It’s hard to believe airline travel was ever this comfortable and luxurious:
Category Archives: Social Commentary
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
A couple of Irish songs to celebrate the day:
First Bing Crosby:
And:
An Irish Classic from the late, great Eva Cassidy:
Filed under Entertainment, Social Commentary
The Radicalization of Debbie Reynolds
This is one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen. I’m kind of speechless. Vintage Debbie Reynolds doing a protest song, “If I Had a Hammer” as a production number in the 1960’s. This must be what the Right Wing means when they talk about Limousine Liberals….
Just for reference, here is Peter, Paul and Mary doing the same song at the March on Washington for Civil Rights in 1963. Two different worlds at around the same time…think about it.
Filed under Entertainment, Social Commentary
Bill Moyers Journal: Do Americans Suffer From an “Allergy to Thought?”
This article reinforces a lot of my concerns and fears about communication and education in America today. No one seems to be concerned with delving deeply in to issues or listening to people with whom they might not agree.
As the product of a Liberal Arts Education, this horrifies me. I naturally question everything. To me, the purpose of education is to put some structure around this process of questioning, encourage critical thinking and to teach one how to differentiate between facts and opinions then to draw one’s own opinion based on facts and deduction. I’m afraid this has become a quaint, outdated concept.
This says it better than I can:
Bill Moyers Journal: Do Americans Suffer From an “Allergy to Thought?”.
Filed under Politics, Social Commentary
A Corporation Runs For Congress
A friend called my attention to this article and I wanted to help spread the word on this issue. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance and Corporations.
The Supreme Court ruled many, many years ago that Corporations have the same rights as Individuals. If that isn’t Capitalism run amok, I don’t know what is. Corporations are the product of labor and ideas, not individual entities themselves. They are a collective legal entity designed to produce a profit, and sometimes goods or services.
I would love to hear the so-called Christian Right’s take on this…If Corporations are Individuals and if life begins at conception, who screws whom to create a Corporation?
The Republican Party obviously thinks Corporations are more important than people and the Government, in general, is much more attentive to Corporate needs than those of the vanishing Middle Class. This makes them kind of a privileged, super class of person– with “Special Rights” as they say, not Civil Rights. When Corporations- and Airlines- fail, the Government rushes to their aid. When Katrina strikes New Orleans, they fiddle as a major city drowns.
This article covers a story about a Corporation that is running for Congress. Not a person in the Corporation but the Corporation itself. They are doing this to make a point: Corporations are not people. They are also making the point that too many Congressional Representatives are just representing Corporations, not the people. I hope this gets more attention.
The idea that Corporations are people needs to be clarified by the Courts at some point– just not now. The current Right Wing Roberts Supreme Court would probably decide the Corporations had more special rights and were more important than actual people. We need to wait for a Supreme Court that is not a wholly owned subsidiary of the Corporate Right Wing before we try to clarify this Constitutional point.
Here is the link to the article. Thanks to Kirk for sending it to me….
Campaign stunt launches a corporate ‘candidate’ for Congress – washingtonpost.com.
Filed under Politics, Social Commentary
Bill Maher: New Rule: Let’s Not Fire the Teachers When Students Don’t Learn — Let’s Fire the Parents
I love Bill Maher. As usual, he’s both right and funny:
From HuffingtonPost.com
Bill Maher: New Rule: Let’s Not Fire the Teachers When Students Don’t Learn — Let’s Fire the Parents.
Filed under Politics, Social Commentary
You Belong With Me – Same-sex crush version
I really thought this was a very sweet, cute video so I wanted to share it here.
Filed under Entertainment, Social Commentary
Nothing But the Dead and Dying Back In My Little Town
Just back from a quick trip up to my home town of Danville, Va….it always makes me think of this old Paul Simon song..
In my little town
I grew up believ–ing
God keeps His eye on us all
And He used to lean upon me
As I pledged allegiance to the wall
Lord I recall
My little town
Coming home after school
Flying my bike past the gates
Of the factories
My mom doing the laundry
Hanging our shirts
In the dirty breeze
And after it rains
There’s a rainbow
And all of the colors are black
It’s not that the colors aren’t there
It’s just imagin-ation they lack
Everything’s the same
Back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying
Back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying
Back in my little town
In my little town
I never meant nothin’
I was just my fathers son
Saving my money
Dreaming of glory
Twitching like a finger
On the trigger of a gun
Leaving nothing but the dead and dying
Back in my little town
Repeat and fade:
Nothing but the dead and dying
Back in my little town
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It’s really sad to go back there…It’s a dying town and mostly only has itself to blame. It’s sad to see them tearing down Dan River Mills and the whole city just seems rundown. It seems to have an air of hopelessness. I don’t know what people do for jobs there now. Nothing but chain stores and chain restaurants. It seems to be losing it’s character and whatever made it pretty and somewhat unique. Really sad…
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Filed under My Journey, Social Commentary
Ten Ways to Improve Air Travel
One of the reasons I don’t post as often as I might like is that I travel on business about 50% of the time. I’ve been doing this for almost 15 years now and I’ve really seen first hand the decline in quality of life for airline travelers. A lot of it– most of it– is the fault of the airlines, but my fellow travelers are also contributing heavily to the unpleasantness of travel through their own behavior. Here are 10 suggestions I think would improve the process for all of us.
1. Weld all airline seats to a stationary position. I’m tired of some drunken businessman laying in my lap and blocking my reading light all the way across the country. I never recline my seat. Not only does this lead to poor posture, I find the seat is even more uncomfortable reclined than upright. Exceptions would be made for overnight flights only.
2. Allow pets in the cabin and put ill behaved children in the cargo hold in pet carriers. Not only would it deter terrorists if we had numerous dogs loose in the cabin, it would be much more pleasant than having some kid kicking your seat from coast to coast, screaming and crying at the top of their lungs or whining unattractively.
3. Either increase the width of the seat or enforce the policy for severely over weight people to have to buy two seats. God knows I could lose a few pounds and I hate to say this, but it really makes for an uncomfortable flight if the person next to you taking half of your space. If you have spent 5 hours hanging halfway into the aisle or unable to move your shoulders because the person next to you takes up so much space, you will know what I mean.
4. Limit carry on bags and enforce the limits. I’m sick and tired of people practically dragging steamer trunks onto 30 seater planes, then seeming amazed that they don’t fit in the overhead.
5. Deliver checked luggage in a timely manner. We now have to pay the airlines to handle checked baggage, so they should handle it quickly. I’m tired of waiting up to 45 minutes after landing for my bags to arrive.
6. Ban carry on food. Either provide it or sell it, but don’t make me smell a meatball sub for hours in a confined, ill ventilated space.
7. Define “weather” delays so the airlines don’t use it as a catch all excuse not to staff or schedule appropriately or pay for hotel rooms for passengers they leave stranded. I’ve seen the airlines use this excuse too many times when they strand people for several days due to canceled flights when there either is no weather issue or it was several days previous to the delay or cancelation.
8. Don’t let airlines claim an “on time” departure from pushback from the gate. Require it to be when the plane actually is airborne. This would greatly reduce the time spent sitting on planes on the tarmack.
9. Start calling “Flight Attendants” Stewards and Stewardesses again. This might bring their attitudes down a notch and make them a little less uppity and mean.
10. Nationalize the airlines and start over by reselling them to someone with a viable new business plan and customer focused strategy. We’ve gone so far downhill, this may be the only true fix….
Filed under My Journey, Social Commentary
Lost in the 21st Century 
“A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand”
A Republican once said this….Abraham Lincoln in 1858. He was paraphrasing Jesus in the New Testament. How far the party of Lincoln has fallen and will continue to fall if the Teabaggers take control and have their way. With the loud mouthes and empty heads on Fox News leading the way, the civility has all but disappeared from politics. Their goal seems to be to make governing impossible. The GOP has perfected wedge politics and I’m afraid it’s led to the current state of affairs. They want to keep the country divided so nothing can be accomplished in Washington.
There was a time when people respected differences of opinion and agreed to disagree. That concept seems kind of quaint now. I think CNN and “Crossfire” started the yelling and screaming on the media side. Then Fox News perfected it. Now it’s all about who can scream the loudest and facts are irrelevant to the conversation. So is civility and mutual respect.
You can’t fan the flames of ignorance without starting a fire.
Fox News and the corporate funders of the Teabagger movement have really started something dangerous with these Teabaggers. Encouraging ignorant fools like these can only lead to trouble. They think they can control these people, but they can’t. They are feeding a frenzy that I’m afraid is going to lead to violence. Domestic Terrorists are every bit as dangerous as Islamic Terrorists. Remember Oklahoma City and Timothy McVeigh.
I also can’t believe how much hate is being shown here in the name of God and religion. I don’t know how these haters can call themselves Christians. It is truly sad…and scary.
AMERICAblog News: Teabagger protester yells ‘faggot’ at gay Rep. Barney Frank in US House bldg, another calls black congressman the n-word.
Tea Partiers Call Lewis ‘N****r’, Frank ‘F****t’, At Capitol Hill Protest | TPMDC.
Think Progress » Tea Party sign threatens gun violence if health care passes..
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Filed under Politics, Social Commentary