WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS.....

What I want to know is, "What is it that frightens the "recording industry" so much about peer-to-peer swap engines like Napster?" Could it be that the greedy middlemen, like ASCAP and BMI and RIAA see their own demise on the horizon? Is anyone really fooled when they scream for the "artists' rights?" Isn't it obvious that they've only concerned about their own rights, the right to make massive amounts of money off of the creativity of others? If cocaine has been such a big problem in the "recording industry" for decades, where do you suppose the money to buy all that coke comes from? I mean here we have people pleading for more money so they can shove more coke up their nose. Doesn't that make the recording consumer an enabler to the recording industry addicts?

As for ourselves and the effects of Napster, we're closely aligned with people like Prince and Courtney Love. "Intellectual Property," is, unfortunately, a term which has created more benefit and cash flow for agents, and executives, and accountants, and lawyers, and industry middlemen, and tax collectors, and drug dealers than it ever has for the "intellectuals" who are the source of that "property."

For some people, the Internet is scary as hell, for it means that the money that they have for so long been pirating from the artists and the consumers is no longer going to be an easy source of income for them. We believe wholeheartedly that the artist is worthy of their hire and furthermore that they should be amply rewarded for their creative contributions in accord with the popularity and level of acceptance of those contributions. Over the years there have been countless cases revealed wherein the “artist” has been ripped off by the “business person.” Unfortunately, these cases are not the exception. And now those who have been ripping off the artists are crying because they feel that they are being ripped off. Hey, here’s a tissue. Blow it out and suck it up.

What I want to know is, when are we going to invent, develop, and implement new systems and procedures for paying the artist without bleeding the public? We can do it, whether the RIAA or anyone else likes it or not.

© 8/16/2000

WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS.....

What I want to know is, "Why do so many people who profess to be Christians have so much difficulty forgiving others?" I always thought that love and forgiveness were chief foundation stones to Jesus' teachings. His ministry was one of inclusiveness wherein he did not judge others, but rather accepted them and forgave their sins, on the spot, no questions asked.

The only people that Jesus seemed to have no toleration for were the Pharisees. They were, of course, a Jewish sect that believed in insisting that everyone adhere to the "letter of the law" (that is their interpretation of the letter of the law). One of the synonyms for Pharisee in Roget's Thesaurus is "hypocrite," a term Jesus used often when talking with those unrealistic, judgmental fanatics. Oops, got a little judgmental there myself. Hypocrites.

Jesus way of dealing with sin was to instruct the sinner not to commit the sin again and to be on his or her way. That’s it, pure and simple. And powerful.

© 8/16/2000

WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS.....

What I want to know is, "If a person gets behind in a debt that they owe, and the holder of the debt decides to sell the debt to a third party, why doesn't the holder of the debt offer the sale of the debt to the debtor at the ridiculous price for which it is prepared to sell it to a third party?" Think about it. The debtor sells the debt at 10 cents or 30 cents on the dollar, and then the new "owner" of the debt tries to collect at 50 cents or 60 cents on the dollar. Kind of makes one think that the debt owner and the third party buyer of the debt have absolutely no regard for the debtor. Offer to sell the debt to the debtor at 10 cents on the dollar.

If you've ever gotten sufficiently enough behind in payments on a debt that the debt holder's representatives begin to call you, they almost always say, "we're calling because we want to try to help you to resolve this situation." That's a blatant lie. They are never trying to "help" the debtor. Their only reason for "appearing to help the debtor" is to benefit themselves financially. Simple observation reveals that their actions are nothing more than heartless, unfeeling greed. In the movie, "Wall Street," Michael Douglas's character says, "Greed is good." Hey, it was only a movie, folks. Just because he said it doesn't mean it's true. Michael says he still has people come up to him sincerely saying, “Greed is good.”

Lately there have been demonstrations by groups of people who want the "powers that be" in world trade partnerships to cancel third-world, national debt. Now, I have a question for you. If it could be proven possible to cancel all debt without severely impacting the world's economy, would you, as an individual, be willing to agree that all debt should therefore be cancelled? If not, why not?

For the record, there is a way that it can be done. That's right, it's possible to cancel all world debt, all the way down to the individual level without adversely affecting the world economy. If you say, "impossible," all you are doing is revealing your ignorance of the possibilities, and, if you are a debt holder, you are demonstrating your fear of losing out upon the object of your greed.

If you're curious how we can make such a claim, then you'll come back and visit with us regularly at “Millennium Paradigm” http://millenniumparadigm.blogspot.com for we are now in the process of revealing just how our claim can be achieved. In fact, we believe that it not only "can" be achieved, but that it "will" be achieved, and a lot sooner than most people expect.

What we want to know is why has it taken so long? The emperor has no clothes other than greed and the greed is transparent.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be. Good advice. It could actually happen in your lifetime.

“War is over if you want it.” – John Lennon

“Reality is nothing more than a whole lot of agreement.” – Dr. Fred Alan Wolf

Think about it.

© 8/16/2000

HOW TO FIND ME ON THE WEB

Here’s a rundown on my presence on the web (CAPS are important with AOL):

WEBSITES:

TANSTAAFL City: http://members.aol.com/ZTANSTAAFL/
This is the general entry point and has some background stuff about this identity known as Charles DeTurk.

Practical Truth Ministry: http://members.aol.com/RevDeTurk/
This is my online ministry site. There are notes from classes and tapes for sale and some preliminary text from one of the books that I’m writing.

MajorDomo's World: http://members.aol.com/ZMajorDomo/
MajorDomo is a nom de plume that I began using about 30 years ago. I use it for my more “secular” thoughts and contributions. It contains a number of “perspectives” that one might find interesting.

Surf City: http://members.aol.com/ZTANSTAAFL/SurfCity.html/
Here I have over 7,000 links to other websites. A few links are no longer valid, but the overwhelming majority are still good, in spite of not being updated in 3 years.

Beading Adventures: http://members.aol.com/SherriSite/
I set this up with the idea of displaying some of the jewelry that my wife makes. Lack of adequate storage space limited that idea.

WEBLOGS:

Practical Truth: http://practicaltruth.blogspot.com/
This, of course, is my ministry. The notes for a series of classes that I taught entitled, “What We Believe That Makes Us Different” are here.

Still … After All These Years: http://zmajordomo.blogspot.com/
Here we have MajorDomo’s latest inputs on Metaphysics and Quantum Physics and whatever else is of interest to me.

Welcome To Web World: http://welcomewebworld.blogspot.com/
This is an extension of Surf City in that I highlight, with personal comments, various other sites of interest on the Net.

Millennium Paradigm: http://millenniumparadigm.blogspot.com/

This is the ongoing text of one of 3 books that I’m currently involved in writing. Of the three, this is the one that is most challenging, and the one, therefore, that I’m most excited about. I’m posting the content to this weblog as I create it.

Explorations In The Dynamics Of Consciousness: http://expdyncon.blogspot.com/

Fifteen years ago I began putting together a 24-hour seminar entitled “Explorations In The Dynamics Of Consciousness.” The original intention was that this would be a combination seminar and performance. This is that beginning.

What I Want To Know Is …..: http://whatiwanttoknowis.blogspot.com/

With thanks, apologies and baskets of kudus to Max Headroom and Edison Carter, this is where we share some of the things that we are curious about.

Sunday Morning Talk: http://sundaymorningtalk.blogspot.com/

This is a continuation of my previous weekly eletters where I shared a weekly 20-30 minute talk. This time, however, it will be posted on the Net rather than sent as an email. That places the responsibility for reading it on the reader and cuts out a tremendous amount of email

Various email addresses are found throughout these sites, though the primo ways to reach me are at: charlesdeturk@yahoo.com or revdeturk@yahoo.com (Note: I only check AOL, Earthlink, & Hotmail about once every 2 to 4 weeks).