A Beacon In the Darkness

Yesterday was Martin Luther King day and also the seventeenth anniversary to the day of the Northridge earthquake that occurred at 4:31 in the morning. Like today that was a warm day. As congress gets back to work what Democrats have to remember is that they need to be a beacon of morality in this era of political darkness. When Sarah Palin, and perhaps the President, say that our observations on these troubled times and suggestions for remedies, are not "diversions" as Sarah Palin intones. I suggest she look up the word "diversion". Rather than divert FROM something we want to turn a laser focus on the real issues. These are the issues that Thom Hartman talked about yesterday on his radio program. They are that peace is a more noble goal than war and that solutions are to be prefered over blame casting, as even the President seemed to be engaging in last Wednesday. He not only convinced me he was attacking Democrats but also Pat Buchannon got the same impression, which is the main reason he liked the speech. President Kennedy was not one to shy away from a comitment, either to put a man on the moon, or to promote civil rights or nuclear disarmament. Both King and Kennedy were martyrs. Yesterday was a day to celebrate martyrs. Stephanie Miller was more interesting than usual yesterday. I had her on both before and after breakfast. Thom Hartman said today was the anniversary of Dwight Eisenhower giving his “Military Industrial Complex” speech, and an apt speech it was. I wish the tea party set would read and listen to it. Thomas Payne was a liberal but you'll never get the right to admit that. Hartman than played a J F K speech given on the topic of peace given in 1963 at the University of Michigan. (?) He also had speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King telling Blacks not to fight in Viet Nam. Martin Luther King also fought on behalf of economic justice, which transcends the races. The whole idea of today is that we strive for the better angels of our nature and what better way than to look upon a life that was martyred for that cause.

I looked up “Worlds in Collision” and got the Wickipedia article. Emanuel Villicosky is the guy who wrote that book and it’s sequel of “Earths in Upheaval”. He was pretty much a crack pot saying Venus passed by the earth in 1500 BC and then around 800 BC Mars passed really close to the earth. The physics of the matter is something Villocosky seems utterly ignorant of. For instance, that Venus has a very round orbit. Also there are indications that the Great Pyramid was aligned to the same cardinal directions we have today, which was built 2700 BC, if not considerably before that. Even more importantly, the moon would not maintain its consistent monthly orbit under such conditions. They just announced coffee break.

They sure love to trash John Edwards. They ignore all the good things he has accomplished in his life and how he strived for a more economically just America. As you know he consistently beat out both Obama and Hillary Clinton in the radio polls of early 2008. He was the true voice of the progressive wing of the party and not Obama. To say that one moral failing totally eliminates the great body of moral good that a man has accomplished to me is folly.

Since there isn't hard news to report yet here are a number of things from my personal life lately. This is Tuesday January 18, 2011 and the quandary about direct deposit is solved. Last night I called Terry. As it turns out his brother volunteered to take their Mother to the doctor today. Terry had to vacuum the sanctuary and said he’d be over when he was done. As it turns out that was about ten to eleven. Terry was talking to Larry in the hall. I said as he was at the door, “I’m not there” and Terry responded, “When do you get back?” We left and Terry had some stuff for me to write down about homosexuals. As we rarely encountered a red light if was difficult to write it down. He wanted to know what companies did the survey and what they got for gays, straight, and bi-sexual, as well as what years were the studies done? He then talked about Sun Su and the art of war, and I said I’d look that up on Google. At the bank I filled out the form remembering to bring along a fresh check for the number. I withdrew the twenty and asked about the ten dollar fee and the guy said he would be in next month’s statement. My balance now is $62.30 or so – so the ten hasn’t been taken out yet. Proactively he suggested we take care of the problem today so I went to this other teller to a booth and he called up Social Security and he arranged direct deposit. He said he’d use information on my license even though it’s expired. He also mentioned, “Even if you’re not driving now you’ll want to get this renewed and the $24.00 will be worth it.” The bank has a special hot line so they don’t have to wait. There was a brief wait of a few minutes during the call. The Social Security lady only wanted to talk to me very briefly. I heard Terry talking with someone behind the wall. Then we walked over to the Subway. He was willing to pay for a combo meal, so I didn’t get my usual twelve inch. I didn’t know whether certain sandwiches were excluded so just got the roast beef. You have a choice now of not only quite a few types of bread but also at least four types of cheeses and certain things like peppers are free now that they used to charge for. You could get refills on the drinks. I got an additional half cup and then an additional third cup. Terry talked and talked about the character Kato played by Bruce Lee saying it was rare way back when for Asians to actually play Asians. Mark is on Proverbs 10. The potato chips didn’t taste right, somehow. I don’t know if they were stale or what? Then he took me home. I smoked my last cigarette. The weather today has been quite warm.

I watched the soap opera. Nicole virtually agreed to bow out gracefully to Samantha. During that I went out and bought a cigarette from Gloria for a quarter. Jennifer began calling names for Money Draw before two. I went down and there was no line. I got right in and asked for and got twenty. Then I went out to the liquor store for a pack of John Black menthols. After smoking I went to see Dr. Saran. James was in front of me and had one of these real “bowl cuts”. My blood pressure is still a little high, like last time. It was 130 over 82. The doctor was not a bit concerned. I figure maybe either it’s the morning donuts or else the increased consumption of coffee that is causing it. Nora was in and out. The other side has linen changing day.

I called Mom. Her blood pressure is 150, which is too high. She’s trying different combinations of pills and is taking both calcium-magnesium, and fish oil, both of which tend to lower blood pressure. She has so much money she says she has more capital than she did a year ago despite the buckets of money she’s spending at the Regency. I can’t believe that. I told her when I quite smoking she’d be the first to know. I told her that Dana has relapsed badly on the smoking issue.

Last night it was ABC network news and Jeopardy and the Simpson’s, and then “House”. I didn’t take any pictures with the camera yesterday and haven’t today. Since I’ve had the camera I haven’t skipped two consecutive days in a row. In terms of the photo used, I was going to use that one of the power tower taken in dim light with a long exposure, but then I thought this photo was more inspirational, so that explains that.

Sergeant Shriver, brother in law to J F K, died today. He convinced Kennedy to reach out to King when he was jailed in Georgia. He founded the Peace Corps and under Johnson was instrumental in the War on Poverty. He was unsuccessful candidate for Vice President under Mc Govern. He was given an award from President Clinton in 1994. Sergeant Shriver died of Alzheimer’s and was survived by five children.

Two students were injured from a stray gun shot from a gun in a back pack that accidentally went off. One boy was grazed in the neck and the other, a girl, was shot in the temple, and that student is in critical condition. They agree the discharge was an accident. They did interrupt daily programming for it. A seventeen year old student was arrested for having a gun in his back-pack. The school was put in lock-down. (?)

Senator Joe Leiberman, the maverick democrat, and republican Kay Bailey Hutchenson have announced their retirement from congress in 2012. I don't know how people like Lieberman and Mc Cain got off the political tracks. Neither used to be the men they are today. At least Mc Cain still has a sane moment or two when he tries to temper the tea party.

I looked up “The Art of War” in the Wickipedia, and it told of the thirteen chapters and how the text may have been tinkered with but by the Han dynasty, the text appears as it does today. I think the six major dynasties are the Sung, the Chow, the Chin, the Han, the Tang, and the Ming dynasties, but there are surely others. I also looked at the latest chapter of “Wall Mart Is Not a Person” but haven’t downloaded the chapter yet. It continues warm in here now. Today may be the hottest day.

Hats off to that three year old kid conducting the orchestral recording of Beethoven’s fifth. He knew his Beethoven- - a lot better than Sarah Palin known governmental operation. He wasn’t just faking it; he was anticipating the music – (and indeed appeared to be orchestrating it). This was a You Tube video from Judy. We need people in politics and in every other profession who "know their shit", as they say. For this kid to start out so young is truely an inspiration.