War Is A Racket- Maj Gen Smedley Butler

I came across an interesting link this morning. Major General Smedley Buttler wrote a booklet in the 1930's called "War Is A Racket". It's very short (the pdf is 13 pages). It speaks of the obscene profits made by manufacturers and bankers in times of war. He also gives recomendations in how to reduce wars (no, they won't go away, but taking the profits out and limiting voting to those who have to suffer through war can cut out things like the Spanish-American War being fought to increase newspaper subscriptions- look it up).

General Butler was a highly decorated Marine. He served in the Philippines, China, several "Banana Republics", and in World War I.

War Is A Racket.

The Corbett Report | How To Foil Your Own Terror Plot

I did a double take when this podcast started playing. I looked it up on his site and thought I'd share it. This is hilarious. Note: it has some language if that is an issue for you.

The Corbett Report | How To Foil Your Own Terror Plot:

'via Blog this'

Mike Adams: The God Within

Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, launched a new site called Divinity Now. On the home page of the site is a video called "The God Within". The title triggered a reaction in my brain that made me think of New Age garbage, but I respect Mike Adams so I gave it a shot.

It turned out to be a non- "religious" discussion of the limits of naturalistic science and the intersection of consciousness. I thought it was interesting, and since it fits the scope of my vision for this blog, I'm linking it here:

CNBC Admits We're Slaves to Central Bankers

OK, maybe the network didn't put out a press release stating this, but here's a clip from one of their shows discussing the topic:

ElRon and Aleister Crowley

You can't stumble across blogs like this one without knowing names like L. Ron Hubbard and Aleister Crowley. Something interesting I learned tonight is: they knew each other.

Here's a clip. It's short.

That was interesting.

By the way, for those who enjoy such speculation, there is conjecture that Aleister Crowley, the self-proclaimed "Great Beast", was father to Barbara Bush, and grandfather to George W.

Disclaimer: just because I link something or think it is interesting, doesn't mean I buy it entirely. Examine the evidence and uncover the clues...

If this topic makes you feel the need to blow some steam off, here's South Park with "Trapped in the Closet". You're welcome.

Stanley Kubrick and the Moon Landing

This is an interesting topic. There is quite a bit of speculation that not only were the moon landings faked, but Stanley Kubrick was hired to do the faking. The Shining was supposedly embedded with all kinds of details explaining his time faking the moon landings for those discerning enough to understand.

James Corbett recently produced an excellent version of his podcast, The Corbett Report, dealing with this issue.

Please note that I don't entirely believe this. I doubt James Corbett does either. I just find it interesting. I don't believe everything I find interesting. There's often at least a grain of truth in falsehood though, and looking for it is always fun.

Check out James Corbett's episode linked above and let me know what you think in the comments. I've been coming across this topic a lot lately, and James linked pretty much all the sources I was aware of, and some others I wasn't. All are on his podcast page.

When it comes to the moon landings, my mind always throws back Apollo 13. IF the moon landings were indeed faked, where would Apollo 13 fit in? Why fake that? How would that be faked? I haven't found any attempts to answer that. Not that I've looked very hard.

Glenn Beck Works For Goldline?

I've never paid much attention to Glenn Beck. I never needed to. I've had much better sources of information without the showmanship anyway.

Yesterday I was listening to one of my podcasts when I heard this bit of information. Then it came back at me this morning, along with this Daily Show clip.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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At one point, I believed the "buy gold" mantra. I do no longer. Let's take a quick look at this. For one thing, nowhere in history during an economic collapse can we find an account of people running around with gold. For another, consider this question: what do you actually need the gold for? Chances are, you're hoping to store value in the gold to use when currency collapses.

But at that point, you have to convert the gold back into currency to use to buy things you need. Why not just buy what you need now? When you convert gold back into currency, you might trigger taxes. If you just go out and buy a year or two worth of food and other items you may need in a collapse, you pay only sales tax.

Kissinger, Cheney, and Rumsfeld Neutered the Professoriate

I was going through some old posts I'd starred in Google Reader, and came across this from four years ago. I vaguely remember reading it. Which is good, because I don't remember having subscribed to that blog.

As the story goes, the author, R.R. Reno, has a friend who must remain unnamed who knows some "conservative power brokers" in D.C. This friend related a story to the author about how some Nixon era "conservative" leaders managed to neutralize the "liberal" educational establishment.

As interesting as I find the concept (I love conspiracy accounts), in order to accept it on anything more than apparent circumstantial anecdotes, I need more than an author relaying a third party account from an unnamed source who in turn is relaying a third party account from another group of unnamed sources.

I placed the binary political labels in quotes because I find them meaningless.

Controlled Opposition

One of the esoteric podcasts I enjoy listening to is Red Ice Radio. I recently listened to an interview with Josh Reeves, a Texas filmmaker and radio host. He makes the claim that the opposition is all coordinated. The Tea Party, the John Birch Society and others are all run from the top. Josh Reeves claims John McManus, current President of the JBS, is Jesuit trained.

Even if this is true, it doesn't surprise me. I've wondered several times if opposition is controlled. Normally, movement on the left side of the bi-factional system is sponsored and financed by George Soros and the Rockerfeller, Ford, and Carnegie foundations (Occupy, La Raza, etc). Why wouldn't the supposed right wing of the bi-factional system be controlled as well? 

Welcome to Esoteric Journey

This blog came from an idea I had a couple of weeks ago. I enjoy exploring esoteric topics. I enjoy conspiracies, supernatural occurrences, aliens, occult symbology, secret societies, history, philosophy, and so many others. I love examining the threads of philosophy and conspiracy that weave throughout history going unnoticed by many authors and teachers.

For some reason, these topics don't fit in with my main blog, The Stand Up Philosopher. I'd love to say this content would destroy my credibility, but I'm not sure I have any. It's a great way to start.

I'll probably start the blog by sharing links and ideas I've come across recently. Once I get a groove going, I'll dive deeper. Maybe someday I'll be able to spin a book or podcast out of my research and writing.