what you eat, and for desert you get a fresh and cold serving of what you have said.
Revenge is best served cold. It will as many fire back at the intellectually challenged leader of a confused and outdated government, who's best days are far behind them and who's future seems more certain for a history book, rather than the modern dialog of people and nations.


Religion has screwed another country. 


 It sounds like Circus Elephants in a big tent going in a circle. Each one holds on to each others tail and they are going nowhere. Cause it has no qualified leader.


If we really want to look at stupidity in its highest form. lets go no further than the Pope. Now what is this nonsense about condoms?  All of the Africans they have converted to their silly religion and they tell them that they cannot use condoms!!!   How damned stupid is that!  On the hands of the Catholic church is the death of millions of people. Who are more concerned with using condoms than controlling many of their pedophile priests with molesting children.  The Pope is as fallible as I am. There is nothing holy about him. And his crazy views only show that. If he was enlightened by a god he would help people , not condemn their deaths. The Catholic religion has killed countless people due to mid-evil nonsense. What that wicked religion has done to children is pure evil. I look at them as practically as criminals hiding behind a religion. 
Let's hope that religion dies soon, as it has hurt too many people and is far too evil in too many ways.   Its counter part Islam is equally wicked and has ruined the lives of even more people than the Catholics.


Once again you can see how religion has been hi-jacked.  I am sure there are many very good and decent people who are very religious and cannot understand the anger one feels over this. Well my answer is this....


The concept of religion is to be the embrace of God. That the religion is to help, nurture, and uplift people.  I am sure there are many congregations in the world who do this, but there are just as many that do not. Hitler's sister was nice, so maybe we should say that Hitler was too. Hell no! Hitler was a monster and the first person who tries to change that will be condemned. I feel the same about the religions, some have been good at times, but others are pure evil. 


Therefore I will condemn monsters. 


Isn't it time to free ourselves of this mid-evil terror. Be it Christian  or Muslim. Both are equally stupid and demeaning to those they are supporting. As far as I am concerned I can not see any reason to believe any of this cheap magic show. It worked centuries ago, but we also know now that the earth revolves around the sun. That was dogma in Galileo's time. In fact he was brought up on charges by the church for heresy. Oh just so you know he was forgiven about 20 years ago!  The religions I have mentioned are belittling to women, blacks, anyone who uses their mind freely. The one thing that is most important in religion is that you do not think, or question. Cause if many of these members of what ever religion did, they would wonder what the hell they were doing in such a ridiculous setting.  


Thinking and original thought are two of the things that scares these religions to death . 
  
 The Pope is useless as is the religion he caters too. It was invented using a great deal of Egyptian symbolism and of course uses idols all over the place just like any Egyptian temple would. Even the story of Jesus is partly copied from Egyptian texts of death and Resurrection. And just guess who is one of the richest of religions? The Pope sits on a lot of money....It is all about money and power. It has always been!  Easter and Christmas were Pagan holidays just named such to fit their dogma.


Were we always this clueless?  In the dark ages religion was used to keep control and order and lastly a good way to make some money. Religion was designed to handle and control less than keen minds.
 I really think it is time for us to grow out of this fairy tale nonsense and stop killing each other over it!   It just too stupid for words. And an embarrassment to intellect to think any of this is real.


But in history we have killed and will keep killing each other because we believe in our Gods..... What ever God that is.  I think Zeus is a good one or Poseidon. They are as real as any god that can be produced today. It is a sad comment on man to see how stupid religion has made him. It may be a source of comfort for some, but it will be the end of man and his destruction if he does not learn to get away from it.. I have no problems with a higher power, but this man made religion nonsense is deadly.


 Remember it was in the name of God that the Christians killed tens of thousands of Muslims and now in the name of God Muslims wish to do the same to Christians.  Both were, are, and will always be as dreadful and fancifully fictitious as any mind numbing cult.  


What utter rubbish!

America's first gay President or gay Vice President. We do not have to wait for either, we already had both!. What is even more amazing is they were partners in a committed relationship.

James Buchanan and William King..A famous gay couple who made a great career for each in the middle of the 19th century.  They were known as a couple in those days. Andrew Jackson called King Miss Nancy and had some other unkind words for Buchanan. Even the ever religious Sarah Polk, wife of President Polk in the 1840's wanted to know about Buchanan and his better half. She was always writing gossipy letters about the two. They were a popular center of Washington life in the early days of the 19th century.


Buchanan became President in 1857 and King became Vice President in 1853. This special relationship between these men for many years was the talk of Washington DC. They lived together and shared a warm and what seemed, very happy life together. Buchanan was the first gay President and King was the first gay Vice President! How is that for a very successful gay couple. Yet I rarely hear about either of them. Being that they lived together for over 30 years

I am so sick and tired of some people trying to make Lincoln gay, I kind of think of him as A-sexual. I think the case for JFK being bi-sexual is a better shot as it seems there is more stories around that than of Lincoln. In the case of Lincoln it is more romantic love rather than JFK's slam bam thank you ma'am or man.

But getting back to Buchanan why does the gay community kind of shun him and VP King?  Maybe because Buchanan had about the worst Presidency in history and is always ranked at the bottom of the list with many other useless Presidents
It was said in his day that Buchanan's Presidency was socially successful and politically disastrous. As for King he was Vice President for the greatest drunk to ever occupy the White House, Franklin Pierce. King would die early in the Pierce administration and therefore spared seeing his lovers terrible Presidency. 
But in this age of gay marriage and equal rights, what greater story is there than two men who were in a committed relationship and both of them made a great success of themselves.  I think if they were great or not in their office ..They did it! 


Can you imagine such a thing happening today?  Specially a couple like this?


  And they were not very much in the closet about it either.  Good for them both, they were true to each other and did what they believed.  So we have some catching up to do with 19th century Washington.  Don't we people? In closing I think that it is about time to honor these two men who were brave enough to be who they were. And not hide in closets like so many politicians have done for the last 160 years after them. 


Obviously politicians today are little girls compared to these men .  Bravo James and William! 

The long neglected battles of Brooklyn, Long Island, and Harlem Heights in the American Revolution.

When we think of the American Revolution there are certain things that come to mind. Certain places that ring out and have rung out for centuries now. Names that come to us are the battles of Concord, or Lexington, and let us not forget Valley Forge.
But to be honest Concord and Lexington were skirmishes. Important yes indeed, but not battles. In our current time several places have worked hard to foster their history and make it a cottage industry. So today when you go to Boston you have the Freedom Trail and everyone is gently nudged into thinking that much of the American Revolution was fought there. It began there yes, but not fought there long.

 The prize the British wanted was New York City and it would be there that the greatest, largest, and for many reasons the most important battles would be fought there in the area of New York City.

George Washington was the commander of the troops in NYC. It was not a large army, nor well trained. But it was all the Colonies had. Since money was in short supply they were not well paid either. It would be their task to defend NYC from the greatest navy and army in the world. Now. if you think of this you understand that this was a near impossible job to do.  I am not going to go into great detail about this as it is massive in scale. I would like to wet your appetite and have you study more on this.

The first major problem was that NYC was a loyalist city. This meaning they favored the crown. All of Washington's activities were carefully watched and letters were streaming to England alerting them to his actions.

By early 1776 the largest armada of fighting and transport ships ever sent by England (till D-Day) was sent to surround NYC. Hundreds of ships were soon all around the Island. This was under the command of Admiral Howe, the land forces that were transported which would number more than 30.000 would be under the command of General Howe....Yes they were brothers.

The first major battle there was on long Island, often called the battle of Brooklyn. In that battle Washington's army was surrounded and smashed. Through a chance fog and bad weather that night Washington and his troops were able to sail across the East River into Manhattan, undetected by the British.

The next morning General Howe was ready to finish Washington's troops up, but he was surprised to find that Washington's entire army was across the river. This would take some time to make a move and this gave Washington a chance to escape.
 However at the time Washington was not aware of Howe's actions and through the great efforts of two people Washington's army and for all intents the American Revolution would be saved. The first was Aaron Burr who was the one who got the ball rolling in getting the soldiers out of lower Manhattan. You see if Washington had stayed in lower Manhattan he would have been completely defeated. As the shore of the Island was surrounded with hundreds of ships. If the British Army just came across and worked their way down Manhattan, it would have been all over.

What amazes me is there is no statue of Burr in Manhattan?  For he is truly one of the great heroes of this event.

The other person who comes to Washington's aid is a very unique one. A certain Mrs. Murray who was able to get the attentions of General Howe. He was a notorious womanizer and she would keep him occupied for a few hours!  This allowed Burr and Washington and the many troops to escape.  You see if they had been defeated there or captured it would have been the end of the entire revolution!

Mrs. Murray is honored in NYC today. A section of the city is named for her. It is called Murray Hill.

Washington headed  up to Harlem Heights in NYC and then came the next and last battle in New York. It was a standoff but allowed Washington and his troops to leave the island.
They lost NYC, but had their army still and would fight another day.

Now Washington's ability to survive this was the first sign that maybe there was a chance it could be done. As it was well known that they could never defeat the British, but if they could last long enough to just
make the British tired of it all they could win. By doing this and surviving it was perhaps the greatest battle of the war. By surviving and having others like Benedict Arnold,  who were more successful than Washington winning in other areas would finally get the French to come to our aid and allow us to gain our independence from the British Crown.
Sadly you will not see anyone marching around in revolutionary dress in NYC, but that does not mean it didn't happen there. They just never created a cottage industry to support it.

So the next time everyone talks about the great battles in Boston, Philadelphia, and Virginia. Remind them that the largest battle of the American Revolution took place in New York City. Surprising huh?

Finding and meeting my father after 41 years.

My father and I after 41 years!!!



I have been thinking of writing this for a while and it was just a little too hard to write. Emotionally it is a very difficult thing to do. My father left me and my family when I was 11 years old. There were many issues between my mother and father. I never dreamed I would see him again. But amazingly I did.

What happened after he left was just very awful.. But I always wondered what happened to him.  Through the efforts of Jason Park I was able to find him and discover something I did not know...My own history!  I will write more on this soon as it is an amazing story

How many people have not seen their father for 41 years? Not a great deal I am sure...

Even writing this is emotional....So this is enough for now...Nice to have met you again dad!

Your son

The Gramophone records in a vault at the Paris Opera ...1907

I was reading a old Scientific American Magazine in 1982 and ran into this article. It said that a number of recordings were placed in a vault at the Paris Opera House and to be saved there till 2007. My imagination took off of course and I put the 1907 magazine away, I have since lost it. But the idea of a time capsule of sound was such a wonderful idea. I also knew at the time it would be 25 years till it was opened. But was it all about time and the future, or was it about then and sales of their records?

Of course it was all about sales. This was great free publicity! It would be all over the papers and push the fortunes of the Gramophone. Alfred Clark was the power behind it and he was the head of the Gramophone and Typewriter Company. The company would change its name soon to just the Gramophone Company.

In 1982 I asked tons of people about this, but no one was very sure about it. I was told by one person that they were moved out ages ago. One has to remember in 1982 there was no internet and it was basically calling and talking to museums and archives to get info....I was totally out of luck on this. And to be honest I pretty much forgot about it. I recall in the article it went into detail of how the records would be preserved.

The records were all placed in containers as you see in the photo and protected and sealed with asbestos, which was the magic mineral at the time.There was in the vault also a Gramophone Concert Grand to play the records when the yet unborn adventurers opened the vault in 2007.

To move ahead I have seen that there were some additions to the vault in 1912 and then it was resealed.

Bounce ahead to the 21st century and the vault was opened. Sadly it was found to be like many Egyptian tombs...Looted!

There were some containers of records there, but one of the containers was empty and the fancy Gramophone Grand was too!. Plus there was an added problem, the containers  that remained were coming apart and the asbestos was all over. In fact they needed bio hazard outfits to open them.  After doing this to one of the containers it was seen that there was little reason to open the others. As this was mainly a big publicity stunt there was nothing very special in the containers. Just standard issues records of the time of which hundreds of thousands exist to this very day. So there was a CD made of the records that already existed in collections. But still it was interesting to see when they finally opened the vault it answered the many questions I had in 1982 in a long forgotten article in Scientific American.