Conspiracy Theory Or Simply Conspiracy?

     

Tucson Weather Today

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I recently read a quote attributed to Franklin D. Roosevelt that went like this: "A financial element in the large centers has owned the government since the days of Andrew Jackson."

What exactly does that mean? It seems to me (and to others) to be either a gem of revealed truth, or a type of paranoia, a conspiracy theory. There is an almost endless discussion about this at debunking websites... such as Metabunk.org


A term I have never been able to understand the meaning of is: "larger then life." -- as in, "Abraham Lincoln was a man who was larger than life."

What does that mean?

According to the dictionary, it means: more interesting and more exciting than an ordinary person or thing.

Is that all there is to it?

Who'd have thought so?


Oh! By the way . . .

Last week I posted a picture of graffiti on a sidewall of Robb Wash.

Here it is again.

It seems that Mother Nature didn't appreciate the vandalism

She dropped some dead limbs to conceal it.

This picture was taken yesterday morning

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TRIVIA

A shrimp's heart is in its head.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day, September 24 in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson received a special commission's report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which had occurred on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.

Since the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was killed by a man named Jack Ruby almost immediately after murdering Kennedy, Oswald's motive for assassinating the president remained unknown. Seven days after the assassination, Johnson appointed the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy to investigate Kennedy's death. The commission was led by Chief Justice Earl Warren and became known as the Warren Commission. It concluded that Oswald had acted alone and that the Secret Service had made poor preparations for JFK's visit to Dallas and had failed to sufficiently protect him.

The circumstances surrounding Kennedy's death, however, have since given rise to several conspiracy theories involving such disparate characters as the Mafia, Cuban exiles, military leaders and even Lyndon Johnson. So persistent was the controversy that another congressional investigation was conducted in 1979; that committee reached the same conclusion as the Warren Commission.

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WORD FOR TODAY

conspiracy  [kuhn-speer'-uh-see]
noun
1.  An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.
2.  A group of conspirators.
3.  A joining or acting together, as if by sinister design: a conspiracy of wind and tide that devastated coastal areas.
4.  Law An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

John Watts Young

(born September 24, 1930)

John Young is a retired American astronaut, Naval officer, test pilot and aeronautical engineer, who became the ninth person to walk on the Moon as commander of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972.

Young enjoyed the longest career of any astronaut, becoming the first person to make six space flights, over the course of 42 years of active NASA service, and is the only person to have piloted four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo Command/Service Module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle.

Erin Chambers

(born September 24, 1979)

Erin Chambers is an American actress commonly known for her roles in LDS films and as the Irish girl Siobhan McKenna Spencer on General Hospital. She has made guest appearances in a number of television shows such as Drake & Josh, ER, Veronica Mars, Joan of Arcadia, Stargate: Atlantis, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: NY, Bones, Standoff, and Cold Case. Chambers starred as Priscilla Presley in the 2007 film Tears of a King alongside Matt Lewis as Elvis Presley, which depicts Elvis's last years.

Louis Carl "Lou" Dobbs

(born September 24, 1945)

Lou Dobbs is an American television personality and radio host on the Fox Business Network, and author. He anchored CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight until November 2009 when he announced on the air that he would leave the network.

On November 10, 2010, Fox Business Network announced that Dobbs would host a show on the channel. The network announced on March 3, 2011 the start date, show title, and time slot of Dobbs' new show. The show is titled Lou Dobbs Tonight and began on March 14, 2011, airing at 7 PM Eastern. That is the same title and time slot that Dobbs' old CNN show had.

Audra Marie Lindley

(Sept 24, 1918 - Oct 16, 1997)

Audra Lindley was an American actress, most famous for her role as landlady Helen Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.

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Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government.
--Jeremy Bentham

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If You Can't Create - Don't Deface

     

Tucson Weather Today

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While walking over one of the washes (Robb Wash I think it was) on East Speedway, I noticed someone had been down there with a spray can of paint, not to beautify the concrete wall, but to deface it. While I am aware that some sensitive souls have decided to call this Primitive Art. I do not. I call it vandalism.

Malicious Graffiti

Close Up

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about graffiti:

Graffiti is writing or drawings that have been scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and it has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire. In modern times, paint (particularly spray paint) and marker pens have become the most commonly used graffiti materials. In most countries, marking or painting property without the property owner's consent is considered defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime.

Graffiti may also express underlying social and political messages and a whole genre of artistic expression is based upon spray paint graffiti styles. Within hip hop culture, graffiti has evolved alongside hip hop music, b-boying, and other elements. Unrelated to hip-hop graffiti, gangs use their own form of graffiti to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities.

Controversies that surround graffiti continue to create disagreement amongst city officials, law enforcement, and writers who wish to display and appreciate work in public locations. There are many different types and styles of graffiti and it is a rapidly developing art form whose value is highly contested and reviled by many authorities while also subject to protection, sometimes within the same jurisdiction.

Here is what I have to say in justification of graffiti:
"                                                                      "

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Ripoff's Believe It Or Not

You can spend $16,999 for a bottle of Scotch whiskey at a liquor store in Scottsdale, AZ. After all, it's been aged for 60 years.

(No, the above is not a joke.)

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TRIVIA

In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1780, during the American Revolution, American General Benedict Arnold met with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a former American hero, became synonymous with the word "traitor."

In 1780, Arnold was given command of West Point, an American fort on the Hudson River in New York (and future home of the U.S. military academy, established in 1802). Arnold contacted Sir Henry Clinton, head of the British forces, and proposed handing over West Point and his men.

On September 21 of that year, Arnold met with Major John Andre and made his traitorous pact. However, the conspiracy was uncovered and Andre was captured and executed. Arnold, the former American patriot, fled to the enemy side and went on to lead British troops in Virginia and Connecticut. He later moved to England, though he never received all of what he'd been promised by the British. He died in London on June 14, 1801.

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WORD FOR TODAY

deface
verb
1. To mar or spoil the appearance or surface of; disfigure.
2. To impair the usefulness, value, or influence of.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Stephen Edwin King

(born September 21, 1947)

Stephan King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, movies and comic books. King has published 50 novels, including seven under the pen-name of Richard Bachman, and five non-fiction books. He has written nearly two hundred short stories, most of which have been collected in nine collections of short fiction. Many of his stories are set in his home state of Maine.

Note: The Writer's Almanac has a fine tribute to Stephen King.

Nancy Ann Travis

(born September 21, 1961)

Nancy Travis is an American actress. She is known for her roles in films Three Men and a Baby (1987) and its sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), Air America (1990), Internal Affairs (1990), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), Greedy (1994), and Fluke (1995). Travis joined the cast of the CBS comedy series Becker as Chris Connor. She currently stars as Vanessa Baxter in the ABC comedy series Last Man Standing.

William James "Bill" Murray

(born September 21, 1950)

Bill Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in various comedy films, including Meatballs (1979), Caddyshack (1980), Ghostbusters (1984), What About Bob? (1991) and Groundhog Day (1993).

Murray gained additional critical acclaim later in his career, starring in Lost in Translation (2003), Broken Flowers (2005) and a series of films directed by Wes Anderson, including Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012).

Cheryl Ruth Hines

(born September 21, 1965)

Cheryl Hines is an American actress, comedian, producer and director, known for her role as Larry David's wife Cheryl on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards. She is currently starring as Dallas Royce on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory. In 2009, she made her directorial debut with Serious Moonlight.

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"Gray hair is god's graffiti"
--Bill Cosby

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This Is Who I Am