Kids!!!. . .

. . . play nice!


(from http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/05/19304066-white-house-hails-june-jobs-report-gop-searches-for-flaws?lite)
". . . According to the latest jobs report, the US economy added 195,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate holds at 7.6 percent...The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.6 percent, though the report was highlighted by the jobs figure, which outpaced most forecasters’ estimates...the report on Friday offered a modest political boon to President Barack Obama. Despite dire warnings about the effect of the ongoing sequester – the automatic, indiscriminate cuts to federal spending that were enacted earlier this year – the economy continues to add jobs, though not at the type of robust pace that would be needed to further reduce the unemployment rate.

But Republicans seized on some indicators of persistent economic weakness in the jobs report, namely a surge in part-time workers reflected in the statistics, and an uptick in the U-6 unemployment rate from 13.8 percent in May to 14.3 percent in June. The U-6 rate is a broader measure of unemployment, which includes discouraged workers and the underemployed.

“There’s some good news in this report, but economic growth is still tepid, the unemployment rate is far too high, and the president continues to promote policies that undermine robust job creation,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in a statement..."

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Dream . . .

This is the kind of bull-pucky that our 'friends' in the media provide daily; a recent article about 'The American Dream', chock full of what they produce best - NOTHING!!!

This little gem begins by reminding us that we too can achieve success.  Then they promptly tell us the definition of success,  "The big home in the suburbs, the luxury cars in the garage, the kids off to a good college and the retirement in a sunny locale."  Funny how Merriam-Webster views success in  more spiritual, less-tawdry and materialistic terms as "favorable or desired outcome; also : the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence". 

From the stock, bullshit 'American Dream' teaser and half-assed success definitions, this fine piece of writing moves on to another constantly and frequently misrepresented concept, the economy, and says that the weak job market is thwarting the best efforts of good honest folk (like you and me) to 'get ahead', by which I PRESUME they mean attain the aforementioned (theirs, not Merriam-Webster's) 'success'.  Now I'm not unrealistic or particularly cold-hearted about the job situation and the difficulties some people are currently experiencing with employment and lack thereof.  But somehow I think that our journalistic scribes are providing us with third-grade-level oversimplifications of the situation.

The particular tome that provoked my ire went on to, in short, states that although many present-day citizens truly believe that Americans all have an  equal ability to achieve success if they merely (and that's a BIG merely) work hard.  It does not venture (at least I did not detect it) into any possibility that there exist many additional factors in education, employment, the economy and geography that exert substantial influence in the seeking, achievement and  maintenance of something called success.

The best, and most intellectually substantial,  part of the article was a quote from the academic world that, in summary, stated possibly Americans need to rethink the definition of the American Dream, putting less focus on having a huge house and lots of cars and more focus on building successful communities. Whiles supporting our families is certainly important, “we need to scale back what the American Dream means to us.” 

And may I add, we must be more critical of what we read in the news and not be so childishly willing to accept everything in print as true and factual.

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Ocean. . .

. . . City


O - C - E - A - N   C - I - T-Y   
O - C - E - A - N   C - I - T-Y
On your mark get set
Disconnect that internet
Every girl and boy
Breathing in the joy
Not a care at last
Sit outside and bask
In rays of summer's bliss 

Crabs and fish and shells
Feel your tension spell
Fries and pizza pie
Smiles won't be denied
Everything is cool
in 2 1 8 4 2
Feel the sparkle in your eyes

Catch a wave and ride
Cars and motorbikes
Bikini babes in the sand
Vibin' to rockin' bands
Ocean City

From Memorial to Labor Day
We beckon you to play
To a boardwalk beat
Miles and miles of beach
Your memories to take
Currents dance and sway
leave your footprints in the sand

Fireworks at night
Give your love a kiss
Sail and fish the sea
Here life is a beach
in Ocean City

Now is the time that's right
For you only live once
Time does drag when it's all work and no fun
The ocean gateway calls you
Sport your shorts and shades
It's so divine to dine at life's buffet
It's almost heaven and
There's so much more we can say

Catch a wave and ride
Cool cars and motorbikes
Bikinis on the sand
Dance to rockin' bands
Ocean City


Ocean City Ditty
written by John P. Graboski
© Copyright 2012 OHO Music
performed by Oho (rehearsal recording)





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Silliness. . .

. . . for a good cause. . .


(from http://www.today.com/entertainment/mick-jaggers-hair-sells-6-000-auction-6C10547234)
An anonymous buyer snapped up a lock of Mick Jagger's hair for $6,000 after bidders pushed the price to double its pre-sale estimate, auction house Bonhams said. The clump of hair was sold by the Rolling Stone's former girlfriend Chrissie Shrimpton, who is also the sister of 1960s English model Jean Shrimpton and first met Jagger when he was still an unknown student at the London School of Economics. The hair, which comes in an envelope bearing the message "Mick Jagger's hair after being washed + trimmed by Chris at Rose Hill Farm," was sold on Wednesday to raise money for the Changing Faces charity, which works with people who have suffered facial disfigurements.

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Just a Game?. . .

. . . dare I?. . .

. . . dare you? . . .

30th Annual MASC Accepting Entries
with Early Bird Prizes for Entering by July 15th!

GRAND PRIZE WINNER  $1000 + more
Second Prize  $500 + more
Third Prize  $250 + more
Category Gold  $100 + more
BMI Songwriter Award  $300
Director's Choice Award
Young Artist Award (21 & under!)  $100 + more

Awarding Prizes in 11 categories
Adult Contemporary * Children's * Country/Bluegrass * Folk/Acoustic
  Gospel/Inspirational/Christian * Instrumental (all genres) * Open
Pop * R&B/Hip Hop/Urban * Rock/Alternative * Vocal Jazz & Blues
 
EARLY BIRD DEADLINE: July 15, 2013
FINAL POSTMARK DEADLINE: September 15, 2013

EARLY BIRD PRIZES:  A $50 Gift Card and a 2-year SAW Memberships
will be given to two Winners drawn from all entries submitted by July 15th.
Enter 3 Ways:
Online at  www.saw.org
Sonicbids at  www.sonicbids.com
Mail on an Official Entry Form
(pdf available at  www.saw.org)

See complete list of Prizes and Rules at  https://masc.saw.org
Entries accepted from around the World.

                              SAW Member Rates         Non-Member Rates
1 - 5 Songs            $22 per song                     $26 per song
6 - 10 Songs           $20 per song                     $24 per song
11 - 15 Songs         $18 per song                     $20 per song

Presented by the Songwriters Association of Washington
Prize Sponsors: BMI, Mary Cliff’s “Traditions", NERFA, SERFA, FARM, Bias Studios
Cue Recording, Recording Arts, Institute of Musical Traditions, FrameYourCD,
Oasis Disc Manufacturing, Sonicbids

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Obscure. . .

. . . history. . .

(from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/05/0501_river5.html)
On April 27, 1865, the steamboat Sultana, some seven miles north of Memphis, Tennessee, carrying 2,300 just-released Union prisoners of war, plus crew and civilian passengers, exploded and sank. Some 1,700 people died.

It was the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history, more costly than even the April 14, 1912 sinking of the Titanic, when 1,517 people were lost. But because the Sultana went down when it did, the disaster was not well covered in the newspapers or magazines, and was soon forgotten. It is scarcely remembered today.

April 1865 was a busy month; On April 9, at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrendered. Five days later President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. On April 26 his assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was caught and killed. That same day General Joseph Johnson surrendered the last large Confederate army. Shortly thereafter Union troops captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The Civil War was over. Northern newspapers rejoiced.

News of a terrible steamboat tragedy was relegated to the newspaper's back pages. In a nation desensitized to death, 1,700 more did not seem such an enormous tragedy that it does today.

The accident happened at 2 a.m., when three of the steamship's four boilers exploded. The reason the death toll was almost exactly equal to the number of Union troops killed at the battle of Shiloh (1,758) was gross government incompetence. The Sultana was legally registered to carry 376 people. She had six times more than that on board, due to the bribery of army officers and the extreme desire of the former POWs to get home.

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Free. . .

. . . dom

“We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.”
-Edward R. Murrow

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
-Benjamin Franklin

“Freedom lies in being bold."
-Robert Frost

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”
-Abraham Lincoln

“When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.”
-Thomas Jefferson

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