The image above was from a powerpoint presentation given in Florida this last February at a Republican National Committee fundraising conference. It was not meant for public consumption. One of the attendees, so the story goes, left the graphic with 72 other pages of the presentation, in his hotel room, and it was found by a Democrat, according to Politico.com.

Somebody in the RNC knows something about the social-psychological theory of human development. You do too, if you ever had the opportunity to become acquainted with Abraham Maslov's "Hierarchy of Needs." There are a number of thinkers within the fields of education, psychology, sociology and organizational dynamics who use the theory of adult development and levels of consciousness as the cornerstone of their works. My favorite thinker in this area is Dr. Clare W. Graves whose theory was later named Spiral Dynamics by his two proteges.

Graves described seven levels that he could readily identify in the social milieu, and one other that he believed was just emerging but in such a small percentage in the general population that it could not be properly qualified or quantified. Briefly, the levels of existence/consciousness are as follows, from least complex to most:

Instinctive: Much like an animal. A person at the instinctive level is only concerned with survival. Very fearful.

Tribal: The world is composed of the tribe and everything else, and is controlled by magical spirits. Group oriented. Fearful.

Egocentric: The law of the jungle; the strongest prevail and opposition must be squashed. Individualistic. Fearful and very angry.

Traditional: The true believers on the one true path; mythic thinking; traditional, conservative and ethnocentric. Group oriented. Protected within its larger community of the like-minded, and fearful of others.

Mental: Manipulative of the rules for the greatest personal gain. Individualistic. Less fearful. Materialistic. Depending on situation can be ego-, ethno-, or worldcentric.

Egalitarian: More world-centric; spiritual but not religious; the greatest possible good, and compassion for all creatures, great and small. Group oriented.

Systematic: Sees the world more as an interaction of systems vacillating between chaos and order; can recognize the existence and motivations of the previous levels. Sees meta-patterns. Individualistic. Fully worldcentric, and largely fearless.

Holistic: Present with the underlying unity of the All. Cosmocentric and transcendent.

(Note: Each successive level includes and transcends the previous. Each level can manifest itself positively or negatively in the individual. This is but a very concise explanation of the rungs on the ladder.)

Now look at the heart graphic and take note of the phrases used: "True Believers," "Membership," "Patriotic Duty." Those are memetic buzz words for the Traditional level. From there the graph breaks down to two sub-categories with specific suggestions of how to manipulate people into giving money to the RNC.

The first group is the one designated for direct marketing, presumably for small in masse donations. "Visceral Giving" says it all. The marketing is to be targeted at people motivated by fear--those who feel their way of existence is under constant threat by socialistic, baby-killing, tax and spend liberals. Visceral givers are "stuck" in the Traditional level, though lower levels exact a certain amount of unconscious influence over them.

For the second group, under the heading of "Calculated Giving," it is suggested that they are motivated to give by networking opportunities, access, fame and ego-stroking. That is a good working definition of the Mental stage in its degenerative state, still under the influence of the previous individualistic stage, Egocentric. These are the go-getters, social darwinists and independently wealthy libertarians--the pull yourself up by your own damn boot straps, and don't ask me for shit crowd. Think Daffy Duck in spats. They perceive all of the higher levels as being a whole bunch of wishy-washy pussies, and the lower to be herded like cattle.

The graphic also illustrates the odd relation between main street Traditionalist, and greedy Wall Street Mentalist. What the poor Traditionalist-Tea Partiers don't seem to recognize is that their buttons are pushed by the power-hungry Mentalist-corporatists, the least likely group to extend a helping hand in a time of need.

The presentation was given by RNC Finance Director, Rob Bickhart. Mr. Bickhart's understanding of the memes that motivate the GOP is eerily informed. Machiavelli would be proud, and maybe a little envious.

( - promoted by leftake)

1) Before the great flood, all of the animals were herded by ancient cowboys on Jesus Horses. Unfortunately, the Jesus Horses were too late to board the Ark, so that is why they became extinct.

2) The writings of one delusional person, who will only be known with the initials of T.J., will be excluded from studies about the signing of the Declaration of Independence even though he is the principal author. Also his influence on ideas about the separation of church and state will be deleted from study. The fact that he is on the $2 dollar bill is further proof of his subversive ways.

3) When Charles Darwin was on his death bed, not only did he recant all his beliefs about Evolution and Natural Selection, but when he died, a lighting bolt hit a tree near his window burning a shape closely resembling the Virgin Mary.

Look, you got it all in the last election. You have the House, Senate and the Presidency. Your golden opportunity to change some of the wrongs of the previous 8 years was laid before you. Everybody was feeling the excitement when Obama was elected, thinking that at last.. our time was here. YES WE DID!

Okay, it was noble idea, in the beginning, to try for that "working together in the spirit of Bi-Partisianship" thing. You gave it a go, did your best. All they have done is taken your work, chewed it up and spit out. Anything that was sent their way was stalled or delayed.

Now it is time to do the things that got you elected! If the Republicans don't want to pass this or they want to filibuster that, Fuck em! The time is over for negotiation or compromise. They aren't your friends and you shouldn't give a shit what they want. You have the majority, you have the power. Get organized as a team and show America what you can do to make this a better place.
 
If they want to stall the Health Care Reform, don't ponder or threaten Reconciliation, just do it! Cmon guys, you gotta grow a pair. It has been over a year and not only Healthcare is in limbo, but not one rule has been changed to alter the behaviour of those greedy, slimy, Wall Street Shysters from doing the same thing that crashed the economy and fleeced everybody out of their life savings.

If you keep up this pondering, wondering, maybe we ought to, leadership style, in 2 years you are going to lose seats in the Senate and the House. This will make it even harder to get anything done in the last 2 years before the President gets voted out. And you will have deserved it!

You will have squandered the perfect moment, wasted a golden opportunity. And to me that is worst thing of all! The Republicans may be the "Party of No" but please, please don't become the party of "What could have been".

It was something that was going to change the world! The internal combustion engine was not only going to allow everyday citizens to have personal transportation, but also was going to replace the more hazardous steam power.

The only problem was the fuel. When the engines were made more efficient and more powerful with higher compression, this horrible problem kept revealing its ugly side. A ominous sound would start up from the very bowels of the engine cylinders when put under stress. This sound was discovered to be "Pinging" or sometimes called engine knocking. The sound was like somebody had put gravel rocks in the cylinders!

Besides the very undesirable sounds that were produced from the relatively new technology, it was discovered that pinging caused damage to the internal workings of the engine itself. Some solution had to be found or this technology would never be accepted!

So in 1916 a chemist, named Thomas Midgley, was given the job of finding a solution to this particular nasty problem. He was told that not only was it bad for the automobiles being produced, but the newly developed flying machines and the associated aviation engine development was being hampered.

So working for General Motors Research, he tried several schemes to prevent this engine knock. Since Thomas thought that too much heat might be the problem, he tried different dyes in the gas. Perhaps different colors would absorb less heat. This didn't work out so well.

They then accumulated almost every element they could think of based on the Periodic Chart of the elements and started going down the list. By trial and error, they stumbled upon a substance called Tetra-Ethyl-Tin that showed some promise. Further investigation showed that it was the lead in the Tetra-Ethyl-Tin that stopped the knock completely. Lead was extremely cheap so if this substance worked out, a lot of money could be made.

The chemist cooked up a batch of Tetra-Ethyl-Lead and tried it out. The knock went away completely like magic! But by this time, other researchers had discovered that lead had some very bad properties like brain damage, strange skin reactions, difficulties in walking, etc.

The League of Nations was already recommending to ban all lead in paint to which Europe complied. The United States, for whatever reason, did not regulate lead in paint until a much later date. Thomas Midgley was by then receiving all sorts of reports and letters telling about the hazards of lead. In 1922, the surgeon general wrote a letter to the president of General Motors with concerns that lead would become a serious health issue to the public. In spite of these warnings, the president of General Motors had too much invested in this magical liquid solution.

General Motors president, Pierre DuPont, partnered with Standard Oil to form Ethyl Gasoline Company naming Mr. Charles Kettering as president and Thomas Midgley, the chemist, as Vice-President. The product went on sale in 1923. Additional public advertising was helped by the fact that they sponsored Ethyl fueled cars that won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place at the Indianapolis Raceway in 1923.

But problems started to show up. At the Ethyl production facility in Deepwater, the workers became disoriented, had a strange gait, and couldn't seem to think clearly. The Deepwater Ethyl plant started to be called the "House of Butterflies" for the strange effects to the workers.

The companies leaders excused the effects as the workers are "working too hard" and that was causing the slow insanity. "We are going to have to protect the workers against themselves" stated Mr Kettering. The public took these statements as a clean bill of health and soon the Ethyl lead additive started taking over the market.

By 1963, over 98 percent of all gasoline contained the additive. But all this lead was also coming out of the exhausts of all those cars across the country. Thousands of tons of lead per year at its peak. But because of political muscle, Ethyl lead gasoline enjoyed the protection of the government.

One instance, when a competitor came up with a nonlead additive, the US government actually sued them into bankruptcy. The US Federal Trade Commission came out with a report that stated that leaded gas was not a narcotic, poisonous dope, or dangerous to human health in any way. Ethyl Gasoline was here to stay........except for one person who just wouldn't go along.

This one geochemist graduate student, Clair Patterson, was trying some new ways of measuring how old rocks were with the goal of finding out how old the earth was. His new method was by measuring the isotopes of uranium and lead naturally found in rocks samples.

But something was wrong! All of the rock samples he tested contained about 200 times the amount of lead they should have naturally. He just couldn't figure out where the contamination was coming from! He set up a strict contamination procedure in his lab. Still he was coming up with the same results. Where was all the lead coming from?

He found out that the lead contamination was from the atmosphere and spoiling the samples. He then discovered that it was from the gasoline additive, Tetra-Ethyl-Lead, and started publishing his findings. Dr Patterson came up with an experiment in which he would take core samples from pack ice in Greenland and from the different layers, be able to determine lead contamination throughout past years. The experiment worked and it show that lead levels started increasing in 1923 and that the last tested year of 1965, the lead levels were 1000 times what they had been before 1923. He also started testing human bones and found that modern human bone lead level were many times greater than pre-1923 bone lead tests.

When these results were published, the proverbial "crap hit the fan". First the Ethyl corporation offered him lucrative contracts for more favorable results. He refused. They then started a public smear campaign designed to destroy his credibility. Even the US government got into the campaign with the National Research Council disputing the findings.

The Ethyl Corporation had many friends on their side including a Supreme Court Justice, members of the US Public Health Service, and the American Petroleum Institute. But Dr. Patterson would not relent on his campaign to inform the general public. Eventually Congress passed the Clean Air act of 1970 which demanded that leaded gasoline was to be phased out because of research that Dr Patterson published.

DuPont and the Ethyl Corporation were able to delay the death of Ethyl based additives for 10 more years in court, but eventually all gasoline became lead free in 1986. In the 63 years of Ethyl additives existence, 6 million tons of lead was released in the atmosphere.

What happened to the chemist, Thomas Midgley, who ignored all the warnings about lead and came up with Ethyl additives? Well, he was not totally out of the creative process when Tetra-Ethyl-Lead ceased to exist. He later went on to invent ChloroFluroCarbons, otherwise known as CFC'S. What a guy!!

Resources:

The Nation: The Secret History of Lead by Jamie Kitman

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetra-ethyl_lead

Damn Interesting: The Ethyl Poison Earth by Alan Bellows

http://www.chemcases.com/tel/tel-13.htm Kenneshaw University "How the best known Poison on Earth remained in the Gasoline Supply for 60 Years"

( - promoted by leftake)

The citizens of the country were in turmoil. "The President is a socialist" they cried. A large group of protesters formed to demonstrate around the county.

"We need to take back the country and follow the Constitution" were the slogans used by some of the most affluent New York investors. They had lost a fortune in investments and were convinced that the country was headed in a hopeless direction of Socialism.

They saw the rapid demise of all they had built up.Something must be done...

You may think that this was a description of the "Tea Baggers" and the harsh words were for President Obama. Well, think again. The President is Franklin Roosevelt and the time is during the Great Depression.

Roosevelt had just begun execution of a program called the "New Deal". The "Tea Baggers" of that time were called the American Liberty League and they had actually more in mind than just protesting. What they had in mind was a coup d'etat, a forceful overthrow of the US Government.

( - promoted by leftake)

Just to shake things up a bit and for general discussion, I decided to post part 3 of Generations. Hmmmm, could get interesting!

For this peek into the future, we require the talents of Nostradamus Engineer. Unfortunately, he communicated two versions of his vision. Typical!

Version 1 must have been from the dark side of his vision because it is exceptionally bleak. Chaos and entropy seem to be the only indicator.

Version 2 presents a future of hope and potiential where humanity rises above. I think that Nostradamus Engineer must have had his coffee by then.

So that is what was left with the LawAndEng, both versions and no clue how to make sense of it all. Let the readers comments begin...

2010 - 2035 The Lord of the Flies version

Continuation of oil based energy consumption like it is an unlimited tap increases prices and risk for future drilling. The general public is unwilling to change their habits for any reason even during this shortage crisis. We will elect politicians that will keep us supplied on the oil teat at all costs, not forcing us to make the hard decisions needed to wean off.

As shortages increase, enviromental and pollution regulations are "put on the back burner". Drilling is allowed on previously preserved lands, national parks, and offshore coastlines.

  I have never understood why a generation is defined by a time-line such as when decades start or end. Baby Boomers, X- Generation, etc. What is the difference? Having the beginning of a new decade defining you?? Bahh! This holds as much credence as the alignments of the planets having on your personality type when you are born. The doctor that delivered you has more gravitational pull than Jupiter or Pluto.

My thoughts are that future generations are defined by major events that happened when the present generation was growing up. That is what sets the tone and mood of the country.

Also to understand where we are now, you must know where we have been. How and why is the current generation behaving like they do? What were the social forces at work here?

Well, here is the Engineers go at it with an  almost comic book like, highly abbreviated style...

  (Engineer shown in lecturing mode..)

 Heaven or Hell? Who do ya got? (1939 - 1947)

This generation is defined by the extremes in humanity. From the rumblings of the Third Reich, Pearl Harbor, and war atrocities, this generation volunteers or is dragged into greatness.

Combating the insanity of evil rulers who achieved power by demonizing groups or ethnic types, the outside line of cruelness will be redrawn over and over again. By wars end, all bets were off as to what was permissible. Firestorms in Dresden and Tokyo. Not to mention what happened in Hiroshima. Uncovering the atrocities of the holocaust..how could that not affect the sanity of rational thought?

On the opposite end was the Marshall Plan of rebuilding what was destroyed in Europe. Starting over and helping rebuild these war torn countries instead of saying "They started it.." was one of the finest hours of this country. This is the real America, helping people rise above the rubble. After defeating the real true "evil empire" this shell shocked generation just wanted to get home and start a family with a house with some lawn and a white picket fence.

Too bad for some it was Levittown..

Ignorance is Bliss (1948-1962)

This is the generation that was taught to act like the "Cleavers" and not question anything or act out of the norm. The moms wore pearl necklaces and high heels while serving dinner when "your Father came home". While at the same time, all the new pills for housewife anxiety were selling at an astonishing rate.

All complaints were stifled and weirdness was extremely risky. Commies were everywhere in a subversive way, just ask Senator McCarthy. Every boy was to be a engineer and every girl was to be..well.. a housewife. Remember that this is past time for the Rosie the Riveter so they have to hurry up and get back into the kitchen.

In the meantime, the government were building A-bombs at a frantic pace. Super secret stuff, all this atomic power goodness. Everything was atomic. Atomic symbols on diners, furniture, clocks, radium wrist watches.Clean energy to cheap to meter. Ha!

Tremendous resources are poured into building bombs. At one time 28 percent of electricity and half of the stainless steel produced in the country went to making bombs. Those poor Mormons (down-winders) in Utah never had a chance. We were testing above ground bombs like the 4th of July. But just think about it, the supposed largest nuclear accident ever to happen, Chernobyl, released less radioactivity than even the smallest of above ground tests in the 50's. But the government said it was safe so don't worry. Especially don't pay attention to those glowing sheep and cows over there, dead on their feet.

Another factor was the great fallout shelter debate. Should you build a underground bunker in your backyard and would you have the will power to shoot your neighbors if they try to break in, breathing your families air and eating your rations, when the missles are raining down? Seems crazy now but that very subject was written about in every major news publication.

Our Nazi scientists were racing against the Soviets Nazi scientists to make the first orbital rocket. Unfortunately, we got the rocket engine scientists, (I reach for the stars but sometimes it lands in London Von Braun), while the Soviets got the guidance system scientists so our rockets flew up extremely fast in circles and blew up and theirs mostly blew up on the launch pad. But all the new influx of engineers eventually fixes the problems. Yeah ENGINEERS! White short sleeve shirts, slide rules, and pocket protectors. We ruled!!

The generation had a uneasiness about the situation but 'Government knows best". A complete pressure cooker building steam and heat until something was gonna give. And believe me it does!!

Shit, Stop the car right now! I want out! (1962-1969)

The event finally happened in Oct, 1962. Oh No! Missiles in Cuba! Something I would like to call the "Great PuckerUp" month. This generation hears JFK announce to the country about the blockade and everyone knows there is a strong chance that they made a mistake in not listening to that fallout shelter salesmen with more sincerity. Not that it would have made a difference.

Somehow we make it through but it puts the seeds of discontent in the youth. What if there isn't a future in this world if it is a rubble? Remember those "Duck and Cover" turtles? With the Vietnam war playing out every night on the 6'oclock news, (this was before embedded reporting), protesting in the streets was a everyday occurence.

This generation sees the system as completely broke with no chance of being repaired, (at least not with the amount of patience and perseverance that they have), and decide to tune in, turn on, and drop out. Meanwhile, some of these idealistic ideas are helped out by the latest in chemical developments and philosophical musings of Huxley, Leary, and various other Shamen.

Assassinations of some of the countries leaders help to further demoralize any hope for change. Communes and alternative societies pop up everywhere. Noble experiments but basic human nature doesn't change. For the most part, those social experiments fail because of power structure problems. Hey Man, who made you boss? Bummer, too heavy for me man.I'm splitting.

Leaders are being assassinated right and left and the CIA is really starting to flex its techno muscles with spy planes and photos taken from the sky. This fuels the fire of paranoia and conspiracy quacks saying they are responsible for everything but Santa Claus.

Despite all this turmoil, we are able to land on the Moon! Let me repeat that....Land on the Moon...with computing power of a simple calculator. Major drawback though was that fucking TANG orange drink. Ehhhh, can't stand that stuff!! Gives me the pee shivers just thinking about it!

Complete narcissistic flop-doodleness (1970-1980)

The age of self awareness, self-help, and finding your inner man beast, cave whatever. Not only is this the generation that taste forgot, with the hideous clothes, colors, and leisure suits, but there is not really any pretense of social change or lofty goals of any kind. It is completely about the parties, self realizations, sex, discos, and narcissism.

The social trends, thoughts,and even the music was the equivalent of Twinkies, seemingly good on the first bite but leaving a nauseous feeling after the experience. Threes Company, need I say more?

Gas shortages and 55 mph speed limits were the norm. A president that was of high morals and character is, in my opinion, unjustly perceived as incompetent bungler.

I may seem harsh on this group, but it may be just some self reflection because I am a card carrying member.

I not a President but I played one on a movie once (1981-1989)

This generation was tired of this flaccid bullshit and was ready to take charge! Unadulterated capitalism was in vogue and a take charge actor president was in the office. Making the big bucks on Wall Street was the name of the game and personalities were defined by the labels and brands of products that you had. Even books were written about serial killers that was designer driven.

Screw all that mind expanded doors of perception crap! Some people swing completely opposite to form the beginnings of the Neo-Conservatives. Also something is needed to make them work hard and party harder. Bring on the cocaine cowboys and the Miami Vice chic. Money was the name of the game and power was the way to achieve personal fulfillment.

A person who was the president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1947 pivotal in getting actors blacklisted, major FBI informant in the fifties, became the President of the United States.

Suddenly there was the "Evil Empire" and Star Wars defense. Good ole Edward Teller (Worm Tongue for u Tolkien followers) and his whisperings in the leaders ears! Every scientist, ours and theirs knew it wasn't technically feasible at the time but it was full speed ahead. The cold war had become hot again. A close call incident occurs that nearly produces a nuclear exchange with something called Operation Archer Able..(look it up, it will scare the crap outa ya).

Gorbachov finally said enough is enough, I am going to stop this endless spending of the tools of Mutual Assurred Destruction and try to save my country from going broke. Afghanistan was a major thorn in their side, partially because of the war being lost due to an influx on new weapons, (stingers), supplied by us. I mean, what could be a better idea than to give people in that desert area high tech weapons?

President Reagon, after ignoring all of the foreign political experts advice on arms limitation, with mountains of policy data and theory, starts to change his mind after seeing a movie on tv call "The Day After". Yes thats right, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks begin again in Iceland because of a ......movie of the week!

(Awesome.  More please. - promoted by leftake)

"Oh how nice, a tea party! This is so lovely, may I sit down?" Alice said.

"Yes, do" said the Angry Teabagger, "Hear some whine"

"Shut up and go away!" shouted the Teabagger. "We don't won't yur kind here!"

(What an excellent diary.  Welcome to Left Take, LawandEng.  Please keep up the great work. - promoted by leftake)

After reading a recent posting, from a very wise  "FaceFriend", about the news of politicians trying to  pass into law a requirement for drug testing if receiving public assistance, my rant urge became too strong to not write.

I have viewed some of the crap out there like NotWithMyMoney, blahblah, etc .

How is it even possible for Republicans to be concerned about this? Have they not been informed of the present state of the country right now?

Folks, we are fighting wars on 2 fronts, the economy is in shambles that may take decades to get out of, the general public has just been taken for the biggest heist ever by Wall Street, and our manufacturing base is being exported to whichever country will sacrifice their enviroment and health the most. Did you know that about 25% of the pollution hanging over California right now has been traced to China?

The previous administration allowed the use of the techniques that we EXECUTED the Japanese in WWII for as War Crimes. They basically gutted the Dept of Justice from investigating any social injustice. Not one person has gone to prison for that whole 8 year madness. Remember those Haliburton non-bid contracts for infrastructure that didn't get built? Blackwater mercenaries?

Okay, say that drug testing is an important issue. Skipping the fact that it is applied to only the group that probably doesn't have 10 lobbyist working for them at the Capitol, what are the issues that are raised by this and what is hoped to be gained by this?

 Let us list the possibilities..

  We may be able to save money by not having to give it to people on drugs.

See how easy that works.....look, a chicken!...send me all your money.

A completely new species of fish, called Roublard Le' Carpe, has been extensively studied for several months, revealing several never before seen patterns of co-existence thru the use of confusion and fear. French scientist, Pierre LaFromage, who has made it his life passion to study the the feeding patterns of this strange fish, submitted several scientific articles describing in remarkable detail the curious habits of this creature nicknamed the "Cheney Fish".

Before an assembly of his scientific peers, Pierre discussed his insights to the bizarre creature during an interview with an American biologist, Herman Mandrake. "Upon discovering a minnow school, the Cheney will use other larger fish, "Teabaggius Extremis" , to actually capture its prey. The Cheney only feeds on the remainder bits and pieces that are too small for the larger fish to bother with.

The role that the Cheney assumes is to create fear and chaos in large schools of minnows, steering them into the larger group of fish that have learned to work together with the Cheney to create a collaboration of feeding. The minnows, with the brains the size of a small bb, allow themselves to be steered into the larger fish, not realizing they are running away from the Cheney because of distorted perception of terror that the Cheney creates by rapidly flapping its lips and nose in a rhythmic pattern.

"It tis a remarkable masterpiece of fish poetry" said Pierre,worthy of high praise. Like a Chateau de Pibarnon compliments a Chicken Velouté."

"So you have studied this fish for several months in its own natural habitat. Are you to continue with this research, producing more facts about this fish that quite frankly I think looks like a blob of crisco with a nose?" asked Herman

"Mind your own business, American PigDog!" Pierre replied. "I am thru talking to you and your silly court of jesters!" "I hope that I didn't offend you with my off-handed description of this fish. If I did, I apologize." exclaimed Herman "Chantez à l'âne, il vous fera des pets" Pierre replied as he walked off the stage. "It is possible that you will get several more years if you are not careful!"