2001: A Space Odyssey

My first thoughts about the movie in light of recent events caused me to think that this was one of those times that science fiction seemingly predicts the future.  There are 2 prominent monoliths in the movie.  The smaller one that is on Earth in the beginning and the larger one in orbit around Jupiter.  This reminded me of the twin towers in Manhattan which fell on 9/11/2001.  
What we have with the movie is a deeper story than the overt one, which in my view also relates to the 9/11 attacks.
The movie begins in darkness.  Then we see the logo for MGM and the fantastic shot of the Moon, Earth, Sun as seen from space.
We enter at the "Dawn of Man".  Where proto-humans, which seem much more ape like than any kind of pre-humans, are engaged in the act of survival.  It seems that this is the world before the Garden of Eden.  The ape-like creatures live a relatively rough existence, and are subject to the whims of nature and predators.  The also appear to have no physically aggressive tendencies.  They posture and pose and screech but they do not attack one another and barely even have an idea of how to resist or fight back when they are attacked, like when the leopard attacks.  They also appear to be largely vegetarian living in peace with the other mammals. 
After a night cowering in a crevice in the rocks some of the pre-humans awake to find the monolith resting before them.

The monolith is the intervention of God, who then brings the Garden of Eden into being with the "creation" of man.  What exactly does the monolith do?  It does two things.  It teaches tool use, essential for evolution to be sure.  The monolith also teaches aggression and violence which may be a questionable trait in an evolutionary sense.  They both have a purpose.  The origin  for violence and aggression in religious myth is always with the "Devil" or a Satanic figure of some kind.  The monolith is now more than God it is also the Devil.  It brings the Garden of Eden into existence and also brings sin in the form of murder.

The first murder in the Bible is Cain killing Abel his brother.  And one of the first things that the pre-humans do with their new talents is to take over the Garden of Eden, symbolized by the watering hole.  In this act they kill another pre-human.  And just like "original sin" all of the pre-humans take part by striking the doomed creature.  This can also be seen as an allusion to the murder of Caesar where many hands struck the blows.
Innocence is lost.
Jump ahead to the present, or in this case 2001.  We meet Heywood Floyd ( can you also say Pink Floyd) who is on his way to the moon in a commercial space plane.

Heywood Floyd is the keeper of secrets.  He goes to the moon to investigate a discovery and to make sure that it is kept secret.  This is straight from the Brookings Report on the possibility of discovery of aliens or alien artifacts and the impact it might have on Earth culture and psychology.  The report famously argued for secrecy to "protect" people from the culture shock.
Heywood is sent to make sure that recommendation is adhered to.
Of course they have discovered the monolith, buried on the moon, 40 feet under the soil.  It has a huge magnetic signature that lead the people to find it.  It was buried on purpose, and meant to be dug up.  A cover story is concocted to keep people from going to Clavius Moon Base and finding out the truth.  Floyd is in charge of this cover up.  He subtly passes on the "rumor" himself to some Russians he meets en route to the Moon.
Floyd's Clavius Moon Base ID number is 355, which adds up to 13.  He is the unlucky one, because it is he that brings doom to the future mission to Jupiter.
The monolith is thought to be 4 million years buried.  Which would seem to make the monlith's interdiction on Earth to be about the same time frame.
Ardipithicus Ramidus was supposedly around about then.

Very ape like, showing Kubrick to be right again.
The monolith is uncovered and when the Sun hits it emits a signal to Jupiter.
On to the mission to Jupiter.  Jupiter is the chief of the gods in old myth, and the largest of the planets in the Solar System.  It's a voyage of discovery and the ship is called Discovery One.
Enter the last three characters in the drama.  Dave Bowman (the "Beloved Archer") and Frank Poole the crew of the ship and HAL 9000 the sentient computer that runs the ship and knows the score.
The remainder of the scientific team is in hibernation in mummy like capsules inside of see through sarcophagi.  They are the scientists.  They know the score.  The only ones out of the loop are Dave and Frank.

It should be noted that the ship has 13 sections, 3 antennae, and 3 docking bay doors.
This is another use of numerical symbolism.  Like Floyd who's ID number adds up to 13, the ship's sections add up to 13.  Both are doomed.  Heywood in old English or Welsh is a fenced in area of land, usually something that nobility reserve for themselves, like the "King's lands".  There is an element of exclusion and secrecy.  Floyd means "grey beard" which implies age as well as wisdom.  One could say that Heywood is the "wise man of the King's lands".  Being in the position he is in, a high official in NACA, a similar organization to NASA, he would have to be intelligent and wise.  That trait is lessened or muted in this story by his unlucky 13 designation.
HAL is the only member of the awake crew that knows the entire mission and he also knows that Dave and Frank are not to know of it until they reach Jupiter and the scientists are revived.  HAL is a 9000 series computer, which boasts error free operation.  9 is the cube of 3.  In the Kabbalah the number 9 denotes anger and strife, as well as energy.  3 is the number of Jupiter.
HAL is a stand-in for God and the authorities.  Dave and Frank represent humanity, in the dark, unknowing.  
HAL is in a bind, caused by the secrecy.  He tests Bowman's knowledge of, and commitment to, the mission. I believe this is an attempt on the part of HAL to both impart knowledge as well as to find out if Bowman knows anything.  There might have been a breakthrough for HAL had the conversation with Bowman continued.  The "beloved archer" gives HAL a way to escape back into the shell of secrecy which completes his psychotic break.

HAL's red eye is ever present, he sees all, knows all.  It is quite clear that HAL is a stand-in for God.  He is the pinnacle of man's intellect.  Much like God is the creation of man, according to some.  
When the conversation between HAL and Bowman is ended with Bowman giving HAL a way back into his realm of secrecy it produces the psychotic break.  HAL announces the fault in the AE35 unit.  
It is agreed that the unit should be replaced.  So they EVA in a pod that looks like an egg, and wear helmets, which when viewed from above look like lizard heads.
When the AE35 is analyzed it is found to be without fault.  HAL has been found out.  Though Frank and Dave take pains to have a discussion free from HAL eavesdropping HAL nonetheless reads their lips while they discuss the possibility of his malfunctioning.  It should be noted here that Frank is the one with the most misgivings about HAL  And just as his name implies Frank is "free" with his opinions.
HAL chooses the only option left to him at this point and that is to kill all of the humans and complete the mission himself.  Frank goes EVA to put the original AE35 back to see if it fails.  HAL kills Frank.  Dave leaves in a pod, without his space helmet, to retrieve Franks body.  While Dave is gone HAL murders the hibernating astronauts.  There is no going back now.
Dave is denied re-entry onto the ship by HAL.  It is at this point that Dave has to take a leap of faith and figuratively cross the threshold of death, or the crossing of the Abyss in occult ritual.  He crosses space into the airlock of the ship.
At this point he disconnects all of HAL's higher functions and takes control of the ship.  Bowman, the "beloved archer" kills God and takes command of his life and the rest of humanity by extension.  Bowman reaches Jupiter and completes the mission.  The "beloved archer" penetrates the monolith like an arrow and is transported through the wonders of the universe and is deposited into what appears to be an elegantly appointed suite, with paintings and antique furniture as well as statuary.  This place represents he concepts of art and creativity.  The right brain.  Whereas HAL and the technological God represented pure reason or left brain.  It is now that the movie and the cycle reaches fruition.  Bowman lives his whole life in a brief span of time and is reborn as an infant Godling.  In the end he is looking upon the Earth with wide eyes.
As you can see this movie has many subtexts.  Not the least of which is a championing of the idea that humans were helped along in their evolution by outside agencies.  The alien intervention theory.
Technology is shown in the end to be subject to the same faults as the humans that make it.  HAL goes mad because of the way he was programmed and the secrecy that he must maintain.  It is about the evolution of man, the end of technology, the leap forward to Godhood.  One is left wondering in the end if it is man himself that once transformed goes back into the past to spur the development of his ancestors.
I do see some parallels with 9/11 as well.  The two monoliths, the year 2001, the secrecy of the real story, the cover up, and the failure of technology.
There is a strong occult and religious subtext in this movie.  It is story driven and uses scant imagery to portray the significance of it.


We can learn much from this film and the works of Kubrick in general because there is always more to the film than meets the eye.  One thing that should be clear and that is that secrecy almost always leads to loss and sacrifice.  There is also a path to spiritual evolution open to humanity, according to Kubrick, which involves the death of God and the assumption of Godhood by man, through the limits of technology, a traversal across the abyss and a reconnection with the creativity of the right brain.

Anti-union rhetoric

It still astonishes me that people are so easily distracted by the idea that unions are somehow at fault for things being bad economically.  How is it that people cannot see the benefit that unions have brought to this country?  The unions stopped the drastic sweat shop working conditions in the past.  They raised the standard of living for everybody.  People look at this issue the wrong way.  Rather than thinking about how the unions need to give something up to make them more like the minimum wage drones in the mostly service industry of the United States; why not expect and fight for everyone to be making a living decent wage.
There is a war being waged in this country and around the world against the middle class and the poor masses.  The rich through the banks and the Federal Reserve have effectively destroyed the economy.  Pension plans have suffered from this fact and fraud of course in the real estate market via packaged securities.  
Now states suffer for lack of funds.  Who is at fault?  The rich and bankers have caused it.
The attack on unions are a direct assault on labor.  The end result is going to mean that people in this country will be working for poverty level wages, totally at the mercy of the corporate masters, hired or fired on a whim.  We will all be slaves, or "serfs" if you prefer.  Unable to afford our own homes we will live on the "master's" land at his whim and "mercy".  
This will complete the transformation of the United States into the new third world country.

Wisconsin Union Busting attempt

Wisconsin may or may not have a deficit this year.  It will have a deficit in coming years, that will be added to by the governor's passage of tax cuts for corporations that start next fiscal year.
One of the principal things that the governor has targeted is the right to collectively bargain over "working conditions".  How is that going to impact the states finances??  
The Koch brothers, billionaire Wall Street financiers, who support so-called "conservative" (in actuality far right ideologue) candidates that want to engage the people in a war between the poor and the not-so-poor so that you will not be looking at the theft and fraud they and their mega-rich cohorts commit, are funding the anti-union counter-protests in Wisconsin.
I'm surprised that so many buy this nonsense and fall for the trap.  Why not walk down your street and smash the neighbor's car because it is a newer or better model than yours?  Never mind that if you are unemployed you can thank corporate greed for that and so-called "free" trade and poor management.  Your neighbor still owns his home?  Yours is in foreclosure?  Well then I guess you better go burn down his house, how dare him still have a home when yours is being taken away!  Never mind it is the banks fraud and Federal Reserve policies that have led to the situation.  Do you see the idiocy of that position?
Watch my video for a further take on this issue.
The mega-rich,Wall Street fraud, theft, and deception, and the Federal Reserve's failure to provide help to the states (despite giving trillions of dollars in 0% or near 0% interest "loans" to FOREIGN banks and corporations) are the primary drivers of state budget problems as well as the budget problems of the country in general.  So don't look to your neighbor as the problem rather look toward the real culprits.
Also be wary of alternative sites that promote supposed "conservative" positions, like Alex Jones who posts articles prominently on his website that subtly lay the blame on "greedy people".  Some of the information in that article is worth consideration but any of it that seeks to lay blame on people who have a negotiated contract for the problems of the state of Wisconsin or anywhere else is simply ludicrous.
The unions did not have a gun pointing at the heads of the negotiators when they made their collective bargaining agreement.  Now some want to give the employer the equivalent of a chainsaw to hack and slash their way through these agreements in order place the blame for their misdeeds and mismanagement (and financial fraud and theft ultimately having it's origin on Wall Street) onto regular workers.  I posted a new video today that again tries to make the main point.

Steamshovel Press

I'm glad to see that Steamshovel Press is back.  Kenn Thomas is a prolific author and has a wealth of information to share on all things parapolitical.  A couple of the newest pieces of a grand puzzle have just been added to his website and are well worth a read.  
The first one involves the Marconi scientist death list.  In the newest material added to the site is a link to this blog which mentions Kenn Thomas' work in this area.  It also brings up to date a little more the Marconi story.  It seems that there were a rash of mysterious deaths of Marconi scientists through the late 80's and 90's and they  were thought to be related to SDI or Reagan's "Star Wars" program.  What Kenn points out, quite rightly, is the eerie timeliness of the information coinciding with the 100 year anniversary of the birth of the "great communicator".  This is an area of research that has not been fully covered anywhere but that is worthy of some more in depth work.  The Marconi scientists have been connected, by many,  to a series of microbiologists that died under mysterious circumstances as well which would make the list of deaths much larger and even more mysterious.  Marconi no longer exists as a separate company and is now a part of BAE.  
The deaths of these scientists does make me think of Phillip Kramer of Iron Butterfly and his mysterious death.  Since there seems to be a science angle to it as well.  There has always been this underground theory that any "new" invention that would seem to "solve" energy problems by either creating an over-unity device, or tapping "zero point" energy is immediately bought up and disappeared by big money interests.  One can see this expressed in the movies as far back as George C. Scott's movie "The Formula".  In a strange "coincidence" George C. Scott also did "Day of the Dolphin" which is loosely based on the work of John Lilly one of the prime movers in psychedelic research who used a sensory deprivation tank and Ketamine to get rid of his migraine headaches.  
And like all things conspiratorial one is lead down path after path.  George C. Scott also is probably most famous for his portrayal of George Patton.  It has recently come to light that Patton was murdered.  Because he was a critic of the war and maybe because of what he discovered during the war that some wanted kept secret.  Many might be familiar with Patton's action to move into Czechoslovakia and his liberation of Pilsen.  It was in Pilsen that Joseph Farrell says Hans Kammler was in charge of the Skoda works which was part of a super secret Nazi research facility that had incredibly advanced weaponry and possibly new forms of energy based on torsion physics.
I could keep going but it would only range us further afield.  Check out Steamshovel Press and the works of Kenn Thomas and have a look at the death lists.  Make up your own mind as always whether we are dealing with a massive coincidence or if there is something more going on behind the scenes in the world.

Why is Bill Maher such a shill?

Bill Maher is not stupid.  He obviously has intelligence.  Why is it that he ludicrously supports President Obama even though Obama has so thoroughly sold out the progressives in EVERYTHING.  So what do you make of a guy who is obviously intelligent and supposedly a progressive, and supposedly politically involved who absolutely refuses to accept the fact that Obama is a total sellout and a Wall Street puppet, completely the same as any Republican that Maher would be quick to ridicule.  I'm a progressive and it makes me mad that people look to Maher for commentary from a progressive prospective.  The best that you can find in the way of criticism of Obama is that he is "wimpy" or a "wussy" or a poor negotiator.  Maher makes no mention of his inaction on Wall Street prosecution.  He makes no mention of Obama's deficit commission and their recommendations to attack Social Security and other so-called "entitlement" programs.  He makes no mention of Obama's own efforts to feed money to banks and Wall Street while doing nothing to address systemic crises in this country and the states.  He makes no comment on Obama's sellouts on the budget and how he is so ready to attack programs that aid children and families and cut nothing that would affect the "untouchable" elites and super rich.  Maher will only say that Obama is "wimpy" for selling out on the tax breaks extension for the rich.
One sees a pattern here.  I see the pattern.  Any intelligent person would see the pattern here.  Therefore what is one to make of Bill Maher?  The answer is that Maher is a shill and a cheerleader for the so-called progressive movement in this country while continuing to try and paint Obama as a real progressive that just has a few "faults" and if we just give him enough time and support he will "come through".  It's a psychological operation, whether witting or unwitting, on the part of Maher himself.

Show with Greg Bishop rescheduled

You know that things are not working your way when FIRST you are sick as a dog.  Then SECOND the blogtalkradio interface is having all kinds of glitches.  THREE your guest cannot get on the show no matter what he tries, and FOUR you end up talking for at least a half hour all the while no one can hear you.  So for folks who listened to the show last night and stuck in there I thank you very much for your dedication.  I thank Greg for being so gracious as to agree to come back on March 4 for another go at it.  Access my youtube channel HERE.  Access my blogtalkradio show HERE.

What do I know about blogging anyway?

Well I guess that is sort of why you and I are here.  I don't even really know what I will do with this blog.  I don't  know if I will even keep up with it for any length of time.  
I imagine that I will use this as an extension of my video and radio work to go into greater detail on issues that I discuss on the other forums.  That means you might find politics, or esoterica on this forum.  My latest video on Youtube is HERE  
I discuss the strikes by public employees in Wisconsin and Ohio over attempted cuts and a direct assault on unions.  This is complete propaganda by the rich to make the poor blame the less poor for the economic disaster that Wall Street and the Federal Reserve have inflicted upon the USA and the world.  Lies, damnable lies.  Tonight on blogtalkradio (my channel can be found HERE., the episode tonight can be accessed HERE.) I will be discussing UFOs, conspiracies, underground bases and cryptozoology with Greg Bishop, author of Project Beta, that you can purchase HERE.  You can also read some of his work HERE and HERE.
One thing that we will be discussing tonight is the origin and mythos of the alien underground base at Dulce New Mexico.  You might like THIS or maybe THIS or for a more "mainstream" take THIS even more can be found HERE.
An interesting character in the Dulce alien base mythology is Phil Schneider.  More of his story can be found HERE.
There is a lot of information to go through in 2 hours but we'll do our best.  I am interested in trying to get to the truth behind the mythology and find out if there is anything concrete there or if this is just a modern myth that has become a behemoth.