Give Me Numbers

To Hope,

To Have Hope,

To Live in Hope --

is to form and hold a very particular personal opinion, 

Freely & Consciously held

Intellectually, Philosophically,

Historically and Genealogically, 

with respect to your relationships with/to 

Your Family, and to/with World History --

"Fear. 

Fear attracts The Fearful.

The Strong. 

The Weak.

The Innocent.

The  Corrupt. 

Fear. Fear is My Ally."

— Darth Maul

What if Dreams came True, and you could Be Who You Wanted to Be, and you could Do What You Wanted to Do, and you could Help Who You Wanted to Help. 

What if Dreams came True? And The World opened up, and YOU were never ever afraid. 

What if Dreams came True? 

But Dreams DO come True. 

Don't They?

INT. THE BARTLET RESIDENCE, 1960s - NIGHT Young Jed is knocking on his father's office door - once, twice, three times.

DR. BARTLET [VO] 

Come in.

Dr. Bartlet is sitting in an armchair reading a newspaper, as Jed enters and approaches the other chair.

DR. BARTLET 

[reading] 

"If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you will never learn." 

Is this your quote?

JED 

Dad, uh, I wanted to mention something to you that maybe you weren't aware of regarding salary acquisitions...

DR. BARTLET 

Is this your quote? 

"If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you will never learn."

JED 

It's actually Ray Bradbury.

DR. BARTLET 

And you quoted Ray Bradbury?

JED 

Yes.

DR. BARTLET 

In an article you and your friends wrote, condemning Professor Loomis.

JED 

[sits] 

For banning certain books from The Library, yes.

DR. BARTLET 

He is a Professor of Literature!

JED 

He banned Henry Miller! 

He banned D.H. Lawrence.

DR. BARTLET 

Yes.

JED 

"Giovanni's Room" 'cause it's too homosexual!

DR. BARTLET 

Stop it right now. 

You're a guest at this school.

JED 

I'm a student at this school.

DR. BARTLET 

Jed!

JED 

He banned "Fahrenheit 451," which is about banning books!

DR. BARTLET 

Was that supposed to be funny?

He stands, Jed stands after him.

DR. BARTLET 

That word play you just did there, was that meant to be funny?

JED 

That was supposed to...

Dr. Bartlet slaps him across the face.

DR. BARTLET 

......Was there anything else?

JED 

[quietly, looking away] 

It's not a nondenominational service.

DR. BARTLET 

Don't start with this. 

[walks over to his desk]

JED

Catholics don't believe Man is Saved through Faith Alone. 

Catholics believe that Faith has to be Joined with Good Works.

DR. BARTLET 

You're the only one who seems to mind the service.

JED 

I'm the only one who's Catholic.

DR. BARTLET 

You're Catholic because your mother is, and you're at this school because I'm the headmaster. 

How's that for clever with words? 

[sits down] 

But what was it you came in here to talk to me about?

JED 

Nothing.

DR. BARTLET 

Please close the door behind you.

Jed shuts the door to His Father's Office.

CUT TO: INT. THE OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT 

President Bartlet closes the door behind C.J. in THE OVAL OFFICE. 

Thunder roars. Bartlet walks to lean on his desk, places hands among the many pictures on it. 

Suddenly, The Wind blows the veranda door wide open and rain pours in.

BARTLET 

Ah... Damn it! Mrs. Landingham!

He turns away, realizing she won't Come to His Call, and then The Door opens...

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

[walks in, small and resolute] 

I really wish you wouldn't shout, Mr. President.

BARTLET 

[beat, as he looks at her in disbelief] 

The Door keeps blowing open.

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

Yes, but there's an intercom and you could use it to call me at my desk.

BARTLET 

I was...

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

You don't know how to use the intercom.

BARTLET 

It's not that I don't Know How to Use It, 

it's just that I haven't learned yet.

She looks at him and he smiles shyly, as if he's been caught lying.

BARTLET 

I have MS, and I didn't tell anybody.

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

Yeah... 

So, you're having a little bit of a day!

BARTLET 

You're gonna make jokes?

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

God doesn't make cars crash, and you know that. 

Stop using me as an excuse.

BARTLET 

[motions her to sit and sits down] 

The Party's not going to want me to run.

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

The Party'll come back. 

You'll get ‘em back.

BARTLET 

I've got A Secret for you, Mrs. Landingham —

I've never been the most popular guy in The Democratic Party.

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

[sits opposite from him] 

I've got A Secret for you, Mr. President — 

Your Father was a prick who could never get over the fact that he wasn't as smart as his brothers. 

Are you in a Tough Spot? Yes. 

Do I feel sorry for you? I Do Not. 

Why? Because there are people way worse off than you.

BARTLET 

Give Me Numbers.

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

I don't know Numbers. 

You give them to me.

BARTLET 

How about a child born this minute has one in five chance of being born into poverty?

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

How many Americans don't have health insurance?

BARTLET 

44 million.

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

What's the number one cause of death for black men under 35?

BARTLET 

Homicide.

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

How many Americans are behind bars?

BARTLET 

Three million.

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

How many Americans are drug addicts?

BARTLET 

Five million.

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

And one of five kids in poverty?

BARTLET 

That's 13 million American children.

President Bartlet is talking, and the opposite chair is empty.

BARTLET 

3.5 million kids go to schools that are literally falling apart. 

We need 127 billion in school construction, and we need it today!

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

To say nothing of 53 people trapped in an embassy.

BARTLET 

Yes.

MRS. LANDINGHAM 

You know, if you don't want to run again, I respect that. 

[stands up]

But if you don't run 'cause you think it's gonna be too hard or you think you're gonna lose - well, God, Jed, I don't even want to know you.

Mrs. Landingham walks out and gently closes the Oval Office door behind her. President Bartlet stands, walks into the open door onto the veranda and lets the rain wash over his face.

CHARLIE [VO] Mr President!

Charlie appears with a coat that he's holding unwrapped.

CHARLIE Mr. President, it's time.

Bartlet avoids the coat and walks into another door. Charlie follows him. At his desk, he leaves the coat and takes off his own as well.

The song 'Brothers in Arms' by Dire Straits plays softly.

 These mist covered mountains Are a home now for me, But my home is the lowlands And always will be. Some day you'll return to Your valleys and your farms And you'll no longer burn To be brothers in arms...

Leo joins the President walking. Josh, Sam and Toby follow.

CUT TO: INT. THE STATE DEPARTMENT - NIGHT C.J. is on the podium in front of a filled room.

C.J. And he'll be speaking to that just as soon as he gets here. [Reporters clamoring.] Uh, Frank, then Leslie.

CUT TO: INT. LIMOUSINE - NIGHT The President is in the limo.

 Through these fields of destruction, Baptisms of fire, I've witnessed your suffering As the battles raged higher. And though they did hurt me so bad In the fear and alarm, You did not desert me, My brothers in arms...

CUT TO: INT. THE STATE DEPARTMENT - CONTINUOUS

FRANK Has there been any discussion of a Special Prosecutor?

C.J. Tomorrow morning, the President will direct the Attorney General appoint a Special Prosecutor, yes. [Reporters clamor.] I can't see. Joan!

CUT TO: INT. LIMOUSINE - CONTINUOUS The limo is driving in the rain, guards all around it. Leo looks at Bartlet worriedly.

CUT TO: INT. THE STATE DEPARTMENT - CONTINUOUS

C.J. A list of three prosecutors is given to a three-judge panel. The prosecutors, as well as the judges, were all appointed by Republican presidents.

Reporters clamor, as Donna and Margaret, pale and dressed in coats, tear through the crowd and stand at a distance.

C.J. Please, I can only answer 14 or 15 questions at once. Hal!

CUT TO: INT. NATIONAL CATHEDRAL - CONTINUOUS A janitor is washing the floor and stumbles upon a cigarette. He lifts it and looks outside as sirens announce the President's passing. Limos and lights are seen through open doors of the Cathedral.

 There's so many different worlds, So many different suns, And we have just one world But we live in different ones...

CUT TO: INT. THE STATE DEPARTMENT - CONTINUOUS

C.J. I can't comment on a witness list that doesn't exist, but I imagine subpoenas will be issued to most Senior White House Staff including myself.

Reporters clamor.

CUT TO: EXT. THE STATE DEPARTMENT - CONTINUOUS The President arrives in the rain, slowly walks in. Everyone follows him, no umbrellas are in sight.

 Now the sun's gone to hell And the moon's riding high, Let me bid you farewell - Every man has to die...

Bartlet is given a towel and he wipes his face with it, as he, followed by Charlie, Leo, Toby, Sam, Josh, and several Secret Service agents, heads for the conference room.

CUT TO: INT. THE PRESS CONFERENCE - CONTINUOUS

C.J. Again, I can't comment on what kind of hearings Congress has in mind. I'm sure there'll be one but you'd have to talk to Congress.

Carol gives her a slight nod as she spots the President approaching.

C.J. Okay, here now, the President of the United States.

Everyone stands in silence as Bartlet walks up to the podium. He passes C.J.

C.J. [quietly] First row on your right.

 But it's written in the starlight And every line on your palm We're fools to make war On our brothers in arms...

Bartlet looks over the room. He sees Lawrence Altman, waiting to be called. Instead, he points to the center of the room.

BARTLET Yes, Sandy.

C.J. watches in shock.

SANDY Mr. President, can you tell us right now if you'll be seeking a second term?

BARTLET I'm sorry, Sandy, there was a bit of noise there, could you repeat the question?

SANDY Can you tell us right now if you'll be seeking a second term?

Charlie, C.J., Josh and Sam, Donna and Margaret, Toby and Leo all watch. Leo turns to the monitor.

LEO Watch this...

They are all waiting, watching, as Bartlet slides his hands off the podium, puts them in his pockets, looks away and smiles.

Like a Black Family in a Movie Theatre Watching a Hallowe'en Sequel

I have a small confession to make 

- to myself, mostly.

A Technique of TechnoShamanism I specialise in.

Sometimes 

- not often, but sometimes -  

when I am watching a TV Show or a Movie at home that I know and I love well, and characters I know and I love well 

(and I know what will happen to them) 

I sometimes... 

Talk to Them.

Like a Black Family in a Movie Theatre Watching a Hallowe'en Sequel

For example - to repeat a Truism and one of my own personal Mantras :

ALWAYS WATCH TWO CATHEDRALS

It was from watching Two Cathedrals, I first taught myself The Art of Necromancy - 

Summoning, Conjouring and Coversing with Ghosts, Shaydes and Spirits of The Dead

Or, Golem

(which is to says, Golem, plural many Golems, not Gollum although I no-doubt could conjur him too (but why would you want to...?))

MRS. LANDINGHAM !!! !!!!

DO NOT TRY THIS NEXT BIT AT HOME

also,

** SPOILERS **

Really, Palahniuk, seriously - 

What the F**k?!?

=== ++ WARNING ++ ===

PROCEDURE IS NOT RECOMMENDED

Grant Morrison :

"So I wrote this comic book – 

and as I wrote it, it became True. 

Things I would make the characters do became True.

The main character was.. 

I gave him a bald head and a leather jacket, because I thought people would like me when I they read the comic. 

Bald heads were really uncool back in 1992.

And it worked. 

I found that if I put the character through a situation where he’d been tortured; where his lungs had bust and he was being held in captivity; subjected to all these awful things. 

Two months later: 

I’m in hospital, two bust lungs, dying of blood poisoning; 

Facing exactly the same shamanic trial that I put my character through.

So once I figured out that, I thought: the best thing to do is to give this guy an easy time in the future.

So as a result of all this, I’d just split up with my girlfriend. 

And I was like: 

“okay, I want a new one and I want her to look exactly like this chick in the comic, coz she’s cool.” 

So I did a sigil; a month later, the girl turns up. Then another one. Then another one. Then another one; then another one. All aspects of this character. And then [I was like]: “Oh fuck, this is insane. Because it works and I’ve done something ridiculous. Because now I’m dealing with all these women who look like the character, but who I don’t get on with, or I can’t talk to, or I can’t deal with.”

And I began to realise a little bit about how this stuff works.

So beyond that, I decided: 

I won’t just use it to get laid, because it seems a pretty low-grade kind of way of dealing with magic. 

But man, it works! Believe me.

So I thought: how much could you effect reality by writing a comic that mimics reality, but pushed it in weird directions? 

So round about 1997, I decided that I would really seriously turn this thing into a Super-Sigil.

And it was based on the idea that: 

If you look at cave art – the first art was done; the first writing that was done, basically as art. 

And if someone wanted to make something happen; like, if you were in the — like, if you were some fucked up caveman in a cave somewhere, worrying about your dinner. 

What do you do? 

You draw a bison on the wall; stick some spears in it. 

Go out, and the bison dies, filled with spears.

“Hey, man! We can make this happen!”

Slowly, those things become words; they become abstractions – complexes of meaning. 

And you can take that basic idea, and – as we’ve seen – people like Austin Osmond Spare, the magician from the early part of the century, or Crowley, or the chaos magicians of the eighties who were a big influence on me – they used this stuff. 

And like I say, what you can do is this: go home, write down a desire; it’s quite simple, what you can say is: 

“It is my desire that my cat wins the Olympics.” 

Take out all the vowels..

Write this down, for fuck’s sake! 

Don’t just listen; do it! Right? -

Take out the vowels, and you’ll be left with a string of consonants. 

Take out all the repeated consonants, and you’ll be left with a string of consonants with no repeats in it. 

X, Y, A, D, whatever. 

Turn that thing into a little image. Take the D, draw a big D. Then you’ve got a T; draw a big T on it.

Keep reducing it down until it looks magickal.

And there are no rules for this thing. 

Do it until it looks magical.

At that point you now have a sigil. 

The sigil will work. 

You can project desire into reality, and change reality. 

It works!

Those must be the people who’ve done it.

So please, I mean, write this down, go home and do it. Check; verify the results.

Because – I was reading this thing in New Scientist this week and it said: the difference between Bad Science and good science is..

Scientific Procedure has 3 criteria. 

And the criteria are: 

• That you can verify results; you can talk to other people who’ve done the thing and make sure that, you know, it works out.

• You can duplicate results. 

• And also.. some other thing * - I’ve forgotten. 

* FALSIFIABILITY :- For a Theory to be Scientifically valid, it must specifiy within it the variance in data observations in future experimentation that would invalidate the theortical postulates and demonstrate the theorum to have been false.

This is why both  Evolution by Means of Natural Selection and Anthopogenic Climate Change are not Theories  - You cannot disprove Natural Selection, because it makes no specific claims, it just proposes a speculative process by which variance in observable data (Cheetahs, Octopuses and Icthyosaurs) may occur, without describing a mechanism or stating mathematical or quantitative paramaters for it's own failure (unlike, say, the laws of  classical "Newtonian" Physics or Geometry); and Anthopogenic Climate Change is not a Theory with any scientific basis because all if it's "proofs" [you cannot "prove" a theory, ever only validate it or disprove it, that is what they are for] fall within the stated Margin of Error and when they don't exceed those, they just alter the failure criterion for the next decade-long tranche of "research" to [try to] guarantee it will be validated during that time [ which it never has been - it never  has been. ]

But yeah, two things is pretty good, innit?

 Two outta.. yeah.

This is verifiable. 

People have been telling us about this for thousands of years. 

The Tibetans have been telling us about this. 

The Mesopotamians have been telling us about this. 

And why has it been made ‘occult’?

Because: Coca-Cola have got the secret.

What you do is you create a sigil.

Coca-Cola is a sigil. The McDonalds “M” is a sigil.

These people are basically turning the world into themselves, using sigils.

And if we don’t reverse that process, and turn the world into *us* using sigils, we’re going to be living in fucking McDonalds.

But McDonalds have no more power than us, apart from the fact – like what Doug [Rushkoff] said earlier – they’ve got some money.

Fuck it - who cares?

At the top levels of this stuff, 

no one’s using money anyway.

You think Rupert Murdoch, or the Queen, or Bill Clinton, or any of these fuckers use money? 

Of course they don’t.

They’ve realised that money is only useful to sell to the middle classes – the people in the middle who make things happen; who make things run.

We’ve been sold a fiction. 

There’s no such thing as money. 

Ignore it. 

At the higher levels..

No.. YEAH! HEY!

There is no money. 

These fuckers don’t use money. 

If Rupert Murdoch wants a Rolls Royce, they give him one. 

Because he’s Rupert Murdoch. 

And if they see him in a Rolls Royce, 

it means they get some status out of it.

So you’ve gotta understand :

These people on the higher levels are operating on a 

Hierarchy of Exchange and Barter.

On the lower levels – where I lived in Glasgow, which is one of the poorest cities in Europe – people are operating on a hierarchy of exchange that’s quite different: 

they steal shit, and 

then they sell it back, and they have their own little money.. 

And they have this complete black market economy.

There’s only us in the middle who think money’s worth anything – and we chase it until we drop.

So forget it.

Where was I?

(And the other thing is: I hate talking at people, so if anyone wants to join in just put your hand up. Coz I fucking hate just talking at people.)

So… having figured these weird things out, having thought about this and having been through this experience, which was exactly the experience I’d been promised by Wilson, McKenna, Philip K. Dick – everyone, they promised this thing, and it works. 

You can get the experience. 

Do what they told you to do, and it will happen – I promise you. 

You will meet the aliens; they will talk to you. 

The Golden Dawn called this 

“Knowledge & Conversation Of The Holy Guardian Angel”.

So it’s been around for a while; it’s accessible to everyone. 

Magick is accessible to everyone. 

The means of altering reality are accessible to everyone.

And when everyone starts doing it, we’re going to start to get to see desire manifest on a gigantic scale. 

Everyone’s desire. 

What happens when everyone’s desire becomes manifest? 

Does the universe have to split up into a billion to accommodate it?

Do we all have to suddenly understand that we’re all in the same place, and that we can all share in each others’ desires?

I don’t know. I’m just here to talk about this stuff.