Entitlements....

Definition: Merriam-Webster: belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain priveledges.

Why does it sound like priveledged or special when someone on the right says the word entitlements? Like, "We have to deal with entitlements to get this budget under control." The same thing happened to the word liberal years ago. It became synonymous with socialist or communist  for the majority. Why can't they call it what it really is? It's a promise made to us years ago by our government. A promise we made choices about because it was there.  

Irony

I love some weird things...like olives, and my wife. But I really love irony. It satisfies some strange place within me. And, I think, last week I saw the most amazing example of irony. Japan's earthquake and tsunami started a nuclear crisis in Japan that may take decades to sort out...if it ever can be. In the same way, it took decades, decades ago, to heal that nation after being the first to experience the atomic bomb: http://www.videojug.com/film/hiroshima-after-the-atom-bomb-1946 

What odds would Vegas give that the same nation could be changed forever by both the peaceful and wartime use of nuclear power?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBjTzcdopkw

A Walk on the Wild Side

I can't shake this feeling. The shit is coming down faster and faster. It's "the quickening". Japan, the quake, tsunami, nuclear meltdown, the magnetic north pole shift, oil flooding the Gulf...(it's still there...killing). I see myself flowing with the tsunami, banging off buildings and trees and...then down a crack, a Rabbit Hole into nothing.... ("Eternal nothingness is fine if you happen to be dressed for it." -Woody Allen.) I've really tried to be a nice guy. Pretty vanilla really.... Maybe it's time.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KaWSOlASWc 

I second this nomination.

Laurel Krause is a Facebook friend and I second the nomination of her sister, Allison, for mention and honor this Women's History Month:

JOIN ME in honoring Allison Krause for Women's History Month in 2011. Allison was a nineteen year old coed at Kent State University in 1970. On May 4th, in the national guard occupation of her campus, Allison was shot dead as she protested the Vietnam war. Sandy, Jeff & Bill were also killed and nine students were wounded in this action to suppress dissent against war in America. The incident triggered national outrage in a country already divided over the Vietnam war. In the days that followed more than four million students rose up in dissent across 900 campuses, generating the only nationwide student protest in U.S. history. The Kent State killings have never been thoroughly examined and no person or group has been held accountable for wrongdoing. Here's a poem on Allison published in the Congressional Record December 2010 and at my blog. Please read & learn ~ http://bit.ly/fgI0h2 The Kent State Truth Tribunal was formed by Allison Krause's family to uncover, record and preserve the TRUTH at Kent State 1970 here ~ http://bit.ly/aIPE4b Watch this amazing video on Allison by Walter Theodore Wynn ~ http://bit.ly/63xySE 

Someone actually spoke their mind at the Oscars....

When director Charles Ferguson accepted the Oscar, last night, for Best Documentary, he joined that rare club of people that, under the spotlight that is the Academy Awards spectacle, avoided the bullshit and spoke the truth. In his film, Inside Job, he eviscerated Wall Street players, economists, and bureaucrats for their crimes and misdemeanors. And, yesterday, he brought life to that annual self praise-a-thon called the Oscars when he said, "Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after a horrific financial crisis caused by massive fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that's wrong." Thanks Charlie.... 

This link is his speech. Click on the box below the story:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/28/charles-ferguson-oscar-speech-inside-job_n_828963.html?ref=tw

Click here for the movie's trailer...it's riveting:
http://www.bing.com/movies/search?q=Inside+Job&id=mc94575&p=Trailers&FORM=DTPSHA

Life aboard a Frigate....

I've packed my duffel and bid adieu to friends, lovers, and reality and stepped aboard my new ship, the Frigate All. She picked me up at the East 9th Street Pier here in Cleveland with the sounds of gulls chirping overhead and the smell of frozen fish floating around us. I have to turn my back on my world for a few moments...the numbness in my head and heart is sending screams of I don't care out my piehole. How else is an old liberal idealist to keep on moving? The brick wall my head kisses daily...sometime hourly...needs the blood and flesh hosed off again...and a nice scent - patchouli maybe? - applied generously. I won't be gone for long. You see, I care. And I rage against the dying of the light...of compassion and fairness and sharing, as the Mad Hatter takes over. Maybe some mushroom tea? Please pass the sugar.

Choices....

We will be bombarded with fascinating choices made in Congress this year. Irony runs rampant. Check this out: http://www.blogforchoice.com/archives/2011/02/birth-control-f.html ....