. . . but in addition to sorrow, grief and concern, I have experienced much of it recently.
Not only has mortality made its point clear to me once again, but the notion of imperfection has been reinforced.
I knew that I had become a 'grownup' the day I realized that my heroes had faults. They were real people who offered me something that I required but did not possess myself. And although each one was, in my eyes, a master in his individual field, he was merely a human being complete with imperfections, just like me. Since it is beyond my capability to change that fact and since I most certainly do not possess the ability to make him (nor myself, for that matter) perfect, I, myself choose to continue to appreciate him for his redeeming abilities or disassociate myself from him for his flaws. It is my choice. I must make it and I must live with it.
Isn't this what we all do?
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". . . how did Todd Akin get nominated for the Senate in the first place? How did Christine O’Donnell in Delaware? How did Donald Trump surge to the top of the early presidential polls after his birther blather became public? Why do so many Republicans have so much trouble with evolution? Climate change? The non-difference between forcible and statutory rape?
This is not to say that Republicans are, by natural bent, stupid. Indeed, many of the smartest, most erudite, most creative policy thinkers I’ve encountered over the past 40 years are Republicans or conservatives. They’ve been the source of some of the best policy proposals I’ve seen–including the individual mandate for health care, cap and trade (to limit sodium sulfur-dioxide), school choice, work requirements for welfare recipients. In foreign policy, they’ve been well-represented by realists like Brent Scowcroft, James Baker, Bob Zoellick and their boss, George H.W. Bush.
(MORE: Best Tweets About Todd Akin’s ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comment)
But the Republican Party that produced such thinkers is, as we all know, gone now. And what we have is a party that too often acquiesces–with rolled eyes and grimaces, to be sure–in the know-nothing idiocy of a plurality of its base. There was a period when the Democrats suffered from a similar malady–the days of racial quotas, overweening sociological tolerance of criminality and the belief that the U.S. is almost always wrong when it uses force overseas. The Democrats still have some outliers who believe such things. But Bill Clinton showed that Democrats could reform themselves; Barack Obama’s reliance on ideas that were originally Republican or bipartisan in much of his domestic agenda is a reflection of the permanence of that change. . . "
Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas, the fourth of seven children to Ray Cash (May 13, 1897, Kingsland, Arkansas – December 23, 1985, Hendersonville, Tennessee) and Carrie Cloveree Rivers (March 13, 1904, Rison, Arkansas – March 11, 1991, Hendersonville, Tennessee). Cash was named J. R. Cash because his parents couldn't think of a name. When Cash enlisted in the Air Force, they wouldn't let him use initials as his name, so he started to use the legal name John R. Cash. In 1955, when signing with Sun Records, he took Johnny Cash as his stage name.
The Cash children were, in order: Roy, Margaret Louise, Jack, J. R., Reba, Joanne and Tommy. His younger brother, Tommy Cash, also became a successful country artist.
In March 1935, when Cash was three years old, the family settled in Dyess, Arkansas. He started working in cotton fields at age five, singing along with his family simultaneously while working. The family farm was flooded on at least two occasions, which later inspired him to write the song "Five Feet High and Rising". His family's economic and personal struggles during the Great Depression inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar difficulties.
Cash was very close to his older brother, Jack. In May 1944, Jack was pulled into a whirling head saw in the mill where he worked and was almost cut in two. He suffered for over a week before he died on May 20, 1944, at age 15. Cash often spoke of the horrible guilt he felt over this incident. According to Cash: The Autobiography, his father was away that morning, but he and his mother, and Jack himself, all had premonitions or a sense of foreboding about that day, causing his mother to urge Jack to skip work and go fishing with his brother. Jack insisted on working, as the family needed the money. On his deathbed, Jack said he had visions of heaven and angels. Decades later, Cash spoke of looking forward to meeting his brother in heaven.
Cash's early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Taught by his mother and a childhood friend, Cash began playing guitar and writing songs as a young boy. In high school he sang on a local radio station; decades later he released an album of traditional gospel songs, called My Mother's Hymn Book. He was also significantly influenced by traditional Irish music that he heard performed weekly by Dennis Day on the Jack Benny radio program.
Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force on July 7, 1950. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to a U.S. Air Force Security Service unit, assigned as a Morse Code Intercept Operator for Soviet Army transmissions at Landsberg, Germany "where he created his first band named The Landsberg Barbarians." He was the first radio operator to pick up the news of the death of Joseph Stalin.] After he was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant on July 3, 1954, he returned to Texas.
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. . . I find the most gratifying way to react to the antics of our elected officials, is to use profanity
Ignoring the sad idiot who thinks the word 'rape' requires qualifiers, how about our 'friends' of the 'right' persuasion who, in 'their daily greed', are at it again, or are still at it, or who appear to always be at it. . . (forever and ever amen). . .
(from AlterNet / By Lynn Parramore)
"Ever since the Richmonder blog posted a story last weekend pointing to suspicious-looking stock trades made by Paul Ryan on September 18, 2008 – the day Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson met with Congressional leaders to warn of an economic collapse and the need for a giant bailout – the press has been at sixes and sevens. Was it insider trading? Wasn't it? First the story circulated rapidly. Then, when the Romney/Ryan campaign quickly issued denials, some journalists, most notably Benjy Sarlin of Talking Points Memo , leapt to “debunk” the story. Matt Yglesias of Slate , who first credited the story, apologized and backed off.
Earlier this week, I posted an article challenging the denials made by the Romney/Ryan campaign.
John Carney, a senior editor at CNBC.com has responded to my piece on Paul Ryan’s insider stock trades in September 2008. Unlike the Romney campaign, he does not try to claim that Congressman Ryan did not have time to do the trades before markets closed at 4pm. (There is, of course, the possibility that Ryan traded afterhours; that was no part of my story.) Nor does he take refuge in the pathetic argument that some anonymous trustee did it. His objection is that Congressman Ryan’s trading that day followed a larger pattern evident in other transactions that year.
Carney writes:
He did trade in and out of two financial names in 2008: Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. He sold shares in Citi in January, March, June, August, September and December. He bought Citi in February, April, July and October. In other words, Ryan was following a pattern of alternating between buying and selling shares of Citi throughout the year...
Ryan sold shares in Goldman in February, August, October, November and December. He bought shares in Goldman in January, March, June and September.
Notice a pattern here? Each of Ryan’s purchases of Goldman shares coincides with the sale of a share of Citi.
Ryan follows this pattern of going long Goldman when he sold Citi on September 18. That day, Ryan also took part in a meeting where Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke met with Congressional leaders to make their case that the situation in the financial sector had turned so dire as to threaten the entire economy.
Teasing out meaningful patterns from stock market data is a tricky business. It has a tendency to turn researchers into numerologists – they are constantly tempted to find all kinds of significance in some selection of numbers. But look closely at the qualification with which Carney introduced his discussion of the Goldman purchases:
“The only breaks in this pattern were (a) when he neither bought nor sold any stocks in his portfolio in May, (b) skipping November’s sale of Citi and selling in December instead, and (c) selling shares in Citi in both August and September .” [emphasis added]
In other words, Congressman Ryan followed a pattern, except when he didn’t. And in what month does Ryan depart from the pattern? Why, by marvelous coincidence, September, of course.
Perhaps half a loaf is better than none, but Carney began his piece suggesting that those who credit the Ryan insider trading story have fallen under the influence of “liberal fantasies.” Yes, he bought Goldman while selling Citi, but the quick second Citi sale was anomalous. Congressman Ryan, by Carney’s own admission, plainly broke from his routine on September 18, 2008. . . "
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If you missed his performance at the the Brewer's Alley Songwriter Showcase Monday evening, I suggest you see this artist in the near future - T. Edwin Doss.
(from http://www.tedwindoss.com/)
Born in a small town in Alabama, T. Edwin Doss grew up in a family that enjoyed music. By the time he was six years old, he was copying his sister’s piano lessons without taking formal lessons. He managed to acquire a right-handed guitar from a friend and learned chords “up-side down”. After three years, someone suggested that he switch the strings around, and after doing so T. Edwin began learning more, playing along with folk music, country, and blues. His early influences were Peter, Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Pat Boone, Perry Como and various Motown acts.
In high school, he wrote jingle-type advertisements for those running for class office, cheerleading, etc. The halls were filled with his rhymes on poster board. During those days and in college, he continued with poetry and prose, developing technique in meter and rhyming. He also began learning the Travis picking style and other finger picking styles, and incorporated these into his first original tunes.
He released a 45rpm record in 1975, receiving favorable reviews and substantial air-play. T. Edwin was booked in many venues including a few warm-ups for Hank, Jr., Townes Van Zandt, Johnny Paycheck and others. After moving to the Washington, D.C. area, he worked clubs in Georgetown, Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Rockville and many universities and colleges, warming up Livingston Taylor, The Roselyn Mountain Boys, and various blue grass acts. During this period T. Edwin penned more than one hundred songs transitioning into performing only tunes he had written.
T. Edwin’s guitar styles are perfectly matched for his performing, using finger picking and flat picking styles. He will surprise you with musical hooks to lure you further into the enchantment of his tunes, taking one into the warmth of a distant memory or perhaps the sadness of a lost love, returning one to the laughter of tunes from….a run-away bull to perhaps a parody of Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried”, appropriately titled….”Mama Lied”. T. Edwin is absolutely “off-the-wall” with songs titled, “If I’d shot ‘ya long before I did, I’d be out of prison by now”…..”She’s a Real Good 4 ½!”….”Martian Manure” and “One Foot in the Grave”.
He is a treasure and a triumph to the singer-songwriter world. Check out house concerts on-line, find where he performing, and go enjoy one of America’s creative secrets, a genuine artist with wit, depth and sensitive introspect on life, love and libation. You will come away with a new twist to songwriting and dead-on lyrics that remain in your heart.
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At Brewer’s Alley Songwriters’ Showcase this Monday, August 20, we are pleased to bring back as the featured singer-songwriter T. EDWIN DOSS! T helped out Jeff Talmadge last week on a couple of songs, but this week he gets to sing a bunch of his own country-tinged Americana creations, including a couple of new ones that will knock your socks off! T often plays with a hot trio, but I prefer to hear him solo – just his warm, lived-in voice, excellent guitar and terrific songs! Of course, he does play the guitar the wrong way round, so it’s hard to tell which chords he’s playing – but he sounds great anyway…
For the prelude this week, ROCKIN’ RAY JOZWIAK is back with his gonzo piano, boldly taking us to places no-one has gone before, not even him! As usual, come early to find good seats for the evening and to catch the entire prelude. You can come upstairs at 7:15 pm (maybe 5 minutes or so earlier than that if Rob is ready; performers can come up when they arrive).
For three-song cameo performers this week, we have a slightly extended line-up –TOM McBRIDE, a Boston native who now lives in DC, MARY GORDON HALL, who recently moved to Hyattsville from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, MARY SUE TWOHY, best known recently for her radio program and her job as program director for Sirius XM Radio, and Todd’s Pick – MIKE HOLLAND (Todd says we’ll love him!). As time permits, we will be also hearing from the usual crew; poet JOHN HOLLY reciting his poems between other performers, and TODD C. WALKER himself, who also takes photos, helps emcee and helps run sound. TOMY WRIGHT is away this week.
MISTER RON GOAD will be flying solo on percussive things this week, fresh from backing the wonderful Dulcie Taylor at the Kennedy Center today… Incidentally, we are losing Dulcie shortly, as she is going back to California in September… We hope she will sneak into Brewer’s for a three-song set before she leaves the area. I'll continue the Goad Chronicles next week, so you can learn what our hero has been up to...
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Annual Salaries of selected 'celebrities'
-----------------------------------------------
Justin Bieber $55 million
Jennifer Lopez $12 million
Alex Rodriguez 27.5 million
Ryan Seacrest $15 million
Johan Santana $24 million
Oprah Winfrey $325 million
Peyton Manning $24 million
Judge Judy $45 million
David Letterman $28 million
Katie Couric $15 million
Tom Brady $18 million
Complain if you want and you'll only receive agreement from me, but our 'celebrities' are grossly overpaid. Whether or not they are underworked will be a topic for another time. These amounts of money, while indicative of a tremendous amount of public support (i.e., fans), is, on a pragmatic level, uncomprehendingly unnecessary for one person to thrive.
But complaining alone accomplishes nothing and saps valuable time from a life better lived.
Yet if you feel strongly about it, there IS something that you can do.
DO NOT SUPPORT THEM.
Do not buy products by them or by the merchants that sponsor them. Do not pay for a ticket to one of their concerts, CDs, DVDs or games. This and this alone removes your contribution to their hefty salaries and thus from the equation completely.
Can't do THAT!, you say?
Then don't complain.
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