It’s Labor Day. Take a break. You earned it.

2013?

2013!!

Yes… 2013. Period. And Labor Day along with it.

This Billy Joel song, FAMOUS LAST WORDS, is the ballad of my labor days of years past, present, and probably future..

I still recall getting this CD for my birthday from my brother in 1993, and I listened to it over and over, and over again after the Ashland PA ABA Parade that year..

Every song was amazing..But especially this final song, with its lyrics of cleaning of streamers after the Labor Day parade and enjoying coffee and apples in the early autumn.

I still remember when Billy Joel appeared on David Letterman during his first week on CBS back in ‘93… My God I am aging. We are all though—I am not alone but maybe more melancholy in my approach to the passage of time.

Years gone by… Age 13 in ‘93…..age 23 in ‘03… and this year, this month, this day… age 33… Add that together and start your numerology. I’ll just grin and bear it. Or something.

The wedding cake still tastes great after all these years…

And somewhere, somehow, my memory still walks the streets of Ashland, Pennsylvania, during a Labor Day ABA parade……with streamers and horns, balloons and the sweet smell of fried food and Devitos Pizza in the air above my head. Those were the days.

These are the days, too.

They’ve changed.. and gone by.

And as time goes by so do the years.

33 years ??! I just was 21, wasn’t I!? I was just 13… in ‘93. Back during that blizzard….back during that point in time. Brendan! Joe! Johnny! Where are you? Where is the poetry!?

I think it’s still being read in a deep and dark basement, under the strained lights of the 3am hour. The dead poet society still preaches, I hope, at 21..I hope. 

Where the hell does it all go? 

To the Langoliers, I say! Eating away as Stephen King wrote. UNDER HIS DOME. With Billy Joel endlessly playing on David Letterman’s opening night on CBS..

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS OUT

There’s a lot of parents who worry about their children playing football and getting head injuries.

But apparently they are not worried enough to actually stop sending their golden children into battle on fields across the United States, as this report shows with facts..

Bad pop culture colliding

Did You Know MLK's "I Have a Dream" Speech is Copyrighted?

Never knew this..

Did You Know MLK's "I Have a Dream" Speech is Copyrighted?

The good old days weren't all that good but war's still as bad as it seems

I was 23 years young and dumb, fighting for my rights to party somewhere in a smoky bar room—you could smoke back then.. And on the cover of TIME MAGAZINE: George W. Bush with a big headline “Do you want this war?”

Americans were torn..
And now in 2013, after a decade of war and then some, only about 9% of Americans surveyed support military action in Syria. So much for the rest of the nation..

But absent this night: Media asking Americans if they want this war? No magazine covers—there’s apps for that now.. And hell, NEWSWEEK isn’t even printing anymore..right Tina?

Are we rushing into another one? And could this one be much worse?
After all, what would be he result of “tactical” strikes on Assad? We assume no one would retaliate — maybe not against us, but what about Israel? China’s red faced anger could show itself.. would they call in the debt!? And Russia? They’ll sick Snowden back on us..
 Meanwhile a Shah sleeps in Iran, and does he have a plan?

It ain’t no end times. But Armageddon sure can come on quick. And these summer Armageddons are the worst.

Yes, indeed, this whole event already seems murky and messy. But ain’t that America.
…so, 89% that didn’t want the war a few days ago..do you want it now?

My wife's reaction to me doing something dumb

Tara: Stop doing that or I'll smack in you in the head with my iPad
Me: What if I told you, in 2007 when we got married, that one day you'd tell me you'd smack me in the head with your iPad?
Tara: ...silence..

Do we still have a dream?

Half a century later.. how far did we come?

Some would argue not too far at all.

I will not digress into banter about politics, crime, or other types of divisive issues.. but I will say this.  The left leaning media did a bang up job dividing the nation by race during the Trayvon Martin trial.. and now the right leaning media is trying the same game with the recent horrific crimes committed by black teens against Chris Lane, the young baseball star, and Shorty, the World War II vet.

…and though in the same few days, crimes committed by white men or women, Hispanics, or even hell, Native Americans, didn’t happen!?

See, we could do this all day.

I wholeheartedly believe that from birth, advertisers and experts in those high towers of Manhattan shower the brain with images of divisiveness, tribalism, sexism, ageism, and racism. I am a white man, but believe racism is still existent. In many ways—some ways being the worst are often by groups supposedly representing the interests of minorities taking advantage of them, whether it would be through forcing tithing in churches or asking for political donations for the politicians to simply squander it..

That is what also unites so many, without people even realizing it.

We all have a ‘dream’ .. Martin Luther King said those famous words 50 years ago today.. but that dream today is more a nightmare, or maybe a twilight after a long night of drinking…

But the 99%, or whatever you would like to call the majority of Americans, no matter the race, have these things in common: We love our families, we fight for justice, and we want to make the future better for the next generation. Oh, and we also have this in common: We are never going to be in the 1% and the 1% is completely happy with that.. Because in the end, that 1% does not want our involvement in their affairs.

And that is primarily the reason I believe that we are purposely being given images and articles and stories to only divide us further and force us to degrade into a horrible tribalistic future.

It is not race that divides us, or gender.. it’s class. The middle class is squeezed away.. poverty abounds. The rich get richer—and those rich sure as hell don’t want anyone else joining them.

If only we, as a United States, would realize this. If only we would all realize that the dream King had half a century ago could be realized by all of us.. and that we all share a moment in this spectacular dream he envisioned..

If only..

The purpose of life: Living 88 years, serving the nation, and being killed by teenagers in a disgusting act of inhumane violence..

So Delbert Benton served in World War II.. he defended the nation.. he lived 88 years. And then he was killed by two teenagers in a senseless act of violence? Sickening.

There are nights, like tonight, when I become physically ill by my fellow human.. This is a terrible story..

Damn it Neil, the name's Nuwanda

Will the media stop referring to Bradley Manning as Bradley now? Will they respect his wishes and call him Chelsea?
What will Chelsea lately have to say?
Or Bill Bradley?
My mind is racing.



He’s a poet among us…

DPS.

The Syrian chemical, attack: What we know. And what we really know

By now you know about or have scenes images of the purported chemical attack in Syria. There is still debate about who did it.. how it was done.. when it was done, and all of those things that come with the fog of war—even foggier because of the players in this conflict..

I know this.. What I see in images and on the news is real. Innocent children, beautiful children, are dead from this madness. There are women dead.. there are men dead. But it’s those horrific pictures of children and the videos of them convulsing and foaming at the mouth that strike me..

We also know this today: Experts agree that the evidence so far supports chemical weapons as the culprit: From the AFP:

The convulsions, pinpoint pupils and laboured breathing seen in victims of an alleged chemical attack in Syria could be symptoms of nerve gas, experts said Thursday, but only blood and urine samples can provide proof. Syria’s main opposition group says more than 1,300 people were killed Wednesday in a government attack on rebel areas near Damascus — a charge the government vehemently denies. Footage distributed by activists showed people foaming at the mouth and doctors apparently giving people oxygen to help them breathe and trying to resuscitate unconscious children. Chemical and defence experts said the symptoms appeared consistent with exposure to a nerve agent like sarin or VX. “A large number of symptoms definitely point in that direction,” said chemical weapons expert Jean Pascal Zanders, although he said much more information was needed for a definitive conclusion.

What we don’t know: Who dunit.

Hareetz points out that Western experts are skeptical of the nerve gas allegations at this point..

The central evidence of the alleged use of chemical weapons is the fact that bodies shown in the footage posted on the Internet do not show any clear signs of external trauma, leading to the conclusion that the cause of death was some form of respiratory trauma or asphyxiation. Some of the casualties showed signs of convulsions and, in at least one case, contracted pupils, which are both symptoms of exposure to nerve agents.
However, Western experts on chemical warfare who have examined at least part of the footage are skeptical that weapons-grade chemical substances were used, although they all emphasize that serious conclusions cannot be reached without thorough on-site examination.

The allegations exist that President Assad struck this area with chemicals and perpetrated the deadliest chemical attack in the world since the 1980s when Saddam Hussein used weapons (that the USA gave him) against Kurds in Iraq.. We also hear that Assad’s state regime is denying they did it..

Recent facts point give  us this information: Only weeks ago, the United Nations accused Syrian REBELS of using chemical weapons (you know, those same rebels that now accuse the state of doing it) .. And we finally know this. UN weapons inspectors entered Syria in the past few days—certainly that would force a person to question the timing of this nightmare…

It is now widely believed that the testimony of Nayirah in the 1990s was a hoax. Facts now seem to show that the baby incubator story was bogus and only propaganda to compel the United States to defend Kuwait against Saddam Hussein during Gulf War I.

But regardless of is to blame for this atrocity, we know two more things: 1) That there was a chemical attack and that 2) war is wrong and evil, with this latest action symbolizing that with every child’s frightened tear, 

Sadly there’s still much more to know known…

Facebook censors full frontal nudity—of kangaroo!

Seacrest out: Ryan gets Gaga-ed..

Being an intern at the White House: 45 hours a week and NO PAY!

McDonalds removes Ammonium Hydroxide from Hamburger Recipe..

Well that’s good to know, I guess.

But we knew it was in there. We STILL don’t know what the hell is in the McNuggets.

Chelsea is going to begin a prison sentence..

History made.. For all the wrong reasons

BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria’s opposition accused government forces of gassing hundreds of people on Wednesday by firing rockets that released deadly fumes over rebel-held Damascus suburbs, killing men, women and children as they slept.

With the death toll estimated between 500 and 1,300, what would be the world’s most lethal chemical weapons attack since the 1980s prompted an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York.

The council did not explicitly demand a U.N. investigation of the incident, although it said “clarity” was needed and welcomed U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon’s calls for a prompt investigation by the U.N. inspection team in Syria, led by Ake Sellstrom.

Source..

inothernews:

• It occurs to me that in 2013, protesters might chant “Hey, hey, NSA — how many emails did you read today?!”

Kneeling before the master....

This story about kids being forced to kneel down before dismissal at a San Bernardino school really made me sick.

What are we doing in this nation, are we trying to create modern day slavery? Are we trying to make kids from an early age worshiped there supposedly masters?

No marching to the beat of another drum when everyone is on the same bandwagon!
No thinking different, we frown on..

It is time to be a brick on the wall and not a wallflower, don’t be a catcher in the Rye, that is just too out there..

Yes indeed this story made me sick.
Children should be molded to respect adults, but any adult that once children to kneel before them should have no respect given to them and should have their brains checked because there is something seriously wrong..

NSA surveillance reach broader than publicly acknowledged

NSA surveillance reach broader than publicly acknowledged