-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
We present The Beatles without that annoying harmonica drop-out at the beginning.
Category: Uncategorized
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Since April is National Poetry Month, I decided to write a post about Woody Guthrie—a songwriter and a poet of the people.
2012 is the centennial of Woody Guthrie’s birth. Born on July 12, 1912, in Okemah, Oklahoma, Guthrie lived through the Great Depression and the Great Dust Storm period that afflicted this country. Like many “dustbowl refugees”—desperate farmers and unemployed workers—Woody “hit Route 66” and headed west in search of work in hopes of finding a way to support his family.
“Moneyless and hungry, Woody hitchhiked, rode freight trains, and even walked his way to California, taking whatever small jobs he could. In exchange for bed and board, Woody painted signs and played guitar and sang in saloons along the way, developing a love for traveling the open road—a lifelong habit he would often repeat.” (Woody Guthrie Biography)
Californians were not too happy about the massive migration of “Okie” outsiders to their state. Along with other outsiders, Woody “experienced intense scorn, hatred, and even physical antagonism from resident Californians.” Woody eventually got a job on radio singing traditional songs—as well as some of his own original songs.
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
On May 16, 2012, President Obama will take a gold star surrounded by a wreath of laurel and inscribed with a single word: “Valor.” He will present it to honor an American hero and to rectify an oversight almost 42 years to the day overdue. On that morning, the nation’s Commander-in-Chief will, on behalf of the Congress of the American People, present a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor to Rose Sabo, widow of Sgt. Leslie Sabo, Jr., Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”
The Obama White House is again striking out at the media for a lack of self-censorship. The Los Angeles Times correctly published the photos of U.S. soldiers posing with corpses in Afghanistan. Spokesman Jay Carney reacted to the publication of photos in the Los Angeles Times of U.S. soldiers posing with corpses in Afghanistan. Such acts are viewed as violations of the law of war and gross violations of human rights. Yet, White House Spokesman Jay Carney, a former journalist, criticized the newspaper and said the President was “disappointed.. [with] the decision to publish two years after the incident.” The most recent disappointment by the President involves a core journalistic obligation to inform the public. The pictures in this case are the story and to understand the abuse — and the reaction — it was important for the readers of the L.A. Times to see the images in my view.
I recently came across this story out of England over a confrontation at Gatwick Airport between security and David Jones, the creator of the popular animated children’s character Fireman Sam. Jones was detained for an hour for making a comment about a Muslim woman’s hijab at a security checkpoint — a comment deemed racist by a Muslim security guard. The incident is the latest in a series of stories that have raised serious concerns over the state of free speech in England, particularly over the enforcement of hate speech and anti-religious speech (here and here and here and here and here and and here and here and here and here).
It appears that even running a beauty shop can be an offense to the faith, according to leading Islamic experts. The latest such move came from the Islamic seminary Darul Ulum Deoband in India has issued a fatwa against women running beauty parlors as unIslamic and a violation of Sharia law. This follows a fatwa last November against birthday parties as unIslamic.
Continue reading “Fatwa Issued Against Women Running Beauty Salons”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
A couple of years ago, Jonathan highlighted a “Pet of the Week” post on Sundays. This Saturday before Easter, I’d like to return to highlighting a pet of the week–my cat Abby. Abby was a gift given to my daughter Sara by her high school boyfriend when she was a junior. Sara’s boyfriend got Abby for her after we had to have Amber, the cat my husband and I gave our daughter for her eighth birthday, put to sleep. (Amber had cancer, had difficulty walking, and was barely able to eat.)
Sadly, this week, we had to have Abby put to sleep. It was a decision that had to be made. I was at my daughter’s house late Monday night when my husband called with the news that Abby was in distress. He wanted to know where the nearest animal hospital that provided 24-hour emergency services was located. Fortunately, my daughter and son-in-law knew of an excellent veterinary hospital not too far from our house where they had to take their dog Jack last year when he suffered from heat stress. Like Amber, Abby had been having some difficulty walking recently. She also had a heart murmur and congestive heart failure. I’m glad that she didn’t suffer for long.
Continue reading “Pet of the Week: Meet My Dearly Departed Cat Abby”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Roy Blount, Jr.—author, humorist, poet, reporter, performer, and frequent guest on Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!—once wrote the following:
The local groceries are all out of broccoli,
Loccoli.
It’s a terse rhyming couplet that probably expresses the way many people feel about the green cruciferous vegetable. I don’t know how Antonin Scalia feels about eating broccoli—but I do know that the nutritious vegetable has been getting a lot of press lately due to remarks that the Justice made about it and the health care mandate during the recent Supreme Court hearings on the Affordable Care Act:
“Could you define the market — everybody has to buy food sooner or later, so you define the market as food,” Scalia said, discussing a hypothetical. “Therefore, everybody is in the market; therefore, you can make people buy broccoli.”
He added, “Does that expand your ability to, to issue mandates to the people?”
Some journalists and bloggers believe that Justice Scalia didn’t come up with that bad broccoli analogy on his own. They think he may be echoing GOP and conservative media talking points on the ACA.
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Back in 2007, Christopher Hitchens penned an article for Vanity Fair titled Why Women Aren’t Funny. In it he wrote:
Men are overawed, not to say terrified, by the ability of women to produce babies. (Asked by a lady intellectual to summarize the differences between the sexes, another bishop responded, “Madam, I cannot conceive.”) It gives women an unchallengeable authority. And one of the earliest origins of humor that we know about is its role in the mockery of authority. Irony itself has been called “the glory of slaves.” So you could argue that when men get together to be funny and do not expect women to be there, or in on the joke, they are really playing truant and implicitly conceding who is really the boss…
If I am correct about this, which I am, then the explanation for the superior funniness of men is much the same as for the inferior funniness of women. Men have to pretend, to themselves as well as to women, that they are not the servants and supplicants. Women, cunning minxes that they are, have to affect not to be the potentates.
So—according to Hitchens—women are really “the bosses” because they are the baby makers. Men are the funny ones because they mock the authority of women who have wombs…and, therefore, the power! Who knew?
I get it. I think this explains why so many men in the GOP these days are proposing reproductive legislation. These male vagina vigilantes—“uterati” is what I call them—must believe that their extreme legislation will give them (the funny guys) authority over women (the humorless baby makers). They’re trying to gain authority over the opposite sex by taking control of contraception…and women’s bodies.
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
An Alabama prosecutor has announced that the state will seek the death penalty for Joyce Garrard, 46, who is accused of killing 9-year-old Savannah Hardin by making the child run for hours as punishment for eating candy. The charge raises the question of the evolution of the standard set by the Supreme Court
Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
Some people are still experiencing the “log in” problem when trying to post this morning. Please be patient. The problem was only reported last night, but we are hoping to hear from WordPress Support today. If you really feel compelled to post and are one of the victims of this unfortunate problem, you can try using an alternate email address.
Continue reading “NOTICE: Status of WordPress Trouble Ticket”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Have you heard about “pink slime” lately? Do you know what it is? You should. According to a number of news reports, pink slime is a “filler” that can be found in approximately 70% of hamburger meat that is sold in supermarkets.
Pink slime is produced by grinding together low-grade trimmings like connective tissue, cow intestines, and beef scraps that would normally be destined for dog food and rendering. (Such trimmings are said to come from the parts of the cow that are highly exposed to fecal matter.) The ground concoction is then simmered in low heat in a centrifuge in order to separate fat and tissue and treated with ammonia-hydroxide to kill pathogens, including salmonella and E. Coli. “The resulting pinkish substance is later blended into traditional ground beef and hamburger patties.” The United States Department of Agriculture says it’s safe to eat.
Kit Foshee, who was once a corporate quality manager at BPI–a company that manufactures pink slime–said of the substance, “It kind of looks like Play-Doh. It’s pink and frozen. It’s not what the typical person would consider meat.” Foshee claims that he was fired by BPI after he had complained “about the process used to make the filler, and the company’s claims about it.”
Because the FDA considers ammonia to be a processing agent, it’s not required to be listed as an ingredient on food labels.
Continue reading “From the Lunch Lady Chronicles: Hey, Kids, It’s Time for Pink Slime!”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
When it comes to standard of living I can’t complain. Between a pension and social security I live comfortably, though definitely without luxury. I have no investments and minimal savings so that I in essence live from check to check, as do most Americans less fortunate. Would I like thousands in the bank, of course? Would I like to travel overseas, as I never have, of course I would. It would also be nice to have a luxury auto that accommodates my long legs, 72” 3D plasma TV and many other accoutrements of our consumer society. I know I’d enjoy them, but frankly I am content with what I have and do not begrudge those with far more material things, savings and income. In this respect I am decidedly a creature of what has been known up to now as the “Middle/Working Class”. It is a vanishing citizen category that I identify with most closely and is gradually through conservative policies being driven down towards underclass status.
In addition, my entire working career was spent dealing with those people who can be roughly characterized in American terms as the “Underclass” due to poverty, race, ethnicity, disability, mental illness, criminality and addiction. I know first hand the depredations suffered by this portion of our citizens and this knowledge via experience, is something not shared by most Americans. My work exposed me to the basic unfairness of our system and I must admit my experiences fill me with rage towards those who lack empathy for the ignored and maltreated. Some say that this disparity is merely the result of lack off effort on their part, or of the natural result of lack of ability. Those that do are basically people ignorant of how the American system works and the fact that the putative “race” towards the top is a fixed affair, in all of its’ aspects. Since this is a legal opinion blog I would be giving its purpose short shrift was I not to mention that inequity of result has been a standard of our legal system since our Country’s inception. With a few exceptions used to demonstrate the opposite, the truth is as Leonard Cohen states so eloquently “Everybody knows the game is rotten”.
To me it is a fact that inequality is inherent in our system. Please indulge me to look at what I find most perplexing in this state of things and why I think it exists. Why does it seem that many people, who have received so much benefit from the fruits of this nation, are so begrudging of having those less fortunate at least live more comfortable lives? Continue reading “What Motivates the 1%?”
Previously we discussed the new French law making it a crime for citizens to deny or minimize the genocide of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century. It was discussed as part of a worrisome trend of limitations on free speech in the West through blasphemy, hate speech, and discrimination laws. Now the French Supreme Court has shown all of the principle that was so lacking in the government and struck down the law. In so doing, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the French commitment to liberty. To those jurists, I say “Liberté, égalité, fraternité!”
Continue reading “French Highest Court Strikes Down Law Criminalizing Denial of Armenian Genocide”