pianogonzology

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Concepts. . .

. . . worth . . .

. . . considering. . .

(from Treatise On The Gods by H.L. Mencken)
". . . As I have said, the history of this great innovation (heaven and hell) is vague, and we know very little about its early stages. Many Jews, it appears, opposed it; the Sadducees, indeed, held out against it to the end. In Ecclesiastes III, 19-20, it is flouted openly: "For what befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; . . . as the one dieth, so dieth the other. . . . All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." And again in Ecclesiastes IX, 2 and 5: "All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked: to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth no: as is the good, so is the sinner. . . . For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more reward." But the idea of immortal life was too sweet to be extinguished by any such skepticism, and so it persisted among the Jews, and the scheme of post mortem rewards and punishments with it. . ."

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Monday, July 18, 2016

Challenge . . .

(More from http://www.concordmonitor.com/Azzi-Trump-media-coverage-U-S-politics-1979775.aspx)
". . . the press chose not to try to understand what was roiling the soul of an angry segment of our body politic. They chose instead to treat Trump as a celebrity and quickly realized they were all welcome to visit on his red carpet – as long as they didn’t soil his precious fabric. . . The Fourth Estate should insist: Donald Trump, prove that you opposed the Iraq War before it happened. Donald Trump, prove that you saw thousands of New Jersey Muslims celebrating 9/11 by dancing on rooftops. Donald Trump, prove that the unemployment rate may be as high as “42 percent.” Donald Trump, prove that (America is) the most highly taxed nation in the world. Together we’ve all watched as the press became his Boswells, his Bob Woodwards, his stenographers, chroniclers of process than of content, more worshipful of celebrity than of truth. . . .The Fourth Estate, succumbing to its own parochial interests, has failed to deconstruct Trump’s narratives and lies, especially those that might possibly expose its complicity and coziness with power elites and celebrity. . . During 2015, out of 77 Trump statements checked by Pulitzer-Prize winning PolitiFact, 76 percent were rated Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire – a record unmatched by any other candidate. While knowledge is irrelevant to Trump, to Trump’s partisans – or to Trump supporters who hate Hillary Clinton more than they love America – such a candidate should be daily challenged by the press, which should deny him a platform until he fully submits to answering questions. Ignoring truth leads to constraints over what gets publicly discussed and challenged and jeopardizes the American public’s ability to make well-informed decisions about issues of national interest, policy and political leaders. . ."

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Sunday, July 17, 2016

Inadequate. . .

. . . education . . .

(from http://www.concordmonitor.com/Azzi-Trump-media-coverage-U-S-politics-1979775.aspx)
". . .‘It’s a universal law – intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education,” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote. “An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.”. . . a sad reflection of the state of politics and education in America. Such is the result, too, of a media more obsessed with celebrity and acceptance than with representing the interests of civil society. . . Of a media more engaged with style than substance, profits than policy, access than accuracy. At a time where the political barbarism of Donald Trump – the original “Birther” who fed the anti-Obama movement from the beginning – has given license to his followers to engage in delusionary, racist rhetoric against women and whole communities of minority Americans, the press chose to treat Trump-ism as a soap-opera phenomena rather than as a challenge to American values. That there are Americans who are today celebrating the anointment of a charismatic professional bully, serial liar, misogynist, xenophobic demagogue who divides through hatred in order to conquer is not only the result of eight years of a nativist, racist revival movement but proof that a nation created on the promise of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness still has a long way to go to fulfill its promise to all its citizens. . . The very media that failed us after 9/11, that failed us during Afghanistan and Iraq and the so-called “War on Terror,” and later failed to directly confront institutional corruption, corporate oligarchs and ruling elites. Now, they have failed to directly confront the rise of nativism, white nationalism, bigotry and racism that followed President Obama’s election. . ."

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Saturday, July 16, 2016

Q&A . . .

Q- Should she , as a supreme court justice, have crossed the ethical line to take a stand against a major party’s presidential candidate?
A- No.

Q- Should she have made such explosive, unprecedented, and unethical statements?
A-No.

Q- Should she have admitted she didn’t “want to think about” the possibility of a Trump presidency
in light of her position?
A- No.

Q- Should she have done what any sane person facing a fascist leader should do, in spite of her position?

A- YES!!! . . .

[Q- Has any other public figure spoken the truth so eloquently as did she?

A- NO!!!]

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Friday, July 15, 2016

Live . . .

. . . recording from Bourbon Street on the Beach, July 8, 2016 by OHO. . .

Heard somebody say
They overheard you
Just the other day
A simple word
About the way we get along
If only I were sure
Of the semantics
Having doubts 'cause I'm
One hopeless romantic
Could it be
You're slipping away from me

What will I do
If what I'm thinking is true
And you want to be
Really free of me
I won't last very long
Very far from your heart
And this third-hand intelligence
Might be the way that it starts.

Heard somebody say
They thought they saw you
Walking in their way
You were not alone
They said he didn't look like
Thinking to myself
Must be mistaken
Try not to believe
but still badly shaken
Why would you
Deceive me in things you do

So many years
Sharing our laughter and tears
Lasted very long
Maybe I was wrong
Not to ask you
Why you feel
We've drifted apart
And this third-hand intelligence
Might be the way that it starts

Are my sources reliable
It could be
It could be
Is my psyche too pliable
Wait and see
Wait and see

If somebody said
Would you believe it's true
And change your direction
From spinning round
When it hits the ground
That's just not true
Any believers are few
When you've seen it all
It could never fall

Any more than
I think you could
Tear us apart
And this third-hand intelligence
Might be the way that it starts

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Thursday, July 14, 2016

Still . . .

. . . supporting??? . . .

(from http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/07/07/donald-trumps-pledge-to-defend-article-xii-of-constitution-raises-eyebrows/)
". . . At a closed-door meeting with House Republicans, Mr. Trump took a question about the U.S. Constitution. . . In attempting to demonstrate his reverence for the U.S. Constitution, Mr. Trump said that he supported not just Article I, but an Article XII as well. That caused some brows to furrow, because the U.S. Constitution has only seven articles. . . "

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Wednesday, July 13, 2016

History . . .

. . . can teach . . .

(http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/the_nra_once_supported_gun_control/)
". . . For nearly a century after, its founding in 1871, the National Rifle Association was among America’s foremost pro-gun control organizations. It was not until 1977 when the NRA that Americans know today emerged, after libertarians who equated owning a gun with the epitome of freedom and fomented widespread distrust against government—if not armed insurrection—emerged after staging a hostile leadership coup. . . In the years since, an NRA that once encouraged better markmanship and reasonable gun control laws gave way to an advocacy organization and political force that saw more guns as the answer to society’s worst violence, whether arming commercial airline pilots after 9/11 or teachers after the Newtown, while opposing new restrictions on gun usage.. . It is hard to believe that the NRA was committed to gun-control laws for most of the 20th century—helping to write most of the federal laws restricting gun use until the 1980s. . . “Historically, the leadership of the NRA was more open-minded about gun control than someone familiar with the modern NRA might imagine,” wrote Adam Winkler, a Second Amendment scholar at U.C.L.A. Law School, in his 2011 book, Gunfight: The Battle Over The Right To Bear Arms In America. “The Second Amendment was not nearly as central to the NRA’s identity for most of the organization’s history.”. . ."

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