Wikileaks: Anna Ardin as The Accuser - The Devil is in the Tweet Tales

Ms. Anna Ardin  (Belardin)

As the media explosion on WikiLeaks focuses almost solely on the release and reaction to the diplomatic cables, a darker story moves along in quiet parallel- the story of love, betrayal, revenge, and possible entrapment.

The major news will not report this part of the story, not yet.  Until Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny throws down the gauntlet- an actual complaint with the names of the accusers- the major news networks will not focus on the lives of the two women who made the initial complaint.  However, that time may soon be upon us. Then everyone from TMZ to Nancy Grace will be chasing down Ana Ardin (who blogs under the pseudonym Belardin) and Sophia Wilen- the two jilted lovers who allegedly have conspired to take down Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks.

What little is known about Sophia Wilen, is based upon a published report of her short romantic involvement with Mr. Assange.  She has been described by some as a Julian rock star groupie.who became obsessed with Mr. Assange, pursued him at a seminar he gave at a Stockholm trade union, and bought him a bus ticket so he could join her in her home town of  Enkoping.   According to Libertarian Today Author Chris Moore, Mr. Assange and Ms. Wilen had consensual sex that evening at her home and then again the next morning..  He left the next day, as Ms Ardin was planning a crayfish party for him that evening.  The party is the subject of one tweet from Ms. Ardin that she later, somewhat unsuccessfully, deleted.

Julian Assange attends
seminar in Stockholm

Despite his promise, Mr. Assange did not call Ms. Wilen after their one night stand. A short time afterwards, Ms. Wilen phoned up Ms. Ardin and the two women began comparing notes.  Allegedly, Ms. Wilen was concerned about contracting AIDS.  Ms. Ardin may have shared her concern, but any person betrayed in such a manner would have been very angry at Julian Assange.  In order to have sex with both women, one can assume he also lied to both women.

Clearly, the seeds for revenge were planted when both women went to the Swedish authorities to ask if a man could be forced to be tested for STD's.  The resulting actions by Swedish authorities may have more to do with pressure from world governments, especially the U.S. Government, to keep Mr. Assange in prison while efforts are made to prepare formal spying charges against him and shut down access to WikiLeaks. While some bloggers on-line argue that Anna Ardin was working with the CIA in a bold attempt at character assassination, this looks more like the adventures of a Cad and his wandering penis and the revenge of his two betrayed lovers- the classic love triangle.

One Reason for Revenge (Source: Anna Ardin Blog)

Ms. Ardin presents herself on the internet as "Belardin" , with a blog and a twitter account. Assange supporters point to her twitter account as once containing critical evidence in a well-orchestrated smear campaign against the WikiLeaks founder.  The other, even more plausible explanation for her actions can be found in her blog- on the issue of revenge. Last January, Ms. Ardin highlighted a seven step method for gaining revenge on a unfaithful lover.  While the first step, forgiveness, is consistent with her Christian belief-system, the remaining steps are decidedly un-Christlike. Her seven steps of revenge are more in line with the Old Testament- eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. In modern times, a person might also manipulate the legal system to imprison, punish, and defame a person for their unfaithfulness and betrayal.

Anna's Current
Twitter Photo
 (Sharon Stone)

The focus on twitter is based upon two tweets Ms. Ardin made while Assange was staying at her apartment in the month of August.  The tweets appear to represent a person excited to be with a man of such stature within the activist community.  The tweets shown below were retrieved by fellow blogger Goran Rudling, of Consent Now.  After filing her complaint with the police, Ms. Ardin allegedly removed the two tweets that represented a more joyous event with Mr. Assange than unexpected sex.  Based upon her now-deleted tweets, sexual relations with Mr. Assange were expected and possibly encouraged. but those tweets disappeared.  Or did they?

Since her twitter feed was linked to appear simultaneously on her blog, the tweets were still available for viewing at her blog after deletion from her twitter account.  The concerns being raised by Assange supporters are that these tweets are potential evidence that Ms. Ardin manipulated for her benefit and to the benefit of the prosecution.

Saturday 14 August at 14 o'clock, she writes on twitter.com / anna invert:

JULIAN WANTS TO GO TO THE CRAYFISH PARTY, anybody have A PAIR OF TICKETS FOR TONIGHT OR TOMORROW?

from annaardin.bloggy.se August 19

Early on the morning of Sunday, August 15, she wrote again on Twitter:

SITTING OUTSIDE AND FREEZING WITH THE WORLD'S COOLEST AND THE SMARTEST PEOPLE, it's AMAZING!

from annaardin.bloggy.se August 19

After being confronted by an on-line Assange supporter about her removal of the tweets, Belardin’s blog became unavailable for an undetermined period of time.  When it was placed back on-line, the tweets were also removed from her blog.  This suggests a second attempt to remove potential evidence that would place doubts upon Ms. Ardin's testimony (if she ever returns to testify).  

Perhaps this is evidence in itself that will play hard against her own credibility and influence Swedish Prosecutor  Marianne Ny to decide against  prosecuting Mr. Assange.  If you ride on a roller coaster and  are disappointed by the experience, you don't go on the ride again and you tell your friends, "That ride is a rip-off, don't waste your time."  You don't burn down the entire amusement park. 

Belardin the Ardin

 Ms. Wilen's whereabouts are currently unknown.  Ms. Ardin apparently is in Palestine, working with the Christian Socialists of Sweden, Brotherhood Movement, on bringing together people of differing religious faiths into dialog together.   More than likely, Ms. Ardin believes the Palestinian territories are the best place to hide from the incoming hordes of reporters and paparazzi that are poised to descend upon her.  We doubt she will be successful and look forward to her expose' on Anderson Cooper  within the next few months.  

Anna Ardin most recently posted on twitter (December 8th), 

CIA agent, rabid feminist / Muslim lover, a Christian fundamentalist, flat & fatally in love with a man, how can one be all of these at the same time?

 Relax Anna, we will learn how you can be all these things and Sharon Stone! All will come to you in the days ahead.  Enjoy your time in the Middle East.  See you again on the evening news.

WIkiLeaks - The Atlantic's Brilliant Red Button

It is a simple, yet brilliant idea.

The Atlantic has created a red button where

 you can click through to read a random U.S. Diplomatic cable.

We clicked on the button  

and our random cable was a delightful read.

The button looks like this one below.

Go ahead and read the cable 

about Prince Andrew.

The Atlantic's Random Wikileak Cable Button

FROM: BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN

TO: STATE DEPARTMENT

DATE: OCTOBER 29, 2008

CLASSIFICATION: SECRET

SEE FULL CABLE

RUDE LANGUAGE A LA BRITISH -------------------------- 

¶13. (C) The brunch had already lasted almost twice its allotted time, but the Prince looked like he was just getting started. Having exhausted the topic of Kyrgyzstan, he turned to the general issue of promoting British economic interests abroad. He railed at British anti-corruption investigators, who had had the "idiocy" of almost scuttling the Al-Yamama deal with Saudi Arabia. (NOTE: The Duke was referencing an investigation, subsequently closed, into alleged kickbacks a senior Saudi royal had received in exchange for the multi-year, lucrative BAE Systems contract to provide equipment and training to Saudi security forces. END NOTE.) His mother's subjects seated around the table roared their approval. He then went on to "these (expletive) journalists, especially from the National Guardian, who poke their noses everywhere" and (presumably) make it harder for British businessmen to do business. The crowd practically clapped. He then capped this off with a zinger: castigating "our stupid (sic) British and American governments which plan at best for ten years whereas people in this part of the world plan for centuries." There were calls of "hear, hear" in the private brunch hall. Unfortunately for the assembled British subjects, their cherished Prince was now late to the Prime Minister's. He regretfully tore himself away from them and they from him. On the way out, one of them confided to the Ambassador: "What a wonderful representative for the British people! We could not be prouder of our royal family!"

Those #*@&*#% American Journalists. Indeed!

Wikileaks - Who's that lady? (Who's that lady) Beautiful lady...

wiki

Anna Ardin

When Sweden native Anna Ardin threw a party in honor of WikiLeak's founder,  Julian Assange, he had no idea that she would be one of his accusers only four months later.

According to AOL News,  Swedish Authorities have confirmed that Mr. Assange is not wanted for rape but for "sex by surprise" or "unexpected sex".  Take a moment to think on this.  When was the last time you had unexpected sex?   Would sex by surprise be something that you get from a dick in a box?

Australian News site Crikey.com, reports that left wing feminist Anna Ardin, one of two original accusers of Mr. Assange, has stopped cooperating with Swedish authorities and her own lawyer and has left Sweden for....wait for it....the Palestinian territories!  This story writes itself.

Crikey.com writes,

Ardin, who also goes by the name Bernardin, has moved to the West Bank in the Palestinian Territories, as part of a Christian outreach group, aimed at bringing reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis. 

According a report in The Raw Story, Julian Assange

Sofia Wilen

had consensual, protected sex with Anna's friend, Sofia Wilen. However, at a certain point during the sexual act, his condom failed resulting in an unexpected sexual event.  Ms.Wilen did not appreciate Mr. Assange's failure to control the event, believing that there was an intent to cause the malfunction.

Being familiar with the quality control of condoms through personal experience, we can report with a relative degree of certainty that condoms can malfunction. This can be due to a variety of reasons ranging from faulty manufacturing, improper sizing, and over exuberance during use. Swedish prosecutor, Marianne Ny, will have a hard time proving this case.

In the second event, Mr. Assange allegedly had protected consensual sex in the evening with Anna Ardin, then the next morning, they had unprotected consensual sex.  In our experience, the morning after sex is usually due to a continuation of passion that has not yet abated.  Unfortunately, most men only carry one condom at a time in their wallet. Ms. Ardin later became uncomfortable with the unexpected morning sex and filed a complaint with the Swedish police.  Mr. Assange's sexual adventures with both women allegedly occurred within one week of each other.  Did he expect that these two women would not compare notes?

Swedish Prosecutor Marianne Ny

It is entirely possible that Ms. Ardin became uncomfortable at about the moment she discovered Julian Assange also had an unexpected sexual event with Ms. Wilen.  Mr Assange is now learning three valuable lessons in his Westminster jail cell- next time you have sex with two Swedish women, make certain they are in the same bed with you at the same time, bring more than one condom, buddy- you're gonna need 'em, and never underestimate how far The Company will go to ruin you.

Counterpunch.com's Israel Shamir and Paul Bennett summed up Mr. Assange's behavorial problem quite nicely when they wrote ,

Julian Assange now stands accused of: (1) not calling a young woman the day after he had enjoyed a night with her, (2) asking her to pay for his bus ticket, (3) having unsafe sex, and (4) participating in two brief affairs in the course of one week. 

As President Clinton famously once said,  "I feel your pain."

WikiLeaks Update- Julian Assange in Jail - Quick, Someone Mention Al Qaeda

Nice Graphic: Stolen then Released

This story keeps twisting and turning in a hundred directions. CNN reports that Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks and number one enemy of embarrassed governments worldwide, has been ordered to jail by an English Magistrate- do not pass secrets, do not collect 200 dollars. Mr. Assange would not provide the judge with a permanent address, making him a "flight risk".  We're almost certain Julian wants to tell the whole world where he lives, but that would be kind of a dumb idea, considering the tense situation over at the WikiLeak  Alamo.  Even the Mexican Army is ready to kick down his front door.

The Queen

It is important to point out that Mr. Assange has not been charged with any crime. In Europe, arrest warrants are issued in order to interview a potential suspect. This is much different than how the U.S. judicial system functions. Could it be there are very high-ranking officials in the British Government who want to intimidate the Australian native and coerce him into pulling his WikiLeaks site offline? Somebody call and ask the Queen.

Mr. Assange has a response for Goverment leaders who want him taken out. He has prepared a massive, encrypted file, which has been downloaded to 100,000 users. If anything unfortunate happens to Mr. Assange, such as his untimely demise, his city-sized accomplices will be given the key to unlock the file, which his attorney referred to as a "thermonuclear device". We were wondering if that was an exaggeration?

boom

Perhaps Mr. Assange found a way to get to that old nuclear material lying around in Pakistan. Recent wiki-leaked diplomatic cables reveal the United States has been trying for years to get permission from Pakistani leaders to remove this aging stockpile of highly enriched uranium and return it to the United States. Since we provided the technology to allow Pakistan to create the nuclear waste back in the 1960's, we have been mildly suggesting that it is our responsibility to clean it up and bring it home- before a couple of Allah-praising radicals in a Toyota pick-up find it and take it to their home. Never mind that. If we toss Julian Assange in jail and close down his Wiki-leaking truth machine, the world will be a safer place. Nuclear-Shmuclear.

Always Reliable Toyota Truck

Meanwhile, a significant fuss is being made by the United States and Great Britain about WikiLeak's release of 2009 diplomatic cables that list potential targets for Al Qaeda. It was only a matter of time before some government official mentioned Al Qaeda. In their eagerness to exploit the Qaeda card, officials overlooked one minor point. Why were State Department diplomats preparing these lists at all? Are our intelligence services so inept they can't find dams and power plants in foreign countries?

We thought diplomats had more of a public relations job. Hey, diplomatic list-making person- have you added the power plant on River Road to your list of American sites? Just curious, because I noticed that the guard shack is occupied by a 70-year old, 5'4" tall, retired district justice, some razor wire, and a few cameras. Looks a bit sketchy to us, better classify this TOP SECRET.

A Real Al Qaeda List  

The Al Qaeda reference is puzzling when you think about the uniquely effective methods of terror they've used. There was the speedboat filled with explosives in Yemen, the  attack on the Taj Majal hotel in Mumbai, the bombing of United Nations in Baghdad, the bombing of trains in London and Madrid, the bombing of the holiest Shiite shrine in Samarra, the cold-blooded killers who took flying lessons, boarded four separate commercial planes, hijacked them, and used the planes as explosive missiles to kill innocent Americans. Al Qaeda doesn't need lists prepared by diplomats in the State Department.

 By the way, who has the list of locations where Osama Bin Laden is hiding? It has been nine years since he murdered nearly 4,000 U.S. citizens on our native soil. Someone should get on that ASAP.

We would like to help the major world powers get their priorities straight. We've prepared our own list:
1. Free Julian Assange
2. Catch Bin Laden

Any questions? Now off you go, hard-working diplomats.

Diplomat  

WikiLeaks - One Government to Censor Us All

PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1  

You have to admire how well our government can function when they have a singular purpose, one clear goal, and are determined to work together to achieve success.  In order to see the full picture of  the U.S. government as a well-oiled machine, we only have to put together five stories from the past 24-hour news cycle.  Our first story begins with those pesky Republicans. 


Encouraged by their recent mid-term election success, the Republicans have been beating their elephant chests with pride. Not only will they clog Obama's wheel of change, they will spin it backwards, to the point where it started, which would be.....um, the collapse of our banking system and the beginning of the great recession.  


Here is their chance to be true mavericks. Will they praise Julian Assange for bringing transparency back into our governement, for using the free market system to reveal our secrets-on classified stamped memos, and for embarrassing the pants off of President Barak Obama? Yesterday, on Meet the Press, Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave us a hint of his party's stance.  

I think the man is a high-tech terrorist,” Senator McConnell stated when asked about WikiLeaks by host David Gregory, “He’s (Assange) done an enormous… He’s done an enormous damage to our country, and I think he needs to be prosecuted to the, the fullest extent of the law; and if that becomes a problem, we need to change the law. I think it’s done enormous damage to our country and, and to our relationships with our allies around the world.”    

I think to change that particular law, we would need a constitutional convention, Senator.   Here is a video of the interview.  I swear on my mother’s tiger-eye jewelry I did not manipulate the video in any way.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Not to be outdone, the democrats sent  Attorney General Eric Holder out to meet with the press and express his determination to hold Mr. Assange accountable in some vague way.  According to the article written by Voice of America’s Jim Malone, Mr. Holder condemned, in strongest terms possible, WikiLeak’s publication of classified diplomatic cables. 

Photo:AP

When asked by reporters on the type of action he intended to take, Mr. Holder said, 
"With regard to all the tactics that we can do or can use to ameliorate the consequences of these actions, I do not want to get into those as well," he added.  "But we will do everything that we can both to hold people accountable and to minimize the harm that will befall the American people."


Dance, little puppet dance!  Frankly, we will have to accept this as a typical kinda-sorta democratic response that fully supports the capture and crucifixion of Julian Assange. Democrats just don't know how to be strong, forceful, and determined. They just don't want to offend anyone.  But no worries.  As soon as Senator McConnell gets a new law passed that extends our legal boundaries into every other country in the world,  we can hang that bad boy, Osama Bin Laden Julian Assange.


Our third story originates at the State Department, the TMZ of our government services.  An overzealous State Department employee warned Columbia University officials that students who want to have a career at the State Department should censor themselves from participating in anything resembling WikiLeaks.  As reported by Digital trends reporter Molly McHugh,  students were warned in an email that said, well...read it yourself:

From: “Office of Career Services”

Date: November 30, 2010 15:26:53 EST:

Hi students,

We received a call today from a SIPA alumnus who is working at the State Department. He asked us to pass along the following information to anyone who will be applying for jobs in the federal government, since all would require a background investigation and in some instances a security clearance.

The documents released during the past few months through Wikileaks are still considered classified documents. He recommends that you DO NOT post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter. Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government.

Regards,
Office of Career Services

Apparently, learning the truth about U.S. diplomacy would call into question a future State Department employee's ability to deal with confidential information, which is based on being truthful with your superiors about your political situation.  


Not to be outdone by the State Department, our military brass jumped onto the speeding bandwagon.  Our fourth story comes from gawker.com.. Iraqi soldiers who attempt to access WikiLeaks are greeted with a warning page from the Department of Defense that...well, read it yourself. This is a quote from a spokesperson for U.S. Forces, as reported by gawker.com:.

"U.S. forces in Iraq have not blocked any news websites from being read. Because of the Wikileaks release of secret documents and their easy availability on the web, USF-I has posted a warning page NIPRNet computers go to first. This page simply warns the user that the website they are about to view may contain classified documents and that such documents should not be viewed, downloaded, or distributed on NIPR computers. There is a button at the bottom of this warning page that then allows the user to go to the website."

Now we have the Republicans, Democrats, State Department, and the U.S. Military all on the same page, which apparently is not classified.  That should be enough to drive our wagon down the hill and over the almost deceased corpse of Mr. Assange, right?  If you answered in the affirmative, please sit down, this lesson on "government in full cooperation" is not quite finished.  We haven't mentioned the Library of Congress yet, or the Social Security Administration.


We are of the opinion that the Library of Congress is a stuffy old building where millions of books sit on shelves half a mile high.   To one day work at the Library of Congress must be every librarian's dream.  What a magnificent repository of the history for our culture. Certainly, this great institution would be date-stamping those classified diplomatic cables  and scanning them into their computers for all future generations to view.  Is there a quote? Of course, there is a quote!  From their own blog,:

“The Library decided to block Wikileaks because applicable law obligates federal agencies to protect classified information.  Unauthorized disclosures of classified documents do not alter the documents’ classified status or automatically result in declassification of the documents.”

 We could go on, we do have one more.  Oh what the heck, this is such a long article, if you made it this far you might as well  suffer to the end.  According to Undernews, the online report of  the Progressive Review,
the SSA has restricted access to WikiLeaks.  The Pregressive Review reports it received a copy of an email sent to SSA staffers with the subject line "Information Security Bulletin: WIKILEAKS"   that states,

"Earlier this year a large amount of United States government classified information was illegally released to the public website WIKILEAKS. The documents on WIKILEAKS could place military personnel and United States supporters in Iraq and Afghanistan at an increased risk of harm.

"Despite these documents being publicly accessible over the internet, the documents remain classified and SSA employees should not access, download, or transmit them. Individuals may be subject to applicable federal criminal statutes for unlawful access to or transmission of classified information."

Following this posting on UNDERNEWS were some excellent comments. My favorite was from Anonymous,  

 Oh, I see. We do not want Americans or federal employees having the same access to information as the rest of the world. Got it, brilliant.

The one person having the most difficult time staying on the internet is WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. Yet despite being cut off from his swiss bank account (something about him not being an actual resident of Switzerland, if that makes any sense), and struggling with a personal problem/smear campaign in Sweden, Mr. Assange is adamant on releasing all 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables.  We can cry, whine, censor, restrict, threaten, intimidate, arrest, and  prosecute and it will not matter- we will still have to take our medicine. With over 500 mirror sites now releasing documents, WikiLeaks is here to stay.


But it is nice, in a perverse and disturbing way, to see our national government work so perfectly together. Imagine how good our health care would be, how deep our pockets would be filled, and how much more meaning our lives would have if government agencies and political parties were working together to improve the world around us instead of shielding us from the world around us.

The American Fool- What's in Our wallet?

How much debt are you carrying?  Do you have car payments, mortgage payments, and credit card payments?  If you sneeze incorrectly, does your bank charge you thirty dollars?  Did you ever wonder who collects your money?  At the end of the day, your interest payment on your debt ends up in someone else's pocket.  Companies are run by people. They sit on the Board of Directors, they attend the galas in the Hamptons, they are CEO's and CFO's and they have grand salaries, stock options, and insider trading tips.  They have drivers, maids, personal chefs, and yachts with a full crew.  They float around from resort to resort, watching your money grow in their bank accounts.

When we got angry and declared, "We can't afford this 26% interest rate on our credit cards, we are swimming out of this whirlpool that empties our pockets and sucks us down", we declared bankruptcy in huge numbers. Those folks on their yachts dialed up their Senators and Congressional representatives, and demanded the credit laws be changed.   Congress and then President Bush passed a law that appeared to help the debtors, but actually helped the wealthiest hold us down, with their greedy hands permanently stitched into our wallets and pocketbooks, even after bankruptcy.  Welcome to the modern-day debtor's prison.  You can expect to be imprisoned here for the rest of your life.

The naysayers will point out that it is our own fault if we have huge debt. We spent that money, we knew the interest rate on the card, and now we must reap what we sow.  This position appears to make sense, but we must examine our own weaknesses as human beings to fully understand how we are being manipulated by the powerful elite to fund their million-dollar parties and feed their investments.  

How many Capital One card offers do you get in the mail each week?  We are averaging one per day.  There are large envelopes, smaller envelopes with "Important- Time Sensitive" stamped on the front, envelopes with a simple return address, thick package style envelopes that dump out various shapes and sizes of offers and advertisements.  Have you been throwing them out too?  Now turn on your television.  What's in your wallet?

Capital One Bank saturates us with their tempting offers, day after day after day. They will, at some point, catch us in a weak moment, and soon afterwards- our very own card will arrive in the mail.  The interest rate will be low, perhaps even 0%.  Now we can buy that Sony LCD screen we always wanted and we will pay it off before the nasty 26% interest rate kicks in.  Right. Sure.  You think Capital One would give you a 0%  interest rate for six months if the statistics determined that 95% of credit card users paid off their entire debt within that time period?  Capital One is nearly certain there will be a balance on our card when the 26% rate kicks in.  They know we are the American fool.

Here is a true story.  My ex-wife had a wealthy uncle through marriage, who aspired to be one of the wealthiest Americans.  He married into her family, took control of the grandfather's finances- who was a locally successful builder before his death- and played the stock market while building up his own business.  

Uncle Bernie (named changed) was a Jewish plumber who hired young men with no experience, promised them an apprenticeship,and paid them minimum wage. When they became experienced enough to know they were being taken advantage of, he would fire them and hire new recruits. His work was sloppy and sometimes he got sued- but his business thrived.  He bought a million-dollar (modest) house in a private gated community in the Florida Keys called Ocean Reef Club.

Bucci Island at Ocean Reef Club

This wasn't some gated slum in the Poconos. Ocean Reef Club includes a 5-star hotel, a full-service shopping center, 27-hole golf course, 3 marinas, 9 restaurants, post office, and a 30-man private police force.  Cash is not accepted anywhere within the community.  You must use your Ocean Reef Card for all purchases. They are even making interest off of each other.

When the children were young, we spent a few days within the gated walls of ORC, and swam in the large, lovely swimming pool and lake at the recreation center, Bucci Island. We heard the story on how they once kept dolphins in the moat around the recreation center, but "those damn animal activists" made a stink and ORC had to release them back into the wild.  

We walked along the marina where wealthy yachters would dock for a few days, get in a few rounds of golf, before sailing off to the next Ocean Reef Club-like community charted for their life of leisure..  Bernie would point to the multi-million dollar yachts as we walked past, "That one is owned by one of the heirs to the Campbell Soup fortune. This one belongs to the owner of the Detroit Lions."  One boat was so large, we could look through the huge cabin windows see the grand piano and full size Christmas tree in their living room.

Ocean Reef Golf Cart (typ.)

Every morning, Bernie would drive his golf cart to the hotel for the complimentary (free) coffee and newspaper made available for residents.  One morning I tagged along with him.  Every road in the community has a matching golf cart path, and most homes have a separate carport to house and re-charge their golf carts.  Some people have their golf carts customized to match their own cars.  We saw golf carts with Rolls Royce, Lincoln, Cadillac, Jaguar hoods during our stay.

After we picked up our free Columbian coffee, I accidentally spilled  half my cup on the hotel floor.  I offered to tell the staff at the front desk. Uncle Bernie dismissed my offer with an impatient wave of his hand, "They have people for that,"  he explained..  I turned around and looked back at my spill and already there was a Hispanic man with a bucket and mop moving into position for clean-up. Ah, they have people for that.

"We have people for that."

They have people for everything, for their every need and desire.  Life is a warm, cozy bubble, with money as the insulator.  After a few days of living like this, it becomes obvious that they have created a separate world from our own, and admission is based on the color green. If you have it, you're in. If you don't have it, you're out.  Most of us don't have it and we never will, unless we either rip off our customers and family, or are born to a family that already has it.  Look again, what's in your wallet?

Is there a solution? Short of revolution, probably not. The human propensity for greed and power is well-documented throughout  the ages.  Even Moses threw down the tablets.  Think about that.  He hand-chiseled the ten commandments into stone.  That required a great effort (and stone-carving talent)! He must have chosen stone so that the rules would be remembered for ages to come- something permanent for his people. 

Moses chiseled ten community guidelines that he received directly from our Supreme Being, the One who created us all.  Then Moses returned home to find a big drunken orgy, everyone wearing bling, praying to golden statues- a bunch of drunken, naked, wine-drinking nymphomaniacs.  SLAM!  Down go the tablets into a hundred pieces.  You have to be very pissed off and disgusted to destroy the ten commandments entrusted to you by the highest Authority in the universe.

When Moses returned from his prophetic meeting on the mountain, he found the Ocean Reef Club.  If Uncle Bernie had been there when Moses threw down the tablets, he would have casually waved Moses off, " Hey, don't worry about it. We have people for that."

Moses Destroys the Tables of the Ten Commandments (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot)

Justin Bieber? Really?

Justin Bieber, heartthrob to millions of 12-year old girls, received his first Grammy nomination last night, further eroding the respectability of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).  Once considered a sometimes stuffy, archaic symbol of the older generation of music lovers (this is still true in some categories) , the Academy has now jumped across the abyss to the party-filled, celebrity side of fame and fortune. Actually, we like Justin's energy and his dedication to his music.  If he would only comb his hair back on the sides (like real folks do) and fire all the people who are preening him to be a pop icon, we'd feel more comfortable with his mindless, bubble gum music.

Nevertheless, we rode our musical mule to the bottom of the canyon to look for the phenomenal artists who were thrown off the Grammy cliff.  Not too much here...some oldies and few newbies- it's been a down year for the majors.  Any artist who doesn't score a hit on the charts gets dropped off the cliff. Finding them on the canyon floor, mixed in with all the indies and self-releases, may prove impossible.

Ok, we are at the bottom, surrounded by millions of albums, Cd's, and digital downloads.  Ow!  I just stepped on an illegal torrent.  They really hurt. The RIAA would not be happy with this.  Oh here's the "How to Train Your Dragon" Soundtrack.  Oh my, look at all these indie albums and self-releases.  Let's see if we can find an artist worthy of a nomination who may have been overlooked.  Linkin Park?  Linkin Park!  What is A Thousand Suns doing down here? It could be Linkin Park missed the weird cut-off dates that the Grammy folks have devised. These are cunning people.  

You would think that there would be a huge pile of old-timey rock and rollers down here in the Grammy discard file.  I should be drowning in Tom Petty, Neil Young, Jeff Beck, and Pearl Jam albums.  But there isn't a single one down here.  Wait a minute, I'm getting a phone call.  Wow, really?  All of them?  Any newer bands?  Muse?  Any others?  Oh my, that is sooo old school Grammy-like.  yeah, I agree.  The day the music died.  Mainstream rock is dead.  Well, thanks so much for the call, Mr. Portnow.


We've climbed back out of the abyss and are happy to report one of our favorite albums, Porcupine Tree's "The Incident" was nominated.  Unfortunately, there isn't a category for prog/metal or even for progressive rock, or for conceptual rock albums.  The Incident tells a dramatic story, and while not considered by PT fans  as the best album, it is certainly their darkest piece.  Did the Academy recognize a great album yet could not find a proper category?  What about BEST ROCK ALBUM????? Instead, the Grammy-elite nominates it for Best Surround album.  Really?  Best surround?  We had better hook up two more speakers.

What a surprise to find Switchfoot nominated in a gospel category.  Despite the band's on-going effort to appeal to a wider audience with their sometimes spiritual message, they are stuffed right back where NARAS thinks they belong.   But hey, it's a nomination, right?

Did you know there is still a Best Metal Performance category?  Quick. Think of three metal bands that have released performance albums in 2010.  Slayer?  good job, that's one.  Megadeath?  Excellent, that's two.  Ok. One more.  Don't worry about the quality, just popular names. That is all the Grammy people want- popular names.  Are those crickets we hear?  Come on, you KNOW this!  Think voluptuous maidens chained in iron. No, not the new Hurricane video from 30STM- we are talking about Iron Maiden.  The main  reason these three bands were nominated? They are the only ones that 50 year old stoners can remember.

You would think that Avenged Sevenfold would have been nominated.  If you can drop Switchfoot into gospel and find two categories for a mediocre Elton John/Leon Russel album, there has to be a place for this amazing band and their 2010 release, Nightmare.

We noticed Adam Lambert was nominated for his lame, very lame single.  We saw Adam perform live at Musikfest in Bethlehem this summer. Waterbunny turned to me, mid-performance, and said this, "He is a male Cher."  I couldn't disagree, but Cher should be offended.  Adam has a great voice, everyone agrees- but based upon his own music, his Grammy-nominated own music, he couldn't fill one half-toe of Freddy Mercury's shoes.   His nomination may be an even bigger travesty than Justin's Best New Artist.

Back to Justin Bieber, for a minute.  Really?  Justin Bieber?  This is the cream of the crop?  I don't think he could make the finals of American Idol.  Was he ever on American Idol?  I will take Lee or Chris over Justin.
Thankfully, there are four other nominees for Justin's Grammy:  Drake; Florence and the Machine; Mumford and Sons; Esperanza Spalding.  Any one of these will do fine, thank you.  Cast your vote, NARAS members!

Our only real hope for the February 13, 2011 Grammy Awards is that Eminem wins all ten awards, Muse wins for Best Rock, Florence and the Machine wins Best New Artist,  Pink gyrates from ropes hung from the ceiling, and Adam has a nervous breakdown after he loses. Anything less and NARAS might as well put up a FOR SALE sign to the highest bidder and hope Dick Clark Productions has enough cash and stock to buy them out.  Dick Clark.  Really?