I have a bridge I want to give you

Seeing the Buddha on the road

When walking in public, or talking to a stranger, there can be no thought of Buddha without killing that thought to the degree that one expresses it without causing confusion.

There is no more intimate place for public conversation than a blog. Here I can spend as much time relating as much as I can share, and any confusion will only be for those who can as easily as not look away. Therefore no one is made to feel uncomfortable against their own wishes.

Please feel free always to share your thoughts here, or on any thread. Here I can give you more truth than you would receive to speak with me in person, except in those special circumstances like the festival this past weekend. There are so many of us, and I am only a new and learning member of a thriving community. All of whom can speak truths to one another. There is nothing which I say that any one of them cannot say as well, and which you can learn from any source you consult.

Do not pursue me, but speak with me here if you like.

Let there be color.

Meanwhile…

Welcome to the Hotel Colorado

Does “Shazam!” sound too hokey?

The Bible is an historical narrative in metaphor. It is a story of the past and of the present, applied as allegory. In two thousand years ago Israel, a political revolution transpired. It was a religious revolution, it was a spiritual revolution, it was a revolution that was written of as the events passed and afterward revised and rewritten.

In two thousand years later California, another political revolution is transpiring. It is a religious revolution, it is a spiritual revolution, is is a revolution that is being written of as the events pass.

Berkeley is Jerusalem. Come ye. All Californians have an immediate right of return, others have to wait a year of probation but the living is good and easy if you come.

There is music in the temple here.

Happy halloween video from SAFER

Hat-tip to Toker00.

And in another sunny part of the country

The Miami Herald reports, also per Brad Friedman, that ES&S machines in south Florida may be flipping votes to Republicans right in front of voters. That’s just sloppy programming that exposes the switch too soon, instead of after the voter has confirmed the vote.

ES&S is the second largest electronic voting machine company after Diebold, and its owners are some of the same people, to the point that there may be little to distinguish these companies from one another. As for the machines themselves, these are the same used in many states where similar allegations were reported, including Missouri, Texas and Arkansas.

See, the problem isn’t that these stories are proven to be true, because they are just allegations. The problem is that they are credible, and they are credible because these machines have no proven trust. Do you think that it is appropriate to trust corporations that have partisan relationships to count your votes, even when they’ve already been proven to have made machines that can be hacked?

Speaking of voting in California

San Diego’s registrar has already sent the electronic voting machines home with poll workers. These are proven hackable Diebold machines, but nothing to worry about because the registrar, Mikel Haas, assures us that poll workers are incorruptible and they have secure storage facilities in their cars and garages and wherever else they store the machines for several weeks immediately prior to the November 7 election.

Brad Friedman has the rest of the story.

How we are told we cannot vote and be counted

So I had an interesting conversation, first with Lauren at the Registrar of Voters in Oakland, California, who informed me that if I was not registered to vote already then I would only be allowed to cast a provisional ballot, which she further informed me would probably not be counted. She clarified that it might be counted but only if approved by a supervisor. I double checked the spelling of her name and asked her if she was the only Lauren in this office, and she assured me that she was. She then asked if I would like to speak to the supervisor right now.

I said that would be fine, so she put me on hold, and a few minutes later a woman came on the line whose name I could not accurately hear, it was something like Barlica. That may be correct, but if not I apologize. Barlica asked me how she could help me and I recounted my conversation with Lauren for her. I said that in Pennsylvania it had been possible to vote in the county courthouse on election day, and asked whether this was also possible in California.

Instead of answering my question, Barlica asked when I had moved to California. I informed her that it had been about three months. She stated that if I had not registered in that time then I would not be allowed to vote. She informed me that she did not wish to debate this with me, although I was only asking for information on what procedure existed for me to vote.

She then asked if I would like to leave a message for her supervisor’s voicemail, and I agreed to do so. The voicemail identified the speaker as Cynthia Cornejo (spelling not provided, so may be incorrect). I left a detailed message and my phone number for her to get in touch, and that is where the matter now stands.

Related posts:

• How we can vote and be counted
• Provisional voting in Alameda county

What do “conservative” Republicans want to conserve?

Thanks to Shakes.

How we can vote and be counted

I visited city hall today to ask whether the registration date for voting had expired, and was informed that October 23 was the deadline for registering to vote this November. This is what I expected to hear and was prepared for being told. I asked whether there was a procedure for voting in court, and the assistant had to get her supervisor. The supervisor asked me whether I lived in the city, and I assured her that I did. She then told me that yes, I would be able to vote in court if I wished and told me to contact the registrar of voters for more information.

This is a tortuous process to find out what one can do, and I intend to do so and share the information here, because this is how we should do it in my opinion. We need judicially supervised elections right now, as the only standing branch of the national government that has not deposed itself by authorizing and committing torture in violation of the constitution and their oaths to protect and defend it.

Some may choose to vote in person at a polling place or by absentee ballot, and that is your right to do. You may choose to use electronic voting machines if you do not care whether your vote is accurately counted. You may use a paper ballot if one is offered to you, but it is unclear whether this will be possible in all or even most places.

Or you can go to court and vote under the supervision of a reviewable judge, and if the process is anything less than fair and proper you would at least then have an avenue of appeal if you choose.

Related post:

• How we are told we cannot vote and be counted

Doctor Sanjay Gupta disinforms the public

Perhaps Sanjay thinks that it is important to press the benefits of his clients’ interests over the truth. English-Girl-Abroad Sam Breach tells us how Sanjay claims that grain-fed beef are more resistant to E. coli infection, in contradiction of the facts and CNN/Time’s own reporting of the day before.

Hat-tip to Sinsemilla Jones.

Relativistic thinking

This will only make sense to some readers, so please do not be confused if you do not understand.

Cannabis does not make you think more slowly, it makes you think more quickly — and to therefore perceive time more slowly. The speed of your environment is relatively slower moving because you have a higher rate of thoughts per minute.

For an analogy that will make it more concrete, consider the number of frames per minute in a movie reel. The higher frame rate when recording translates to a slower but smoother playback. Of course if you also increase the playback to match, then you will get a constant but higher-quality realtime display. The ratio between these two things translates to your perception of speed and time.

Playback is analogous to physical action in this metaphor. So if you think quicker than you act, you feel slower. But if you can speed up your action and keep up with your thoughts, you would feel no slower — but the rest of the world will seem to. Relativity is contagious, though, as we all try to match speed in order to communicate with one another.

More music Monday

Conditioning children for a police state

Wyoming, Michigan (the city, not the state — south of Grand Rapids) decided to conduct a “school safety drill” replete with riot cops and weapons.

Full story from the AP.

Hat-tip to mayan.