POLITICO Magazine: U.S. Representative Jackie Speier: 'Surviving Jonestown'

Source:Politico Magazine- Reverend Jim Jones and his People's Temple in San Francisco. 

Source:The New Democrat

“Jackie Speier is a congresswoman representing California’s 14th congressional district, which includes San Francisco and the peninsula.

Excerpt from UNDAUNTED: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back by Jackie Speier, reprinted under a license arrangement originating with Amazon Publishing.

Iwas 28, lying on a dusty airplane runway in the Guyanese jungle, and dying.

It was just a matter of time. Five bullets had ripped through me, devastating the right side of my body. Behind the wheel of an airplane, I waited for the shooting to stop and said my Act of Contrition, praying for forgiveness and waiting for the lights to go out.”

From POLITICO Magazine

“November marks 40 years since Jim Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple, orchestrated the mass killing of more than 900 people in the jungle of Guyana at a place he called Jonestown. Rep. Jackie Speier of California, who was there that day and details her memories of being left to die in a new book, “Undaunted,” joins TODAY to share her story.” 

Source:TODAY Show- U.S. Representative Jackie Speier (Democrat, California) on Jonestown 

From the Today Show

Almost 30 years before Jackie Speier was elected to the U.S. House herself and elected to the seat that her former boss Representative Leo Ryan represented in the San Francisco area, she was one of Representative Ryan's Congressional aides. A very young 28 year old aide who was part of Representative Ryan's Congressional delegation along with some reporters and other personal from NBC News, that were asked by constituents who had relatives that were part of Reverend Jim Jones's Jonestown in Guyana, South America. 

Anyone who is familiar with Reverend Jim Jones and his People's Temple first in San Francisco and then later in Guyana, know who they were. They were part of a left-wing religious cult, that wanted to a better life and world for themselves who believed that America was too racist, selfish, and materialistic, and wanted to create their own socialist paradise. That's what Reverend Jim Jones preached to his followers in San Francisco. What he didn't mention at all is that the number one reason why he moved his cult from San Francisco to Guyana, is that he and The People's Temple were under investigation by San Francisco authorities and perhaps were about to get raided and even arrested for physically abusing members of the cult.

Representative Ryan and his Congressional crew including Jackie Speier, along with personal from NBC News like reporter Don Harris, went down to Guyana on a fact-finding mission to find out exactly what was going on there and to talk about the people who were there. And soon find out that people there were looking to escape and wanted help escaping. Similar to how desperate prison inmates would look to escape from prison. Except the Jonestown members weren't criminals, but good and innocent people who simply fell for what Jim Jones was preaching and fell into his murderous trap. And were literally ready to risk their lives in order to escape Jonestown.

TIME Magazine: Chris Bailey: 'When Being Lazy is Actually Good For You'

Source:TIME Magazine- Good lazy?

Source:The Daily Review

I see the point that Chris Bailey is making here. He’s not arguing that people should sit on their asses and do nothing all day expect to pick up their I-Phone to order pizza or other takeout, including groceries and then sit on the couch and watch TV all day. And then after we do that for a few months, we’re now sitting on our fat lazy asses unless we run out of money and decide to become productive again and go back to work. If he was arguing that, I would have no respect for that argument.

Source:TiME Magazine- Overworked?

What Bailey is arguing here is that of course people should work and productive with their day and their time, but that we shouldn’t be consumed with those activities and make time to just chill-ax. There’s time for work and then there’s free time to do nothing that’s work and substantive. When you’re sitting on your couch watching a movie or just watching the tube, you should just be doing that. Perhaps eating as well and hanging out with your wife or husband, girlfriend or boyfriend or friends, family, but not hanging with just yourself or your people while also working, flipping through your iPhone or computer. That there’s work time and then there’s free time and that you shouldn’t combine the two.

Source:Let's Get Going- From Chris Bailey 

 I’m sort of the opposite of Chris Bailey on this, but I think I’m getting better. I work at home in my office and I write one blog article a week, but when I’m not doing that I’, doing other things that are related to my blog. Like looking for other things to blog about for the next coming weeks. updating older posts, doing research for future posts, talking to other people about what I’ve written and what I’m going to write about in the future. And as I’m doing this I got the news on as I’m working in my office to keep up with what’s going on during the day and seeing if there is anything else I should be commenting on for that day.

And then when I’m done for the day which now is around 9PM sometimes 7 nights a week, but as I said earlier I’m getting better at this and no longer working pass 11 five nights a week, I’m ready for dinner and just sitting back and watching the tube. Which is generally the news and hearing about what happened that day and what’s the most important stories for that day. What I’m working on now is once my workday is over and I’m ready for dinner is to turn off the news all together and just watch movies or classic TV, documentaries and sports that have nothing to do with what I’m working on or about to start working on. What I’m trying to do is completely separate my workday from my free nights and time in general and leave the news for the rest of the world and get back into it when I’m back at my desk the next day.

As great as new technology has been without how convenient it makes life for so many people, to also has at least two negative affects. It makes people obsessed with new technology because of how cool it is and how tied it has become to pop culture. The more you’re into new technology and the more knowledgeable you are about new tech, the cooler you are and since we have so many people obsessed with pop culture and being seen as cool and we have so many faddists in America now, we also have a lot more lazy people in the bad sense, because we have so many people that don’t think for themselves. Who are experts on the superficial like who their favorite celebrity is dating, what rehab they’re at, or why they’re in jail, what’s the latest i-Phone, when it’s coming out, what you have to do to be one of the first 5 people to purchase it so you can share that on Facebook, like you just won the lottery or something.

And because of this we have a lot of lazy people in the bad sense that they don’t think for themselves, because they’re so into to what’s the latest fad and being seen doing whatever the latest fad is and right now one of those fads is not just having the latest i-Phone, but being on it all the time. People don’t even watch football games or movies anymore without staring at their i-Phone while they’re doing that. Because they feel the need to respond to every single text when as soon as they get it, or someone else’s Facebook update or tweet, or responding to what someone else to said on their favorite social network. We have so many people who simply can’t relax, because they’re mind is always focused on several different things at one point. Even when they’re just watching a ballgame or movie, having out at their coffee house, they got multiple things going on with them at the same time.

Myself, I would like to work 8-10 hours a day or even more, but when work is over it’s really over and I don’t even feel the need to tweet a photo or plus it on Google+, or Facebook about what I’m doing after work. I would like to give up my social network habit even on my phone once I’m done with work during the day and just eat a good meal and enjoy a good movie or documentary, classic TV before I need to go to bed and be ready for the next day. It would be nice to take Saturday and Sunday completely off and not doing anything work related then, but even when I’m on vacation I actually need to be doing some work because I’m a blogger and get a lot of email. That’s just the life of a blogger and perhaps anyone who works in the media at all. But during the day, bike ride, work, and then be free at night and live the good lazy life. Not the the life of a lazy ass, which is different.

Source:Seeker: Julian Huguet- Why Laziness Can Be a Good Thing- Bad lazy?

Jas Bains: Crazy For Daisy Duke- Catherine Bach

Source:Jas Bains- Catherine Bach, the real and only Daisy Duke. 

Source:The Action Blog 

"When Dukes OF Hazzard was at the height of its' popularity, Catherine Bach who played Daisy Duke had her legs insured for one million dollars. Watch this video and see why.

Before any one complains. Yes, I know some of the scenes have been reversed, mirror image style." 

From Jas Bains

When I was growing up in the 1980s especially in the early 80s when I was just starting to watch TV and had favorite shows and everything else, The Dukes of Hazzard quickly became one of my favorite shows. I loved the General Lee and cars in general on that show. I even thought the cop cars were cool and the cars that the bad guys and gals drove were cool. I still believe Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco Coltrane are one of the best comedy duos in the history of Hollywood and perhaps everywhere else. Sorrel Booke and and James Best, the way they played off each other was perfect, because they just had great chemistry together. I mean when your'e talking about both comedy and action-comedy The Dukes of Hazard is for TV what Smokey and the Bandit is for movies, one of the best if not best action/comedies of all-time, as well as pure comedies of all-time.

Source:Tandj Photo Webs- Catherine Bach, at a music festival 

Even if John Schneider and Tom Wopat are never remembered for anything other than The Dukes of Hazzard and playing Bo and Luke Duke, similar to how Lynda Carter will always be remembered as Wonder Woman, they were so great together on this show that of course it's the role of their lifetimes, but that role was so great that they can't top it because of how great they were with those characters and how great they were together they don't need a bigger and better role, because they were the best at least at this genre and have no need and perhaps don't want to top Bo and Luke Duke. Watching this show every Friday night when I was 7-9 years old ( from what I remember about it ) was something I look forward to every week and a show I never missed even when John Schneider and Tom Wopat left for one reason in 1983 or 84 and were temporarily replaced.

Source:Tandj Photo Webs- Catherine Bach, at a music festival 

But there was one other character played by a certain actress that was so memorable and brought me to that show every week just to see that face, body, and to see what she was wearing, to hear that voice and to see her do something that was hot, sexy, and adorable every week. I know we're not supposed to have sexual feelings until we're in junior high at least in our early teens when we hit puberty, but I swear I had a crush on Catherine Back before I was even 10 years old.

I watched that show every week just to check her out. Loved the cars, the car chases, all the comedy and characters in that movie and The Dukes of Hazard was a better show than Wonder Woman and Catherine did have better material and people to work with than Lynda Carter, but the reasons why people watched Wonder Woman every week to see Lynda Carter and to see her kick ass, are the same reasons why people ( especially guys ) watched The Dukes of Hazard every where to watch Catherine Bach who played Daisy Duke.

Catherine is still so hot, so sexy, so adorable, great personality, wit, etc. Similar to how Michael Jordan put fans in the seats at Chicago Bulls games regardless of who the Bulls were playing, Catherine Bach had guys home on Friday nights even if they were married or had a serious girlfriends to check her out on The Dukes. And she deserves a lot of credit for that.

Biographics: Simon Whistler- Jim Jones Biography: 'Progressive to Predator'

Source:Biographics- Not very progressive, but definitely a predator. 

Source:The New Democrat 

"Jim Jones Biography: Progressive to Predator"

From Biographics

Seeing this video and today's blog post is perfect timing, because Sundance will be showing a documentary about Reverend Jim Jones this weekend which will be a two-night event. If it's not perfect timing, you can see perfect timing from there and I'll have a new blog post about that documentary in a few weeks from today. This month and this year is the 40th anniversary of the Jonestown massacre, where most of Jim Jones cult were murdered by Reverend Jones and his men in Jonestown Guyana in South America in November of 1978. Which is why you're seeing several documentaries about Jim Jones this month on cable TV.

Source:Tim The Fifth- Reverend Jim Jones 

When it comes to Socialists I think the real debate is which socialist camp do you put a Jim Jones in. Do you put in the Henry Wallace - David McReynolds - George McGovern - Bernie Sanders Democratic Socialist camp, or do you put him in the Fidel Castro - Che Guevara and others Communist camp. Pre-Jonestown and Guyana, I think Jones falls into the Democratic Socialist wing as far as what he preached and what his organization did for his community. First in Indianapolis, Indiana and later in San Francisco. Even though he did have dictatorial leanings in his San Francisco People's Temple and there were real reports of his members being abused by Jones and his men there.

Source:Bio- Reverend Jim Jones Jonestown 

By the time Jones People's Temple left from San Francisco for Guyana and built Jonestown there, he was no longer a progressive minded Democratic Socialist purely looking to escape along with his people from what they saw as American capitalism, materialism, and racism. They had a communitarian-socialist organization in Guyana where everything was shared and nothing was owned, at least by the members there. But that can be said about a lot of Communist states over the years including Cuba and North Korea. What makes Jonestown different from Scandinavia lets say or even his People's Temple in San Francisco, is the relationship between Jones and his organization in Guyana, to the people they were supposed to serve.

Reverend Jim Jones, was essentially if not completely the Communist dictator of Jonestown. The authority that he had over his people and control that he had over their lives was very similar if not exactly the authority that Fidel Castro had over his people in Cuba. Actually, Jones probably had more power over his own people in Jonestown, then Castro had in Cuba. Jones, controlled when his people went to bed and woke up, what they did during the day, what they ate, when they ate, and how much they're allowed to eat. He controlled all the information there and what his people could for for entertainment and what if any free time ( if you want to call it free ) that they had at any point at least until his leadership collapses in 1978 and people literally start escaping from Jonestown as if they're escaping from prison. What is what always happen in Communist states where people escape from their own countries, because they're tired of living in prison.

If you call yourself a Socialist, Democratic Socialist, Progressive ( if your'e terrified of the socialist labels ) Jim Jones is one of the last people you should be defending, following, and admiring. Because of the damage and horror that he brought to his people. All the people he even killed especially in that last day and the mass-suicide in Jonestown in November, 1978. I made these point before on social media when I was watching Jonestown documentaries this spring and summer. If your'e a true Democratic Socialist or Social Democrat, there are plenty of good people that you could be following instead. Like Eugene Debs, Henry Wallace, Dr. Martin L. King, George McGovern, Bernie Sanders today and others like them. Instead of following Communists who are authoritarian and even murder people that get in their way or they view as disloyal.

New York Magazine: Michael McKeever- Watch a Private Eye Fact-Check Detective Movies

Source:Vulture- NYC private detective Michael McKeever & Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep. 

Source:The Daily Review

This video gets off to a perfect start for me at least in the first few seconds with a clip from The Big Sleep with Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart. Because you have Slim and Bogie together in the same movie, but when I think of great movie detectives I start with The Big Sleep with Bogie playing private eye Phil Marlowe in that great film noir movie.

Source:Gifer- Slim and Bogie in The Big Sleep from 1946

Bogie plays a guy who is simply out to do his job and solve the case that he's working on and doesn't play the saint or devil in that movie, but a guy who is a lot more complicated than that who plays a no nonsense ( except for the great quips and wisecracks ) detective who is working on a case. And of course Lauren Bacall, is Lauren Bacall I would watch her driving a bus in a movie simply to watch her because she's Lauren Bacall and a chance to see her gorgeous, adorable, sharp witty self doing anything.

And I think Michael McKeever is right where he says that you can't assume the truth and that people are telling you the truth that what private eye and police detectives have in common is that they have to know what's going in the case and know about the important players and the key evidence, simply because it's their job. The detective profession is the last of the romantics and idealists where you would find people who are always looking for the best out of everyone and everything they see. Similar to reporters it's their job to know exactly what's going and make the best possible case about the case that they're working on and then to report to who they're working for whether it's a private citizen or organization or a detective lieutenant or sergeant exactly what they found out.

When I think of great movie detectives I think of Humphrey Bogart and James Caan who both played Phil  Marlowe, but in different movies. Bogie, played Marlowe in The Big Sleep and Caan played Marlowe in a not nearly as famous movie Poodle Springs from 1998. Where they both play guys who are simply out to do their jobs and aren't looking to change the world and are very unromantic with who they go about their business.

The great TV and movie private detectives go about their business and do their jobs. This is their assignment, this is the important facts and evidence, these are the important players in the case. And it's their job to find out what happened and how it happened and then report what they found out and turned up back to the people they're working for. My two favorite TV detectives are Joe Mannix ( from Mannix ) and Jim Rockford ( The Rockford Files ) for the exact same reasons.

I think the main problem with current TV private eye shows and movies is what Michael McKeever ( New York City real-life private detective ) is talking about which gets to realism. When you're talking about Hollywood they have TV shows and movies to sell and for them to do that they have to be popular and for them to be popular they have to be cool or awesome. And for that to happen their characters have to be cool or awesome with a lot of young viewers.

And for that to happen that means their shows and movies might have to look unrealistic with heavy usage of new technology, expensive style and taste, a lot of violence, the detective physically getting involved with one of the key players in the case, heavy focus on their perusal lives, etc or young hipsters won't be into the show or movie. Back in the day these shows and movies were less fashionable, but better simply because they were more believable and the actors and material was also much better.
Source:New York Magazine

Beta MAX: Thelma and Louise (1991) Starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis

Source:Beta MAX- Susan Sarandon as Louise and Geena Davis as Thelma , in Thelma and Louise. 

Source:The Action Blog

"1991 Thelma and Louise TV Movie Trailer"

From Beta Max

If you're familiar with the so-called me too movement and have followed that and are a fan of it, you're going to like this movie even though it came out 26 years before me too was a popular term in American English dictionary. Because a lot of what these two women ( Thelma and Louise ) go through in this movie is what me too is about. Which is essentially young women and women older than that, very attractive women as well, like Thelma and Louise and how they've been mistreated by men in their lives. In many cases by men who they trusted.

Susan Sarandon, plays Louise and plays a woman who was raped several years earlier and never reported it not even to her best friend Thelma. ( Played by Geena Davis ) Thelma, gets raped in this movie by a guy ( played by Timothy Carhart ) she met at a bar who she was hanging out with and he gets too physical for her. And they both reach a point in their lives where they're tired of being screwed especially by people they trust and just let it all out and let it all go and just screw caution because they're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. ( Famous line from a certain great movie )

Thelma and Louise, don't start off their vacation in this movie as outlaws. They're simply looking to get away and have a great time. Thelma, gets sexually assaulted in the parking lot at the first bar they go to that night before Louise finds them and rescues here which gets out of hand and she ends up shooting the man who sexually assaulted her best friend Thelma. 

So now they're on the run because they decided not to report the crime thinking no one would believe them ( sound familiar? ) and now they're on the run in rural Arkansas. ( As if there is any other kind of Arkansas ) But it gets even better because they pick up a young guy ( played by Brad Pitt ) who gets very friendly with Thelma, but he doesn't physically assault and instead just takes all of Thelma and Louise's money. So now they're on the run with no money to support themselves.

Originally Thelma and Louise and just wanted by the state police for questioning of the shooting of the guy that Louise shot and killed outside of the bar. But when they go on the run Thelma knocks off some stores for the cash because they're out of money. So this movie turns into a cross state char chase by the state police in pursuit of Thelma and Louise. 

This is very good movie, a very relevant movie to what's going on in America with me too the last two years. A very funny movie with Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Chis MacDonald, Harvey Keitel, Steve Tobolowski, and many other great comedic actors. And a very sexy movie with Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis playing the female outlaws in the movie.  

Democratic Socialist: 'Right-Wing Socialism and The Lies of Friedrich Hayek'

Source:Democratic Socialist- Right-wing socialism is not an Oxymoron.

Source:The New Democrat 

"Rightwing Socialism and the lies of Hayek" 

From Democratic Marxist 

"An unimpeachable classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars, and general readers for half a century. Originally published in 1944—when Eleanor Roosevelt supported the efforts of Stalin, and Albert Einstein subscribed lock, stock, and barrel to the socialist program—The Road to Serfdom was seen as heretical for its passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production. For F. A. Hayek, the collectivist idea of empowering government with increasing... 

Source:Anti-Imperialism- One of the leading voices for Libertarians 

From Amazon

Just before I get into what I believe right-wing socialism is and actually what I know it to be I just want to make a personal comment here. For all you YouTube fans and even die hards, doesn't the guy in this video sound a lot like Sargon of Akkad who also has a YouTube channel and is also British? Just thought I throw that out there.

Yes, there is such a thing as right-wing socialism and right-wing Socialists. And that might sound like calling someone a Libertarian-Communist or a Progressive-Conservative, Marxist-Anarchist, or any other two labels that you want to put together that sound as out as place as a tuxedo at a biker bar, heavy metal concert at a library, skunk at a wedding or in a church or whatever example you want to use. But there are two forms of authoritarian socialism with one being left-wing and the other being right-wing. Communism, is left-wing authoritarian socialism and nationalism whether it's Nazism or anything else is right-wing socialism.

National socialism otherwise known as Nazism is right-wing socialism that came about in Germany in the 1930s under the leadership Adolf Hitler and you don't need to be a history major or even buff to know about Hitler and what he and his movement represented.

Nazism according to Wikipedia

"National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus), more commonly known as Nazism (/ˈnɑːtsiɪzəm, ˈnæt-/),[1] is the ideology and practices associated with the Nazi Party – officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) – in Nazi Germany, and of other far-right groups with similar aims.

Nazism is a form of fascism and showed that ideology's disdain for liberal democracy and the parliamentary system, but also incorporated fervent antisemitism, scientific racism, and eugenics into its creed. Its extreme nationalism came from Pan-Germanism and the Völkisch movement prominent in the German nationalism of the time, and it was strongly influenced by the anti-Communist Freikorps paramilitary groups that emerged after Germany's defeat in World War I, from which came the party's "cult of violence" which was "at the heart of the movement."[2]

Nazism subscribed to theories of racial hierarchy and Social Darwinism, identifying the Germans as a part of what the Nazis regarded as an Aryan or Nordic master race.[3] It aimed to overcome social divisions and create a German homogeneous society based on racial purity which represented a people's community (Volksgemeinschaft). The Nazis aimed to unite all Germans living in historically German territory, as well as gain additional lands for German expansion under the doctrine of Lebensraum and exclude those who they deemed either community aliens or "inferior" races.

The term "National Socialism" arose out of attempts to create a nationalist redefinition of "socialism", as an alternative to both international socialismand free market capitalism. Nazism rejected the Marxist concept of class conflict, opposed cosmopolitan internationalism and sought to convince all parts of the new German society to subordinate their personal interests to the "common good", accepting political interests as the main priority of economic organization."

Nazis ( or right-wing Socialists ) not only believed in a superior country that being Germany, but a superior people including superior race and ethnicity and believed that Germans were superior to Jews and other non-ethnic Germans in Germany and broader Europe. They were literally not just fascists, but fascist terrorists that believed that non-ethnic Germans didn't have a right to live in Germany. But it wasn't just that they hated people of other ethnicities and America Nazis hate people of other races as well, but they hated anything that liberalism and liberal democracy stood for including integration, multiculturalism, individualism, individual rights, personal freedom, private property, property rights, free speech and press, etc and unfortunately I could go on.

But we're still talking about Socialists and socialism here and they were people who hated private property, corporations, multinational corporations, the centralization of wealth, big banks, etc. They were right-wing populists, but right-wing Socialists as well. To call Adolf Hitler a Liberal or Conservative would not only be an insult to both Liberals and Conservatives since he was neither, but also evil and racist serial genocidal murderer, but it would also be an insult to facts and reality. It would be like calling Ron Paul perhaps the face of American libertarianism in America a Communist or Socialist. It would have no relation to reality, but not all Socialists are democratic and not all of them are left-wing either. Nazis and other Nationalists around the world are right-wing Socialists. Socialism has never been burley left-wing as an ideology.