Alias Jones: World Wandering…

Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh… This is going to be good…

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Thought For the Day:

“Allah’in sopasi yok.”  That’s a Turkish proverb, translated as “God doesn’t have a stick”.  He doesn’t need one.  He probably pities us for what we do to ourselves.

Let’s stop doing that.  Like… Today.

Its in our power… Our natural state.

Love.

Onward…

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I have to say that in many ways, I feel like I’ve had in interesting life.  And these past four years of meandering about… I mean… its been special beyond what I can explain, and it would probably take 8 years straight of talking to tell 4 years of stories.  Funny how that works.

Well, for those that haven’t heard yet, it’s going to get a lot more special soon.  I’m about to embark on a little journey that I never really imagined I would take… Politics.

The Big News
I’m running for U.S. Congress this year, in Texas’ 25th District.

Don’t laugh… I’m serious about it.  The 25th District is South Austin, San Marcos, Wimberly and out past Columbus.  The State of Texas approved my paperwork to run as an independent candidate.  And we’re getting ready to rock.

The Republican and Democratic primaries are on March 2nd.  On March 3rd we can begin collecting signatures on the petition to put me on the ballot in November, because the signers can not have voted in the primaries.  It will only take 500.  I think we can get 5,000 in a week if I can put together a good team, and I’ve had some nice offers so far… 5,000 would be strong.

So anyway, I’ve got a working plan, and I’m working it until somebody gives me a better idea.  And I’m talking with a few smart people now, and waiting to hear back from a few more.  I’ll get some help, which in the near term will likely be some enthusiastic friends - they don’t have direct experience in campaigns, but they’re very sharp.  There’s something I like about that…

And who knows what will happen tomorrow… I have the feeling good things are on they way.

U.S. Congress?  Why?

I can’t say that I’ve ever really had any political aspirations.  My mother always did say that I could be President (maybe all mothers do, I don’t know) but the whole thought of politics never appealed to me.  I mean… Why would I want to be involved in that group.  Generally they’re what we call bad company, and they usually aren’t the coolest cats to sit around and talk with either.  I’ve got a pretty good idea of what makes them tick, and I’ll just say that we have different interests.  I’d rather hang out with Hell’s Angels… at least they’re honest about who they are.
But this year is different… I’ll try to explain…

For those of us who watched what happen in the 2008 Presidential campaign, we saw some pretty stunning things happen.  We saw the television networks try to lock Ron Paul out of the debates, and yet he won all of the debates by large margins in the text polling that followed.  Most of the 24-hour news programs tried to paint him as a nut.

We saw cases of political rigging in several state caucuses and primaries, as well as some suspected outright fraud.  The Republican party was railroading their strongest competitor and proving once again that the Establishment can’t afford a candidate who may cut into their gravy train.

And still the people rallied around him, making Paul the Republican leader in campaign donations, in spite of the fact that much of it was coming in $20 or $50 at a time.  The people were responding to his message… The Constitution.

It was pretty amazing to watch so many independents and moderates gravitate to him, and the conservatives who had finally given up on the run-of-the-mill neo-con-controlled Republican party candidates after 8 years of Bush were jumping on the bandwagon, too.  And quite a load from the left, too - particularly young people - who were beginning to realize that yes, they need The Constitution’s protection from their own government more than they need their government’s can protect them from anything else.

Not very long ago it occurred to me that the movement back toward constitutional government had actually continued to grow, thanks to a President who has gone back on nearly every major campaign promise and a routinely pathetic Congress.  I mean… This Congress can’t even get an Audit-The-Fed bill out the door with 70% of the House as co-signers and 80% public support.  They’re supporting a wretched and un-Constitutional Obama-care bill, and have allowed $7 Trillion more in bailout money to go out the door in the last session.  And when times get hard (and they’re getting that way for many people), people start asking more serious and precise questions.  And the answer keeps coming back… The Constitution.

I figure that now all we need is some elected representatives who share the public’s growing passion.  And the truth is that those with political aspirations rarely do.  They choose to serve other masters, and the system today overwhelmingly supports those who support un-Constitutional government.  At some point, it became clear what I wanted to do… I’m going to give them a strong Constitutional candidate… Me.

Don’t laugh.  I’m going big.  And I have a plan.

More soon on this…

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Coming Home

I’ve been planning a trip home to spend some time with my family.  I was trying for December, but it turned in to February… 20th to be exact.  The trip is booked.

I’ll get around to reminiscing sooner or later I suppose.  Amazing times with amazing people, and some amazing places, too, the sheer numbers of each are staggering to me.  I never knew life could be like this.

That won’t end.  Going back to visit my family and friends will itself be an amazing experience and a form of its own journey.  But now the Universe seems to have upped it a notch or two by setting up this whole Congressional campaign thing.  What a thrill this will be.

So I’ll be back on the 20th.  In the meantime, I’m getting ready to shake the political scene up as much as I can, with a smile on my face, and trying not to laugh.  Really… stay tuned… this will be fun…

Peace, Love, and Freedom All the Way, Baby…

~ Alias

My resolution… Write more.  Not just for the standard NY resolution thing, but I’ve got a lot to share after this long quiet period.

But for today… I’m wishing you all a very special 2010.  Here’s my card - my thoughts and my heart - to you all…

May 2010 treat you gently… and vice-versa…

Peace. Love. Freedom.

~ Alias

Greetings everybody.  Well, its been a while, but it appears that there were no new records set for being away from posting, so we’ll just move along.

I’ve been including “active listening” in the courses I teach, which means letting the students listen to the music and having them repeat the words as they think they hear them.

Its a bit of a trick, even for native speakers.  A case in point… my sister Katie always thought Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” was “Slow Moving Walter”.

Today… My class will be listening to Kay Starr’s “Side by Side”… a snappy little tune that many of us enjoy for many different reasons…

Side by Side, by Kay Starr

Oh, we ain’t got a barrel of money,
Maybe we’re ragged and funny,
But we’ll travel along, singin’ a song,
Side by side.

Don’t know what’s comin’ tomorrow,
Maybe it’s trouble and sorrow,
But we’ll travel the road, sharin’ our load,
Side by Side.

Through all kinds of weather,
What if the sky should fall?
Just as long as we’re together,
It doesn’t matter.

When they’ve all had their quarrels and parted,
We’ll be the same as we started;
Just travelin’ along, singin’ a song,
Side by Side.

See that sun in the morning,
Peaking over the hill,
I’ll bet you sure it always has,
And it always will.

That’s how I feel about someone,
And somebody feels about me,
We’re sure in love with each other,
And that’s the way its going to be.

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That was fun.

Ok… More to reports soon…

Peace. Love. Freedom.

~ Alias

Holy Mackeral… Its been way too long.  No long-winded explanations here, its just the way it worked out.  Thanks for hanging in there with me….

Let’s get started… These are from Friday, and it was a good day…
I’ve been teaching intensive English courses of late… all day, 5 days in a row.  Its a great concept, and its good to see the students leaving with much better abilities and the big jump in confidence that comes with that.  Its pretty cool.  This is my last class… all the kind of people I enjoy hanging out with…

And this is a photo that Jim (Salim) took of me with his PDA phone camera.  I’m plotting their last afternoon activity…

We created a soap opera that takes place in Turgutreis - my old home - and created the story, the characters and ad-libbed our way through some conversations in the roles of our characters.  I was the pool cleaner…

Well, it was graduation day for my class, and no class for me on Saturday, so I thought get out and see some friends.  I was going to meet my friend Burak (from Turgutreis days) in Taksim and let some friends know that I would be in the area if they wanted to get together.  We actually got some takers, so we went to meet Natali first, and it turned out to be her sister’s birthday party we were crashing.  Lucky us…

This is Zeynep, a real nice girl who’s name I can’t remember, Katia the Birthday Girl (Happy 18th!) and Natali making a face…

Here’s Natali pretending like she’s stabbing me, and Burak is caught in the middle…

Birthday Girl Katia, Idil, Natali…  You remember Idil and Natali from The Hippie Pad this summer… they were regulars…

Zeynep, that real nice girl, and Katia the Birthday Girl…

The Birthday Girl…

Parts of Idil and Natali…

Idil, Natali and Burak…

Katia the Birthday Girl fascinated by the light through the glass…

And Idil, too…

Zeynep and that real nice girl…

Me and Katia the Birthday Girl…

Yeah, man… I know I’m looking a little tired in the photos…
Burak and I left early so the girls could get on with their night which, if I recall correctly, was scheduled to go on well beyond my preferred bedtime.  So we said our good-byes and headed down to Hakan’s recording studio for a short visit, before heading our separate ways.

So it was another great night with great friends and other cool people…

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There’s more coming, but the photo uploading is a real pain for some reason… This took almost all day…

We’ll rock on…

Peace.  Love.  Freedom.

~ Alias

Yeah… Its been too long.  I’ll explain below… But lots to cover, so let’s get rockin’…

In today’s post…

1)  The Text Message of the Week
2)  Just a Few More Days of Depression
3)  Facebookin’ It
4)  Ron Paul’s “Audit the Fed Bill” Update
5)  New Photos (had a problem putting them in the post, but will work on it tomorrow… check back…)
6)  The Hippie Pad is Closed (for now)

Let’s hit it…

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The Text Message of the Week

I was supposed to get together with a friend sometime last week in the Taksim area of Istanbul.  But he’s also known for his disappearing acts.  After my first text message was not returned, I sent another and asked… “You alive?”.  And here was his response…

“bro’… i’m in hongkong trying to find cheap hot hookers for some virtuoso azeri musicians.  i’ll call you monday.  peace.”

Sometimes my life seems so common…

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Just a Few More Days of Depression

At least part of the reason I haven’t updated the site recently is because I’m going through my annual “end-of-summer seasonal depression”.  It seems that every year about this time I’m struck with it, and just lay around the house doing… well… nothing.  And while many of you see that as kind of “normal” for me, I guess it is, but this is different… I don’t really enjoy the nothingness of it.

So… I think there is 2-3 days more of it left.  The fact that you’re reading this post means I’m nearly out of it.

Woo-hoo.

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Facebookin’ It

I’ve finally decided to give in to massive peer pressure and join Facebook.  Sigh.

If you’re on it, you can find me by searching “AliasJones Vagabond”, or perhaps by clicking this link…

Just to make it interesting, I’ve added some “never before seen” slice-of-life videos and photos of my travels, and will be adding more as time goes on.

Feel free to add me as a friend… I like friends.

Oh… I also found that there’s a “Fans of Alias Jones” group as well, so it was about time I showed up to that.   I tend to think in terms of “friends” rather than “fans”, but I’ll accept Melody’s kind intentions - Thanks, Mel.

If you’re so inclined, you can find it here…

Ok… Onward…

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Ron Paul’s “Audit the Fed” Bill Update

Please pay attention to this… This is big!

Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill (House bill HR.1207, and Senate bill S.604) is making huge strides.  The last I’ve seen, the House bill has 304 Co-Sponsors (out of 454 in the House) and 30 Senate Co-Sponsors (out of 100).  That means that 2/3 of the House of Representatives are not just supporters of the bill, but actually Co-Sponsors.  In the Senate, its 30%.  Few bills gather this kind of support.

So we may ask… “Wait… Did our overly-ambitious and corrupt politicians in Congress finally find wisdom, or actually start caring about the people and society they are paid to represent?”  Well, I won’t go that far.  More likely, the pressure from their constituents is the leading factor… that is, We, The People.

But success if far from assured.  While many in the House and Senate either support or feign support for the bill, others are trying to water it down, and even attach to it the 2010 spending bill that has language that limits the scope of an audit.

It’s preciously important that the bills are presented and passed as they are written… anything less means there’s no change coming, just more gaming of The System.

Why is Auditing the Fed Important?

1) The most obvious reason is that The Fed, along with the Treasury Department, has stolen $14 Trillion (bank bailouts, etc) from the American people, and have provided practically no accounting of where its gone.   Yes, they essentially borrowed $14 Trillion ($140,000 from every American household) from private banks - at interest! - and turned around and gifted it to… private banks.  Nice scam, if you’re a bankster.

If you don’t feel F’d in all this, spend some time considering why, and start your education process… It will be worthwhile.

2)  The Federal Reserve acts as a shadow government in the U.S., having monopoly power over money and the issuance of credit in the U.S., and have done so since 1913 without virtually no oversight.  They make secret agreements on behalf of the American people with foreign central banks and governments.  Any institution with that much power SHOULD be audited, and Paul’s bills, as written, will assure a full and proper audit.

Since The Fed has taken control of the money supply, the dollar has lost 95% of its value.  If you think that’s normal (I used to think its normal), its time to inform yourself.

3)  When any institution has this much power, they will use it against you, and they have.  I’ll suggest to you that every war fought since 1913 is a result of The Federal Reserve’s policies, as is every boom-and-bust from The Great Depression to today’s Economic Crisis (and its just begun), and there is plenty of evidence to support these suggestions.  A full and complete audit will ultimately end The Fed, because it will be exposed as completely unjustifiable.

If The Federal Reserve is not stopped, you can certainly expect a complete collapse of the dollar.  If that sounds extreme to you, inform yourself.

The stakes are high, and its time to take back the power we’ve granted to The Fed.

I’ll suggest the following links for those interested…

A)  A Quick “Audit the Fed” Issue Overview, linked here, at the Campaign for Liberty website.

B)  The Audit the Fed Bill Congressional Petition, linked here…  This is why the bills have so many co-sponsors, and we need to keep the pressure on.  Visit the site, sign it.

C)  Read Ron Paul’s book, End the Fed, linked at Amazon here…  If you want a quick education on why The Fed is so dangerous to what we call “the American way of life”, you should read this book… Paul lays it out simply and honestly.  The link also has a short video pitch from Paul… worth watching.  Buy your copy while you’re there.  Read it.  Pass it along.

D)  Once you’re on board with the facts, educate your friends.  This really is important.  Millions of Americans are waking up to the fact that the greatest threat to freedom is this thing we call The Federal Reserve, and its happening by word of mouth.  Use your email lists for something that we all truly care about, and add these links and others so that your friends and co-workers can understand the threat to the economy and freedom that The Fed poses.  Its time to make it stop.

So that’s it… Its as easy as A B C (and D!).  Don’t wait… Get started now…

Ok… Onward…

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Photos!

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The Hippie Pad is (Temporarily) Closed

Man… The Summer of ‘09 at The Hippie Pad on Kinaliada was a truly remarkable experience, one that I’ll never forget.  The mission… An Open House Concept… Anybody can visit anytime… Everybody welcome.  They came by the dozens and everybody enjoyed.

But we all know that everything is temporary, and so was my 16 and a half month time on the Isle of Kinali in the Marmara sea.  Yes, my crazy Turkish mother, Esma, rented the house to others and that forced my move back to the mainland of Istanbul.

The Universe has its way of moving us along to other things, and I trust that the move is an indication that I have somewhere else to be and that my time on Kinali was due to complete… at least for now.  There were a number of signs pointing to that even before dear ol’ Esma told me of the new renters, so rather than resist and cling to what was, I applied the concept of “Let”… let things happen.

I’ve learned to trust the Universe, and after “flirting” sufficiently with options, it became clear that a move was meant to be.  No resistance… moving like water.  I’m now a proud resident of Besiktas in the heart of Istanbul… in a transition period for sure.

Nothing to feel bad about.  The summer with friends - new and not-so new - was priceless.

Rest knowing that The Hippie Pad will re-open again one day - after all, The Hippie Pad isn’t a place so much as it is a state of mind.  Ohhh… Looking forward to finding out where and when it takes root next…

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Ok… That’s plenty for this Sunday.  I’ll give you a few days to soak this all in, and then come back with more.

Thanks for stopping in.  You could have been anywhere in the cyber-world today, and you chose to stop in here… much appreciated.

Peace.  Love.  Freedom.
~ Alias