"Right To Bear Arms"

[Savvy?]

I think it's the Ouroboros, the snake or dragon devouring its own tail -- the alchemical symbol par excellence of eternal recurrence.

Ouroboros, Chrysopeia: the center reads "Hen to Pan, all is one"

Indeed. Jung saw the ouroboros as an archetype and the basic mandala of alchemy. He believed that alchemists, who in their own way know more about the nature of the individuation process than we moderns do, expressed this paradox through the symbol of the ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail. In the age old image of the ouroboros lies the thought of devouring oneself and turning oneself into a circulatory process, for it was clear to the most astute alchemists that the prima materia of the art was man himself. The ouroboros is a dramatic symbol for the integration and assimilation of the opposite, i.e. of the shadow self. This feedback process is at the same time a symbol of immortality, since it is said of the ouroboros that he slays himself and brings himself to life again, fertilizes himself and gives birth to himself. This is much like the cycle of the Phoenix, the feminine archetype. Ouroboros symbolizes The One, who proceeds from the clash of opposites, and therefore constitutes the secret of the prima materia which unquestionably stems from man's unconsciousness.

The concept of cyclical patterns is very prominent in Indian religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism among others. The Wheel of life represents an endless cycle of birth, life, and death from which one seeks liberation. In Tantric Buddhism, a wheel of time concept known as the Kalachakra expresses the idea of an endless cycle of existence and knowledge. A notable new religious movement called the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University teaches that this "eternal return" happens once every exactly 5,000 years in an identically repeating cycle ending with a total annihilation of humanity via an imminent and desirable Nuclear Holocaust, civil war and natural disaster information which is generally hidden from non-members.

Watch "Groundhog Day" - in the film, Murray plays Phil Connors, an egocentric Pittsburgh TV weatherman who, during a hated assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event (February 2) in Punxsutawney, finds himself repeating the same day over and over again. After indulging in all manner of hedonistic pursuits, he begins to reexamine his life and priorities.



Self-centered TV meteorologist Phil Connors, his producer Rita, and cameraman Larry from the fictional Pittsburgh television station WPBH-TV9 travel to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities with Punxsutawney Phil for the station. Phil, who has grown tired of this assignment, grudgingly gives his report and attempts to return back to Pittsburgh when a blizzard that he predicted would miss the area has shut down the main roads, forcing Phil and his team to stay in town an extra day. Phil wakes up to find that he is reliving February 2 again; everyone else is repeating the same actions as from what he saw the day before, seemingly unaware of the time loop, though Phil remains aware of the events of the previous day. At first he is confused, but when the loop continues, he starts to try to take advantage of the situation without fear of long-term consequences, learning secrets from the town's residents, seducing women, stealing money, and driving drunk. However, attempts to get closer to Rita are repeatedly shut down. With each passage of the loop, Phil becomes despondent; during one loop, he kidnaps Punxsutawney Phil and after a long police chase, drives over a cliff, appearing to kill both Phil and the groundhog. However, Phil wakes up in the next loop and finds that nothing has changed; further attempts at suicide are just as fruitless as he continues to find himself back at the start of February 2. Phil continues to try to learn more about Rita, and when he reveals his situation to her and the knowledge he's gained about the town's residents, she opens up to him and suggests he try to use his situation to help benefit the town. Phil uses her advice and the time loop to help as many people around town as possible, as well as bettering himself such as by learning to play jazz piano and speaking French. Phil, now engrossed with the town's celebration, is able to admit his love to Rita, and she accepts and returns her love. After the evening dance, the two retire together to Phil's room. Phil wakes up the next day, and finds the time loop has broken; it is now February 3 and Rita is still in bed with him. As the team prepare to return to Pittsburgh, Phil and Rita talk about eventually settling down in Punxsutawney.

Referring to unpleasant, unchanging, repetitive situations as "Groundhog Day" was widespread throughout the U.S. military very soon after the movie's release in February 1993. A magazine article about the aircraft carrier USS America mentions its use by sailors in September 1993. Around the same time, the movie was a favorite of soldiers in Mogadishu, who identified with the protagonist's situation. By March 1994, there was a defensive zone in Somalia called Groundhog Station. In February 1994, the crew of the USS Saratoga referred to its deployment in the Adriatic Sea, in support of Bosnia operations, as Groundhog Station. A speech by President Clinton in January 1996 specifically referred to the movie and the use of the phrase by military personnel in Bosnia. Even today in the Iraq War, "Groundhog Day" is American military slang for any day of a tour of duty in Iraq.

[Modus Barbara]

I think it's the Ouroboros, the snake or dragon devouring its own tail -- the alchemical symbol par excellence of eternal recurrence.

Ouroboros, Chrysopeia: the center reads "Hen to Pan, all is one"

Sounds like smth in line with that punch line, "We are not #1, You are!"

[ooptt]

Mayor Richard Daley today expressed condolences to Jennifer Hudson's family for the death of the singer-actress' mother, brother and nephew. He said the killings were examples of too many guns on the streets. "When you have someone with access to a gun it shows you what they will do," Daley said. The mayor said police could not have prevented the killings because they occurred inside the home and allegedly in a domestic-related incident. Daley made his remarks at an unrelated event at a Chicago public school.

Autopsy: Hudson nephew shot multiple times



Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson's 7-year-old nephew -- one of three Hudson relatives found slain in Chicago since Friday -- died of multiple gunshot wounds, the Cook County medical examiner's office said Tuesday. But the office, which performed an autopsy on Julian King's body Tuesday, didn't answer questions about when the child died and where his wounds were. Julian was found shot to death in an abandoned Chevrolet Suburban on Chicago's West Side on Monday. Police had begun a massive search for him on Friday, the day Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were found shot to death in their South Side Chicago home. Julian was the son of Jennifer Hudson's sister, Julia Hudson, who police said found Donerson's body and called police. William Balfour, 27, who is Julian's stepfather and Julia Hudson's estranged husband, was detained Friday for questioning in connection with the slayings, a police representative said. Julian was not with Balfour when he was detained.

Balfour was later transferred to prison on a parole violation, the police representative said. According to the Department of Corrections, he spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle. The Illinois Department of Corrections said it could not comment on the specifics of Balfour's parole or how he violated it. Balfour will be held until a prisoner review board takes up his case, a department representative said. That process could take several weeks. No charges had been filed against anyone in connection with the slayings. On Tuesday, William Balfour's mother, Michele Davis-Balfour, said her son had nothing to do with the slayings. "I'm sorry this happened to this girl's family, but they're not going to put it on my own son," she said. "He hasn't been framed, but he's been wrongly accused." She said that after her son got out of prison, he was trying to improve his life by working at a sandwich shop. She also said he obtained his GED in prison by studying horticulture. "How many minorities are in the penitentiary and study horticulture?" she said.

Authorities have said the Chevrolet Suburban in which Julian was found was Jason Hudson's. During the search for the boy, postings on Julia Hudson's MySpace page showed a picture of Jason Hudson and the white SUV. Julia Hudson posted a message on the page after her son's body was found. "His li'l soul is at ease, I take comfort in knowing that Julian is with my mother and my brother and most of all the Lord, and now he's my angel, he's protecting me," she wrote. "Now because I chose to do what was natural to me and love someone, it cost me my beautiful family, my wonderful beautiful loving supporting mother, Darnell, my true blue baby brother, Jason, I love u big baby ... and last but never not least, my only son, Julian," she added.

[rhizome]

Autopsy: Hudson nephew shot multiple times

[...] On Tuesday, William Balfour's mother, Michele Davis-Balfour, said her son had nothing to do with the slayings. "I'm sorry this happened to this girl's family, but they're not going to put it on my own son," she said. "He hasn't been framed, but he's been wrongly accused." She said that after her son got out of prison, he was trying to improve his life by working at a sandwich shop. She also said he obtained his GED in prison by studying horticulture. "How many minorities are in the penitentiary and study horticulture?" she said.

[...]

The mother of a "person of interest" in the slayings three of Jennifer Hudson's family members insisted Monday night on CNN that her son was not involved in the crime. "No means did my son do this," Michele Davis-Balfour said on CNN's "Nancy Grace." She said that her son, William Balfour, 27, was with a girlfriend Friday when the bodies of Jason Hudson and Darnell Donerson, Hudson's brother and mother, were discovered shot to death in their South Side Chicago home. "My son's alibi was [he was] with one of his girlfriends, OK?" Davis-Balfour said. When Grace asked which girlfriend he was with Friday, the mother said her son was with a woman named Diana on Friday night, and with a woman named Kate on Saturday morning.

Davis-Balfour said that her son is separated from Julia Hudson, Jennifer Hudson's sister. It was Julia Hudson who first discovered her mother's body, police said. Authorities were then notified, and they arrived at the home and found Jason Hudson's body. At that time, a massive search began for Julian King, who is Julia Hudson's 7-year-old son and Balfour's stepson. That hunt ended Monday when the boy's body was found by police in an abandoned white Chevrolet Suburban SUV on the West Side of Chicago. A Tuesday autopsy report revealed Julian had been shot multiple times, but the Cook County medical examiner's report did not say when the child died and where his wounds were.









http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/29/hudson.shootings/index.html

[dwelling]

Interesting avatar, palimpsest -- does it symbolize anything, or it's just some picture without any special meaning?

Matter and anti-matter.

[munee]

Could you expand a bit, dwelling?

[boci]

In October 2003, the Daily Mirror published a letter from Princess Diana in which, 10 months before her death, she wrote about a possible plot to kill her by tampering with the brakes of her car, that her husband was planning 'an accident' in her car, brake failure and the like. 
 

Is it somewhere online where we can take a look at?

[pome]

You've got to be kidding me with this thread - an individual who has the intent to kill will do it with whatever he finds on his way - for example, cars are known to have been used extensively as weapons. Cars as weapons are less used to kill than in road accidents, but do occur from time to time. The driver may be drunk or on drugs, or just homicidal - cars can be weapons of death just as fearful as the loaded guns.

in lieu of, it's not that simple - the very act of getting a gun shows strong intent on your part to harm someone. You drive a car to get to work, to the store and so on, and only incidentally to harm someone.

[jeffislouie]

Mayor Richard Daley today expressed condolences to Jennifer Hudson's family for the death of the singer-actress' mother, brother and nephew. He said the killings were examples of too many guns on the streets. "When you have someone with access to a gun it shows you what they will do," Daley said. The mayor said police could not have prevented the killings because they occurred inside the home and allegedly in a domestic-related incident. Daley made his remarks at an unrelated event at a Chicago public school.

Autopsy: Hudson nephew shot multiple times



Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson's 7-year-old nephew -- one of three Hudson relatives found slain in Chicago since Friday -- died of multiple gunshot wounds, the Cook County medical examiner's office said Tuesday. But the office, which performed an autopsy on Julian King's body Tuesday, didn't answer questions about when the child died and where his wounds were. Julian was found shot to death in an abandoned Chevrolet Suburban on Chicago's West Side on Monday. Police had begun a massive search for him on Friday, the day Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were found shot to death in their South Side Chicago home. Julian was the son of Jennifer Hudson's sister, Julia Hudson, who police said found Donerson's body and called police. William Balfour, 27, who is Julian's stepfather and Julia Hudson's estranged husband, was detained Friday for questioning in connection with the slayings, a police representative said. Julian was not with Balfour when he was detained.

Balfour was later transferred to prison on a parole violation, the police representative said. According to the Department of Corrections, he spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle. The Illinois Department of Corrections said it could not comment on the specifics of Balfour's parole or how he violated it. Balfour will be held until a prisoner review board takes up his case, a department representative said. That process could take several weeks. No charges had been filed against anyone in connection with the slayings. On Tuesday, William Balfour's mother, Michele Davis-Balfour, said her son had nothing to do with the slayings. "I'm sorry this happened to this girl's family, but they're not going to put it on my own son," she said. "He hasn't been framed, but he's been wrongly accused." She said that after her son got out of prison, he was trying to improve his life by working at a sandwich shop. She also said he obtained his GED in prison by studying horticulture. "How many minorities are in the penitentiary and study horticulture?" she said.

Authorities have said the Chevrolet Suburban in which Julian was found was Jason Hudson's. During the search for the boy, postings on Julia Hudson's MySpace page showed a picture of Jason Hudson and the white SUV. Julia Hudson posted a message on the page after her son's body was found. "His li'l soul is at ease, I take comfort in knowing that Julian is with my mother and my brother and most of all the Lord, and now he's my angel, he's protecting me," she wrote. "Now because I chose to do what was natural to me and love someone, it cost me my beautiful family, my wonderful beautiful loving supporting mother, Darnell, my true blue baby brother, Jason, I love u big baby ... and last but never not least, my only son, Julian," she added.

Actually, a logical conclusion that can be drawn from this sad story is exactly the opposite of what Mayor Dummy Daley said.  If the Hudson family had been allowed to own and possess a firearm, this nutbag would have at least thought twice about killing anyone for fear that he himself might be shot.
This is where the argument for a gun ban falls apart.  Chicago has an awful record of gun violence and evidence supports the notion that banning firearms from the city has led to a rise in gun related violence.  Criminals don't care about gun bans.  Citizens get the raw end of the stick, and people die, because criminals know that law abiding citizens have no means of protection.  There is absolutely no reason for a criminal to be even the least bit scared of breaking in to a home and pulling a gun.  They know that Chicago residents are unarmed and, therefore, powerless to stop anyone who does break the law and own a gun.
The hudson tragedy could have been averted quite easily.  Thanks to the gun ban, many many more Chicagoans will die when a criminal pulls a gun.

[Master of Ceremonies]

A WOMAN RECENTLY ASKED HOW I could, in good conscience, write an instruction book on murder.

"How can you live with yourself if someone uses what you write to go out and take a human life?" she whined.

I am afraid she was quite offended by my answer. It is my opinion that the professional hit man fills a need in society and is, at times, the only alternative for "personal" justice. Moreover, if my advice and the proven methods in this book are followed, certainly no one will ever know.

The book is so effectively written that its protagonist seems actually to be present at the planning, commission, and cover-up of the murders the book inspires. Illustrative of the nature and duration of the criminal partnership established between Hit Man and its readers who murder is the following "dialogue" that takes place when the murderer returns from his first killing:

I'm sure your emotions have run full scale over the past few days or weeks.
There was a fleeting moment just before you pulled the trigger when you wondered if lightning would strike you then and there. And afterwards, a short burst of panic as you looked quickly around you to make sure no witnesses were lurking.

But other than that, you felt absolutely nothing. And you are shocked by that nothingness. You had expected this moment to be a spectacular point in your life...The first few seconds of nothingness give you an almost uncontrollable urge to laugh out loud. You break into a wide grin. Everything you have been taught about life and its value was a fallacy.

You've got to be kidding us, lawn! You obviously don't have the slighest idea what does it feel like to kill. Here it is how researchers have described the whole process:

Concern about Being Able to Kill. Holmes' research indicates that one of the soldier's first emotional responses to killing is a concern as to whether, at the moment of truth, he will be able to kill the enemy or will "freeze up" and "let his buddies down." Interviewers and researchers have verified that these are deep and sincere concerns that exist on the part of most soldiers, and it must be remembered that only 15-20% of U.S. World War II riflemen went beyond this first stage. Too much concern and fear can result in fixation, resulting in an obsession with killing on the part of the soldier. This can also be seen in peacetime psychopathologies when individuals become fixated or obsessed with killing. In soldiers -- and in individuals fixated with killing in peacetime -- this fixation often comes to a conclusion through step two of the process: killing. If a killing circumstance never arises, individuals may continue to feed their fixation by living in a fantasy world of Hollywood-inspired killing, or they may resolve their fixation through the final stage, rationalization and acceptance.

The Killing Stage: "Without even thinking." Usually killing in combat is completed in the heat of the moment, and for the modern, properly conditioned soldier, killing in such a circumstance is most often completed reflexively, without conscious thought. Being unable to kill is a very common experience. If on the battlefield the soldier finds himself unable to kill, he can either begin to rationalize what has occurred, or he can become fixated and traumatized by his inability to kill.

The Exhilaration Stage: "I had a Feeling of the Most Intense Satisfaction." The adrenaline of combat can be greatly increased by another high: the high of killing. What hunter of marksman has not felt a thrill of pleasure and satisfaction upon dropping his target? In combat this thrill can be greatly magnified and can be especially prevalent when the kill is completed at medium to long range. Fighter pilots, by their nature, and due to the long range of their kills, appear to be particularly susceptible to such killing addiction. For some combatants the lure of exhiliration may become more than a passing occurrence. A few may become fixated in the exhiliration stage and never feel remorse. 

The Remorse Stage: A Collage of Pain and Horror. The tremendous and intense remorse and revulsion associated with a close-range kill is expressed in these words:

"... my experience, was one of revulsion and disgust... I dropped my weapon and cried... There was so much blood... I vomited... And I cried... I felt remorse and shame. I can remember whispering foolishly, "I'm sorry" and then just throwing up."

Whether the killer denies his remorse, deals with it, or is overwhelmed by it, it is nevertheless there, almost always. The killer's remorse is real, it is common, it is intense, and it is something that he must deal with for the rest of his life.

The Rationalization and Acceptance Stage: "It Took All the Rationalization I Could Muster." The next personal-kill response stage is a lifelong process in which the killer attempts to rationalize and accept what he has done. This process may never truly be completed. The killer never completely leaves all remorse and guilt beyond, but he can usually come to accept that what he has done was necessary and right. In personal accounts of those who have killed one may notice the use of specific words. At first, for instance, use of words such as "he" "him" and "his" shows the recognition of the killer's humanity. But then the enemy's weapon is noted, the rationalization process begins, and "he" becomes "the body" and ultimately the "gook." Once the process begins, irrational and irrelevant supporting evidence is gathered, and the possession of, say, U.S.-made shoes and a watch becomes a cause for depersonalization rather than identification.