Saturday, June 28, 2008

A Poem Upon Reading Robert Lowell's Poem: "For the Union Dead"

Today is Saturday, 28 June 2006, Sarajevo Day!

Today, dies by inches my friend.

And, I, despite all hopes, can furnish no artifice of health.

All I bring as offering, is this tiny gift of words, memory, and
love.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Woof!

Today remains, Friday.

And HH is a fan of Anonymous.

Ms. HH, suggested perhaps I went a bit over the top on the Scalia thing.

Not.

Sounds of thunder.

The dogs are gathered round, as a big thunder-boomered stormed rolls up from the west, and they snuggle up to write-at-home-dad, who will protect them.

Fuck You, You Five Nazi Pissant Assholes Who Love Guns, Fuck You

Today is Friday, 27 June 2008.

Justice Scalia’s opinion was signed by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.

How does one spell "Scalia"?

Roger Taney.

I reference, of course, Scumbag Scalia's "opinion" on the Second Amendment and Dred Scott.

A more scholarly comment to come, but, for the moment, "Fuck you, Scalia."

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Mad World

Today is Thursday, 26 June 2008.

I meant to post a happy.

This came up.

Perhaps, check back later.



Well, let's go with this also.



Let's go 80s! with Modern English (originally The Lepers):



OK, OK. You know who you are, out there rollin' your eyes young lady, thinkin', why don't HH give us some cheer?

I meant to spin some Eurythmics, but they've gone so upscale their videos are embargoed, so, here's my old friend, Lou Reed, with a sadly 2nd rate version, and then, the real deal from the Ukelele Orchestra of GB:



Now, this lady knows how to tango:

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

How the West Was One

Today is Tuesday, 24 June 2008.

Waking up this morning, a Warren Zevon tune drifted through my head:



Yes, fellow squids, it's that time rollin' around again.

On this day in 1876, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Bush --- I meant Custer --- a state-sponsored terrorist, led his ca. 650 dupes --- I meant troops, of course --- into a suicide battle against ca. 1,500 Lakota warriors defending their homeland [security] at Little Big Horn in the Dakotas.



"And the dead, and the dead, and the dead".



Iraq: "Be seeing you".

Sunday, June 22, 2008

In Memory: Millions and Remarque

Today is Sunday, 22 June 2008.

Today is the birthdate in 1898 of Erich Maria Remarque, author of the great novel of World War One, All Quiet on the Western Front.



Ironically, it is also the date in 1941 when World War One German veteran, former Corporal Adolf Hitler, invaded the USSR, and thus sealed the defeat of Germany in World War Two.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Information is Freedom or Slavery

Today is Saturday, 21 June 2008.

Today is the birthdate in 1905 of existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

In Memory: MHV

Today is Wednesday, 18 June 2008.

Perished, last Thursday, MHV, the father of VH, the sister-in-law of Ms. and Mr. HH.

As is the custom these days, with widely dispersed families, we knew him too briefly. I can only say he seemed a good man who loved his family, and left us too soon at 80, after an heroic struggle against cancer.

Our hearts go out to all who loved him, and, "may flights of angels sing thee to thy grave".

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

In Memoriam: Cyd Charrise

Today is Tuesday, 17 June 2008.

Isn't that the way humanity is: my last post was about mass murder, today it's about art.

The great dancer Cyd Charrise died today at 86.



Humanity: the best of times, the worst of times.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Auschwitz Tag, 2008

Today is Saturday, 14 June 2008.

On this date in 1940, Auschwitz opened.

I do not think there was anything peculiar to German society which led to the Holocaust.

Jew-hating, Jew-killing, is a particular marker of "Western civilization".

This night, our two acres is filled with fireflyies flickering, more than any yet this summer.

I choose to see them as a remembrance of the souls of Auschwitz, and the souls of thousands of years, senselessly slaughtered, constantly imploring us: "We need not be servants of greed. We need not exterminate one another. Save us, save us."

I have yet to discover an antidote to this sickness which seems to be the human condition.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

In Memory: Medgar Evers

Today is Thursday, 12 June 2008.

Medgar Evers was assassinated on this date in 1963.

For those who keep score of this sort of foolishness, and in full disclosure, HH was also born in Mississippi, in Gulfport, and lived in Biloxi for the first six months of his life.

Course, HH was "white", and his daddy was Air Force, and his parents soon moved him to Kansas.







Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Male Chauvanism, 1

Today is Tuesday, 10 June 2008.

Follows from the Op-Ed page of The New York Times:

"Boys on the Bias"

By CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN
Published: June 8, 2008

"Fifteen years after I was elected New Jersey’s first female governor, women running for office continue to face huge obstacles. Indeed, watching Hillary Clinton these last few months, it’s clear that voters and the news media still struggle with images and expectations of women as candidates.

When Mrs. Clinton made points forcefully, people called her shrill, not bold and determined. When Mitt Romney teared up, he was described as compassionate, while she was labeled weak.

For its part, the news media paid too much attention to Mrs. Clinton’s haircuts and jackets, ignoring the male candidates and their endless parade of blue suits and red ties. The press presented Barack Obama with his two years in the Senate as an agent of change, not a novice. In contrast, ABC’s Charles Gibson asked Mrs. Clinton if she would “be in this position” if it weren’t for her husband.

To this day, a businessman with no elected experience is considered qualified for high public office; a woman with the same background is called unprepared.

Mrs. Clinton’s sex was not solely responsible for her loss, but the implicit and explicit challenges that women face are such that we as a country must take notice if we want all people represented in public service.

— CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN, the former Republican governor of New Jersey and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2001 to 2003."

I"ve been a hard-core leftist for more than 4 decades, and, for once, I agree with Christine Todd Whitman.

Stay tuned.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

True Red, Take 2

Today is Saturday, 7 June 2008.

Tonight is a mini-reunion of Cardinals '71, the class after HH.

Herewith, a song which topped the charts that year. Of all the artists I produced at NYC charity gigs, I think, as a person, I like Gordon Lightfoot the best.



________________________

In the spirit of the era, I've added:

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Tiananmen 89

Today is Wednesday, 4 June 2008.

The date in 1989, when the anti-Communist dictators of the People's Republic of China, close friends of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, exterminated many tens of thousands seeking freedom, including those in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

Monday, June 02, 2008

"Who Do You Love?"

Today is Monday, 2 June 2008.

Bo Diddley has died.



Your fav radio station, WMOB, has been off the air for hours, thanks to a vicious storm which, as they say, "swept through the area" yesterday.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

More To Come

Today is Sunday, 1 June 2008.



And, from 1961, Pat Boone, born on this day in 1934, on The Lawrence Welk Show: