The profits of PORN (video)

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Rory Carroll (theguardian.com) in Los Angeles 

(Robert the Republican) Does porno affect rapists', killers' and others' attitudes toward women? L.A. porn production (crime?) plummets by design in wake of mandatory condom law.

L.A.'s American Apparel, please spare the world your fantasies about schoolgirls

 

Burlesque satisfaction?

The number of permits issued for "adult" films plunges in the Valley and North Hollywood (both areas of greater L.A.) as the sex industry says producers have moved to Las Vegas and Eastern Europe.

The  number of permits issued for adult films fell 90% last year to just 40  permits compared with 2012, when the law was introduced, the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday.

Hard Summer rave 2014

“We’ve  seen a dramatic drop in permits,” Paul Audley, president of FilmLA,  told the paper. “It is a cause for concern that people who are manning  the cameras, lights and other things on those sets are not working  anymore.”

Voters in LA County backed the ban after the Aids Healthcare Foundation, an advocacy group, argued that unsafe sex on sets  spread HIV and other diseases.

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The industry protested in vain that it conducted regular health screenings and that audiences and performers tended to prefer porn without condoms.

The state senate is due to vote this month on whether to widen the ban to all of California.
 

We're not a "post-racial" society

Most porn production takes place without permits -- a film can be shot in a  few days in a private house -- so it was unclear to what extent the 90%  fall in permits represented a wider flight.

Several porn producers said they had moved production to other parts of southern California, as well as Nevada, Florida, and Eastern Europe, where there is less  regulation. More 

• The state senate is due to vote this month on whether to widen the ban to all of California (Bret Hartman/AP)  
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Moscow told it must not intervene without Kiev’s permission after Obama talks to Merkel on busy day for diplomacy 

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Shocking US military secrets revealed (video)

Douglas Dietrich (douglasdietrich.com); Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; John B. Wells (coasttocoastam.com); Sean Stone (Buzzsaw)

Death (Greek, Thanatos) rules American military leadership and its imperial missions (US).

Douglas Dietrich, military historian, appeared on Coast to Coast on Nov. 13, 2011

Who is historian Douglas Dietrich?

Douglas Dietrich was a D.O.D. (Department of Defense/War) Research Librarian for almost a decade, responsible for incinerating highly classified materials on critical historical topics such as Pearl Harbor, Roswell, Vietnam, and various ethnic holocausts.

He was also paid to destroy documents exposing the reality of vampires, zombies, Soviet psychic warfare operatives, and other "occult" phenomena. 

Summoning demons and devils

Volumes of notes on Nicolai Tesla, H.P. Lovecraft, Scientology's L. Ron Hubbard, the seat of Catholicism, the Vatican, and the United Nations were destroyed, along with reams of reports detailing everything from military/intelligence-sponsored drug-smuggling operations to experimental CIA mind-control programs.

Records plundered from both Allied and enemy states revealed the hidden objectives of modern mass-movements such as Nat-Zism, Zionism, Izamicism (Wähhä'bīst/Islamist Fundamentalism[s]), Vouhodouxnism ("Voodooism"), and other ideologies.

 

Let's bring it! - Bring what? - Death! (DT)

Dietrich's post was El Presidio Real de San Francisco's Western Defense Command Center, a large military base with many military families which was seething with Satanism, child sexual abuse (more than a 1,000 cases resolved by reassigning families to other bases around the world), and controversial human medical experimentation. 

An assassination plot on presidential candidate William Clinton was even attempted. Since the base's closure, Dietrich's background in military reference and his experiences in mercenary/security enforcement exposed him to startling insights into geopolitics, our current demographic apocalypse, and the medical-industrial complex thanatizing our future.

 

My leadership is doing what!? (army.mil)

"Weapons of Mass Deception" were unleashed generations ago by increasingly self-deluded American elites. They have since warped the U.S. electorate's perception of reality. According to Dietrich, NOW is the time for TOTAL disclosure.

Pentagon, Pentagram, and Satanism

(22:29) Sean Stone interviews Douglas Dietrich about devil worship in military

(Sept. 9, 2013) The Pentagon and high-level Satanic magic are discussed in addition to the unusual history surrounding 9/11, Aleister Crowley, the anti-gods, and more are discussed in the final part of Douglas Dietrich's Buzzsaw interview with Sean Stone, son of Director Oliver Stone. How is the military able to manipulate 50% of the government's discretionary budget and keep total power as they put the world on a collision course with destruction? The answer is surprising.
 

Douglas Dietrich was a Research Librarian for the Department of Defense at El Presidio Real de San Francisco Military Base in California. There, along with his primary duty of destroying secret documents, he alleges he was assigned to locate and access incredibly rare occult grimoires for the officially recognized Satanic Chaplain of the United States Army, Lt. Col. Michael A. Aquino. Dietrich is a historian, whistleblower, writer, speaker, and activist.

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COMMENTS
(Miranda Thomson) Even though historian Dietrich makes a few errors on time spans in his oratory, his knowledge is encyclopedic! I have few if any doubts as to the veracity of his statements, including the use of atomic weapons by Japan immediately after Nagasaki against the Russians. I doubt the Americans would have had any problem with that. Something stopped the Russians, and it certainly wasn't a fear of the U.S. using an atomic bomb against them. We were still "allies," after all. The Russians would have not have quit if something had not made them quit. And neither the U.S. nor the Japanese could have stopped them with conventional weapons: The bulk of U.S. soldiers were in the European theatre, not the Pacific. The Russians had promised the U.S. and Britain to enter the war within three months of Germany's defeat, which happened on May 8, 1945. That would make it August 8, 1945. I just watched the History Channel's "Japanese Secret Weapons of WW II," and although it said nothing about Japan's nuclear capabilities, it did mention that the Russian military juggernaut could not be stopped by the U.S. or Japan. What stopped them? It seems it was Japanese nukes!

(Zipcrazed) I have wondered why as Americans we are not taught in public school about the atrocities Japan visited on China (in the late 1930s to early 1940s), when they exceeded the atrocities visited by Nazis on Jews, Poles, gays, Gypsies, and other "undesirables."  I bet everyone knows why....

Alan Watts: "Why Not Now" (video)

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Mitch Jeserich (KPFA.org); TragedyandHope (youtube.com) 

"Why Not Now" and "Dhyana: The Art of Meditation" by Alan Watts (redtelephone66.com)

 

Alan Watts in Buddhist robes, California

January, 2014 - There is a new documentary film (two DVD set) on the life and works of British-American Buddhist broadcaster Alan Watts. Each film comes with "The Animated Alan Watts" and "The Essential Alan Watts," a bonus disc of video materials that did not fit into the film.

• LISTEN: PLAY AUDIO NOW (download MP3, 10.28 MB)
• Letters and Politics, Feb. 19, 2014 - KPFA.org 10:00 am
• About the Show / Archives of Show / Playlists from Show

One 23-minute DVD includes extracts from the 1972 series "The Fine Art of Goofing Off" as well as a couple of animations produced by SouthPark creators and animators. The reel has met with joyous laughter and standing ovations at recent film showings and is not to be missed.

"Why Not Now" follows the life of one of the most inspiring philosophers of our time -- Alan Watts -- as told though none other than Alan Watts himself accessing a wealth of material and lectures that were left behind after his passing.

"Why Not Now?" was created by Alan Watts' son, Mark Watts, who has given TragedyandHope exclusive rights to create the trailer for the documentary. More (alanwatts.org)

Ebony and Ivy: University Slavery (video)

Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Amy Goodman, DemocracyNow.org

This shocking conversation with Prof. Wilder continues in Part II. The extended interview with the MIT American history professor examines slaves in the nation’s elite schools.

Elite universities in America were built on slaves? An MIT professor and author of a new book, which has been 10 years in the making, examines how many major U.S. universities -- Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, Rutgers, Williams, and UNC, among others -- are drenched in the blood and sweat of Africans forcibly brought to the United States as slaves.

 

In Ebony & Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities," Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) American history Professor Craig Steven Wilder reveals how the slave economy and higher education grew up together. 

 

"When you think about the colonial world, until the American Revolution, there is only one college in the South, William & Mary... The other eight colleges were all Northern schools. And they’re actually located in key sites, for the most part, of the merchant economy where the slave traders had come to power and rose as the financial and intellectual backers of new culture of the colonies," Wilder says. More

Continuing the conversation on slavery, Democracy Now! is joined by a woman who uncovered that her ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. Katrina Browne documented her roots in the film, "Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North."

It reveals how her family, the DeWolfs based in Rhode Island, was once the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. And it continued even after slavery was abolished by furnishing human slaves offshore, where it remained legal.

After the film aired on PBS in 2008, Browne went on to found the Tracing Center on Histories and Legacies of Slavery. More

Toward American Buddhism (Robert Thurman)

Wisdom Quarterly; Prof. Robert Thurman (bobthurman.com/tibethouse.us)

(SoundsTrue) Prof. Robert Thurmans is one of TIME's 25 Most Influential Americans

Wisdom Quarterly surpasses 4 million views

Ashley Wells, Features Editor, Wisdom Quarterly

Wisdom Quarterly reaches far and wide across the globe concentrating in the West.

"Sitting on a park bench, eyeing little [meditators by the lake] with bad intent" (J.T.)

As Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal makes this milestone, surpassing 4,000,000 direct verifiable views, it has become customary for the male editors to discuss breasts, usually Jennifer Love Hewitt's or men's.

Good way to stay healthy

But Breast Awareness Month in Los Angeles begins with Katy Perry and others performing (AMP Radio, CBS Inc., Hollywood Bowl, Oct. 23, 2013, 7:30 pm, also featuring Ellie Goulding, Sara Bareilles, Tegan and Sara, and Kacey Musgraves) to raise awareness about surviving one devastating form of cancer running rampant in our flesh eating population: the cancer of the breasts.

Good way to develop cancer

While many more people read WQ, there is no way to directly count them. It's like when one asks how many views a video has, but then that video is reposted with lyrics or what not by various YouTubers. Only the official VEVO version is counted, which leads to undercounting. Other sites pick up and repost our items and articles or send it out in Hebrew and other foreign languages via RSS feeds, aggregation sites, uncredited outlets, and the occasional plagiaristic "homage." (Thank you, by the way. We are just here to spread the Dharma, increasing wisdom and compassion everywhere).

The Enlightened American (Daniel Ingram)

Wisdom Quarterly (edit); Buddhist Geek Daniel Ingram (DharmaOverground.org)

Self-proclaimed arhat, author (Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha), and Site Administrator Daniel Ingram founded the Dharma Underground, which lead to the Dharma Overground, which culminated in The DhO.

 
Frustrated with the world of online Dharma blogs that are all about dogma, hierarchy, disempowering views about how it can't be done, mindless blind faith in absurd ideals, and texts that are wildly out of touch with reality, and a whole host of other absurdities, Ingram founded The DhO to form a safe haven.

It is for people who are into hardcore practice, real attainments, helping people out in the spirit of mutual noble friendship, open conversations about topics related to actual practice, and the like.
 
Ingram's website, InteractiveBuddha.com, is home to a distinct voice in the wilderness. He is boldly making the following claims to attainments:

• I am an arhat, having attained [full enlightenment] in April, 2003.
• I have mastery of the [traditional eight] samatha jhanas [meditative absorptions], including Pure Land One and Pure Land Two, The Watcher, and Nirodha Samapatti [the "extinction of feeling and perception," a meditative state said to only be possible for arhats].
• I have some experience with some other traditional attainments.
• I can access the state [The DhO] calls No Dog. 

:: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ::

The face of enlightenment (DhO)

Ingram wrote the book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book, often abbreviated MCTB, which has influenced the practice of many members of The DhO.
 
He is an emergency medicine physician who practices in emergency departments in Mississippi and Northeast Alabama, where he lives with his wife, Carol, and his cats Boris, Mavis, and Elvira (Mistress of the Dark), along with a number of relatively tame raccoons, two of which his family calls Scruffy and Ramona.
 
Ingram gives a whole lot more biographical information in MCTB.
 
He states, "I have many outside interests, including green building, cooking, dancing, playing, and listening to music, the writings of Jack Vance, and a good deal more. Updates on my current practice, whatever it may be, can be found at Current Practice Blog."
 
It is his sincere hope that The DhO will serve to add to the available literature and support of hardcore, empowered practice. He further hopes that through the collective work of a group of dedicated, skilled practitioners that meditation technology and culture will be advanced, enhanced, and adapted to this post-post-modern world.

Financial Disclosure
A brief disclosure of finances: Renting the server space and bandwidth for The DhO costs me about $179/month from Omegabit. There are also other expenses in running The DhO, such as developing the PM feature (which Liferay 5.2.2 didn't have), which cost me about $1,500 out of pocket for the programming, and recent attempts to upgrade to Liferay 6.1, of which the total bill so far has been over $3,000. I also get a small royalty on my book, MCTB, which generally runs roughly $400-$800 every 6 months. Thus, after paying for The DhO server time and miscellaneous expenses, I lose money on all of this, which is just fine by me and consider it my small dana [act of generosity] to the world of meditation. I hope this community benefits every interested person in some way. 

COMMENTARY
Wisdom Quarterly (EDITORIAL)

Daddy, is this an enlightened being? (Eighteen for Life/flickr.com)

 
Do we believe Ingram's claims about attainments? Yes.
 
The problem, of course, is that traditionally the belief has been that one who attains non returner or arhat stages would immediately want to ordain and live according to monastic guidelines, which are regarded as the perfection of the "high life" or brahmacariya. To live otherwise entails blameworthy harm being done to others. This would not suitable for a person of perfected view. (Enlightenment does not perfect personality; it perfects view).
 
A person with right view does not do harm while engaging in a livelihood. Outside of the Sangha it may be that one "goes along to get along" in the world. The arhat, unwilling or unable to stray from what is right/virtuous, would fall by the wayside. There is no example that we could find of a layperson becoming an arhat at the time of the historical Buddha who did not immediately ask for admission into the Sangha. It is not generally believed that a layperson can even attain that distinction to begin with except in exceptional cases. Monks scoff at the notion since they themselves, under ideal conditions, have so much trouble remaining motivated and reaching the goal, particularly in the city.

Falsely accusing the Buddha

Traditional Theravada teachers would probably not keep advancing a stream enterer or once returner who did not intend to ordain. But the question is, Is it possible? We do not see a necessary reason why it would be impossible. Tradition says that this or that is what happens, and it may be the strong inclination of an arhat to live in peace as a harmless contemplative. But we do not see where it says that has to happen. (Of course, there is the issue of sex and sexual motivation, procreative or strictly based on lust; it would not, as we understand it, be something an arhat would be drawn to. Then again we would not have thought a stream enterer would still break precepts, but they do. How do we know? We've seen it, and the texts say so. Look at the Ratana Sutra. Apparently, what they are incapable of doing is keeping it a secret, but they can live heedlessly. This would seem to be impossible for an arhat).
 
The systematic commentarial work by Buddhaghosa, The Path of Purification, may seem like a set of hard and fast rules about the Dharma, meditation, attainments, and norms (niyamas), but there are so many examples of exceptions in the texts that one would be hard pressed to defend any definitive view. Buddhaghosa was not giving his opinion, which is how we define "comment" and "commentary." Expanding on and systematizing sacred texts is a sacred Indian tradition; one may need the commentary as much as the original text to make sense of most things great sages have taught.

It is easiest to believe that Daniel Ingram is mistaken or has misestimated his attainment. But how can we say with certainty? How can anyone say? One way to say is to become an arhat and then go meet Ingram. "It takes one to know one" is literally true in this case. If it is his experience, and he is being honest in reporting his experience, who will accurately judge the accuracy of his claims? To doubt it, if it is correct, is unskillful karma. Skeptical doubt is a major hindrance, so it would be better to believe or to leave it undecided until one can check.

An awakened heart of wisdom

We would only advise any person about to make such claim of enlightenment to check with a known arhat (such as Ajahn Jumnien, Pa Auk Sayadaw, the Western monk Ven. Dhammadipa, or other masters who would know) to confirm the attainment. It is easy to be mistaken even when one is personally "sure." What would be worse than living mistakenly thinking oneself liberated -- and convincing others of that -- if, in fact, one were wrong?
 
But Ingram has a mission to bring attainments out of the shadows where teachers imply they have attained things they may have not, and they never have to directly state one way or the other, or conceal what they are thought to have attained. The "defeat" offense (parajika) for monastics everyone seeks to avoid or ever be accused of in any way is to knowingly falsely claim attainments and/or distinctions in meditation for the sake of some worldly gain; if it is merely the result of misestimation, that does not fulfill the factors of defeat. There are, indeed, laypeople who have attained the stages of enlightenment alive today in America. We have met them. Until one learns what enlightenment actually is and meets examples of it, one may never "believe." This is a path of knowing-and-seeing, not of faith, for the wise and sincere. People may not be wise, but they will go a long way so long as they are sincere.
 
Before anyone judges this potential arhat or any other, we highly recommend reading Ingram's written work FREE: Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, an Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book. Thank you for teaching, venerable sir.