It's time to get serious.....

https://www.popvox.com/

As we proceed to what will likely be the most contentious presidential inauguration in history, it's plain to see Republicans and Democrats have learned nothing from this last election cycle. Republicans are still baiting haters with racism and trying to remove the very social programs that they themselves benefit from. Democrats are still crying "unfair" over the primaries and general election and clinging to their conspiracy theories.

All this does us exactly no good. Time to stop pissing and moaning about the media and big money (who played little, if any, part in the election's outcome). Time to stop posting memes about Melania's naked pics and Donald's hair and get down to what we're going to do about the coming policies that Republicans are going to push for in the next four years. When the dystopian bills start to come through Congress and Repubs try to reverse Roe v Wade, no one will give a rat's about snarky social media posts and why Bernie or Hillary lost. For gods' sake, Democrats, get your heads out of the sand. Stop the useless wars on GMOs and the anti-vaxxing nonsense and concentrate on the coming armageddon of Republican legislation that we will face as this administration comes to power.

Our priority now should be Congress, not the 2020 Presidential election (fercryinoutloud!). Reforming Congress in 2018 is our last chance to put the brakes on a Republican agenda running wild. Past voting turnout for Midterm elections has been absolutely embarrassing. It's as if we don't know how our government works. Let's get focused on what counts...This is for all the beans. PAY ATTENTION to what Republicans will be proposing in the next two years. Contact your Congressperson. One of the best ways to do that is by opening an account at POPVOX and voting there early and often. The votes and comments go directly to your Congressperson. There is no more important thing you can do right now than try to control Congressional authority. I see Republican voters using POPVOX constantly...the numbers there always favor them. Why is this? Instead of crying over the spilled milk of the 2016 election and posting the latest  Melania meme, MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD WHERE IT COUNTS!
https://www.popvox.com/

It's Official...

....the USA has officially chosen Donald J Trump as the 45th President. I don't know about you....but this is as close to the Twilight Zone as i've ever been. Despite all of his unethical business practices, poor articulation, obvious ignorance, prejudices and pussy grabbing, a substantial number (although not the majority) of Americans gave the nod to him over the well-hated Hillary.

I'm now being told by my Conservative friends and acquaintances to  "give him a chance" and that he will "go down in history". Well, on the first item i'd say "no". If they could trash a decent, intelligent President because he was obviously Liberal and (holy jesus!) black, i suppose i can hold Trump's feet to the fire for being a lying, cheating, mostly illiterate racist and misogynist. It seems fair to me.
On the second, i'd have to agree; I remember some of the same people assuring me that George W Bush was going to "go down in history" as the greatest President ever. Turns out they were half right. He went down all right....and he'll certainly be remembered for it. But the only "great" he was, was as a liar and a loser. So, i'm now supposed to trust the judgement of these people who got it so tragically wrong in Y2K?

Here's my prediction (for what it's worth). Despite giving corporations and the wealthy more tax deals and "incentives" (actually ransom), good paying jobs with benefits will continue to diminish. Public schools will lose funding. There will be more privatization of prisons, schools, and health insurance. Health insurance costs will absolutely spike. College educations will become more expensive. COLA for Social Security will diminish (or disappear) and Medicare/Medicaid will lose funding and they'll try to go for a voucher or "health savings" system. We'll become butt buddies with Russia in the Middle East....again subverting democracy there. Look for more "boots on the ground" leading to more deaths and injuries in our armed forces, who will then be totally ignored when they return. The great "law enforcement President" will give the impression that the police are infallible, leading to more abuse, beating, arresting and shooting of minorities. More social unrest will ensue. Lots more shootings, accidental and otherwise, as the gun monkies get more and bigger death toys.

On the bright side; No wall will be built, millions will not be deported and Hillary will not go to jail for being snarky. So Conservatives will still have to cry in their beer over those.....Maybe they can find some random Democrat to blame.

I'm totally looking forward to being proved wrong over the next 4 years.....I'd hoped i was wrong about Bush. It didn't take him but a few months into his administration to prove me right.
.....and some are still in denial that he sold us out for the promise of some oil and profits for the Military-industrial Complex. But hey, that's history.

So to Conservatives i'd say; Hell no! If this guy screws the pooch, i'll be right there calling him on it. No chances. If he happens to do something right (as in something ACTUALLY right. Not just in line with Rightwingnutism) then you can let me know.

Let the games begin!

Looks like it's once again the season for my Holiday rant....

 I can't believe i've waited a whole year!

Every year there's a big to-do about what to celebrate and what should be wished. Can we say Happy Holidays or will the Christmas fanatics descend upon us again and shame us for our lack of Christian tradition? Well, i'm sorry to say it's already begun and the very people who have an enormous tree put up in NYC just to honour their Holiday are already claiming repression. I feel for them....but i can't quite reach.

I don't really celebrate Christmas. I do, however, have a Holiday that happens to coincide with it. That's Winter Solstice. The two fall only days apart and i'm convinced that the reason is that most early iron-age people didn't notice there was going to be a lengthening of the days 'til a few days after it had begun to happen. So Christmas is on the 25th of December instead of the 21st. No matter really....that's close enough for religion.

So, why do i choose Solstice over the more common American Holiday?
Well, it just seems to make more sense. It's older than Christmas. In fact its observance is older than all of the religions. If we accept that Stonehenge is the oldest physical indication that ancient people knew about the Solstices, that places that realization at some 5 thousand years ago (3,000 BCE). There may be evidence that even before that monument our ancestors knew when the sun had ceased its northward march and was "coming back". It was an important event back in the Neolithic. Knowing how soon they could expect spring was literally a matter of life and death...it's no wonder they were concerned about it. That makes the Solstice celebration the oldest traditional winter Holiday of them all.

Another reason i like the Solstice Holiday is that it's essentially non-controversial. There can be no argument about when Solstice happens or why. It's a physical thing we can all see, understand and experience. It doesn't matter what religion you believe in. It doesn't even matter if you don't believe in any religion at all....Solstice can be shared with everyone.

Good Solstice to ya!

The War On Everything But Christmas

Yes, it's that time of year again; When you can't say Happy Holidays because if you do someone will claim they can't say Merry Christmas because you did.  And so we have to hear it on FOX "News" and all over social media ad nauseum until the Season is over: "I WILL SAY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND THEY CAN'T STOP ME!"

This has gotten to where it is primarily as a result of the media and many retail outlets using "Happy Holidays" during the winter holiday season because they realize that all of their customers aren't Christians. What this is is just good marketing. It leaves no one out...it's generic (and actually INCLUDES Christmas) so customers all feel like they are welcome. It's an attempt (and a mostly effective one) to make everyone happy.....
Except Christians i guess, because they apparently don't want anyone but Christians to have a "Happy Holiday".

To put this totally into perspective, lets do a brief analysis of the words involved.
"Christmas" means literally, "Christ Mass". It's a celebration of the birth (whether he was actually born on this date or not is disputed) of Jesus Christ. So if you celebrate Christ Mass this is for you.
"Holiday" is derived from "Holy Day". If you use this you are wishing everyone (even Christians!) a good Holy Day. So there really is NO DISPUTE HERE. Christians are not excluded. But that doesn't seem to be their problem. The issue for the complainers is that others are included...and they don't want that.

So how many Holy Days do they want to leave out so that their Christ Mass can be truly Merry?
Here is a link to just the December Holy Days and festivals celebrated by various religions and cultures around the world ;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multinational_festivals_and_holidays#December

As you can see, many are Christian and many are not. I've left off New Years essentially because it comes in January...but that's normally included when one says "Happy Holidays" as well. So i suppose that in order that Christians won't feel attacked (War on Christmas!), all of those others would have to be ignored....and Happy New Year would have to be wished separately just as a precaution.

The thing is, we who say Happy Holidays really don't care if someone just wants to say Merry Christmas. I know this is hard to believe, but it's true. The problem REALLY is that they don't want to hear anything BUT Merry Christmas. Because if one wants to take notice of any other Holiday in the season it's considered an attack on their Holiday.

I personally celebrate Winter Solstice. But that's just me. I might say "Good Solstice" to those people i know who celebrate it... or i might say Happy Holidays if i'm talking to someone who doesn't. But please feel free to say "Merry Christmas"...i won't hate you... i'll say "Happy Holidays" and i promise, i'm not making war on baby Jesus.

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans! 

I really started out to celebrate this day with a good degree of optimism and good will...BUT....
I have to say i'm dismayed by the number of people who use this day as an opportunity to essentially crap on their country...posting derogatory memes that paint the USA as some kind of dysfunctional aberration. This is a shame, because we have some things we can really celebrate and be proud of in America.

We started with a really well thought out, but admittedly imperfect, democracy 239 years ago. Since then we have abolished slavery and championed equal rights for everyone. It has been slow in coming....but it has been progressive and inevitable. As Americans, we realize perhaps not entirely individually, but as a whole, that freedom must be the right of all people, regardless of faith, ethnicity, age, color or gender. We set out to do this in the beginning, and we are accomplishing it.

We have been leaders in science, education, medicine and technology. Our inventions and discoveries have made the world a better place. We were the first to set foot on another world. 

That's not to say that we haven't done things we should not be proud of. The list of our sins is somewhat longer than we should expect from a country that praises itself as a leader in liberty, democracy and morality. It's a good thing to criticize America and point out where we went wrong...informed criticism actually makes us stronger.

But today is not the day to trash America for its shortcomings. It's a day to celebrate our accomplishments. Tomorrow we can roll up our sleeves and work to make things better...to fix what doesn't work and improve what does.

Today, let's celebrate our Independence Day!

Chris Squire

The world of Progressive music has lost a true pioneer, innovator and a great artist recently; Chris Squire passed away on 27 June 2015 at the age of 67. The band YES has had a huge influence on me over the past 45 years. I felt the need to put this into words somehow....so, here we go....

Although i listened to and was aware of music all my life, my first major musical influence was The Beatles. From the first two chords of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" i was hooked. Here was a sound so unique, so captivating that i literally couldn't resist it. Beatlemania itself was secondary to that incredible sound. Four guys playing in a way that i had never considered possible. After they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show i knew i wanted to be a drummer...music had called me. When The Beatles broke up i didn't know what to do. I had relied on their creativity and diversity for inspiration. Although i listened to and played other music, few of the other bands "did it" for me.

One night my friend Fred (the guitar player in our band) stopped over my house. He said, "Ya gotta hear this music!" He dragged me (not much of an effort was required...there was nuthin' else to do) over to Mike Gallo's house (Mike was the bass player for our band "The Marauders" and later "The National Tube Pipe Co."). We knocked on his door and Fred said, "Ya gotta let Phil hear that music"......So we went up to Mike's room and he put on the vinyl of The YES Album. After about two bars of "I've Seen All Good People" i was really interested...by the end of "Yours Is No Disgrace" i had found my new Beatles.
This was really something that caught my ear....It wasn't simply more loud blues-based rock...it was totally fresh, new and inventive. YES seemed to me at the time to be the next logical musical step after The Beatles. 

When i thought about it, it had all of the essential elements. Clear high vocals (devoid of shouting and screaming) and great harmonies, poetic and thoughtful lyrics, truly creative guitar parts, high tech keyboards, drumming i had never conceived of....and bass playing that went (like Paul) far beyond just keeping the beat and playing "in the pocket". 
Like The Beatles, every album had a different sound and feel. You were always full of anticipation for the next one. When different members came and went, it made this even more pronounced...and the new players were always great musicians with unique sounds. 

YES has taken a lot of criticism from the R&R establishment. Some called them "pretentious"...others claimed the music was impossible to dance to...or that the general public (non musicians) couldn't appreciate it. But their continued success and popularity proved this to be wrong. If any band belongs in the R&R Hall of Fame, it's YES...with all of its members.

I thank Fred and Mike for turnin' me on to them, and YES...and Chris...for all the years of wonderful music!

This is Homeworld from the album The Ladder. It's one of my favourite tracks by them. As a science fiction fan i spent untold hours playing Homeworld, the video game. It was the best of both worlds...Great music and immersive science fiction...what could be better?

Westboro Baptist Church Pickets Vassar College...Students Defend LGBT Rights

 The Big Fail Of The Day Award goes to The Westboro Baptist Church who showed up to picket at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY and then left  less than an hour  later after being confronted with about 1,000 counter-protesting Vassar students who ringed the college's Main Building in a display of solidarity while loudly chanting "Love Conquers All!" Some carried posters supporting LGBT rights and love over hatred. The sound of the counter-protesters was so forceful it could be heard a full half of a mile away where i parked my car.

State and Poughkeepsie city police blocked off both ends of Raymond Ave. to through traffic due to congestion from pedestrians.

Anyone who believes that the students of today have lost the spirit of protest and social responsibility of the sixties should have seen these young people standing up against hatred and intolerance at Vassar today.

















Huffington Post:
Vassar College Students Raise Thousands In Response To Westboro Protest Threat