To The Lost
by Jack Brummet
These pictures open a door
I thought was shut forever.
Behind the door is a friend
Who never got to go grey.
The door creaks open.
I am afraid to look inside.
---o0o---
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Poem: To The Lost
To The Lost
These pictures open a door
I thought was shut forever.
Behind the door is a friend
Who never got to go grey.
The door creaks open.
I am afraid to look inside.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Dubai's Big Time Sewage Problem
By Jack Brummet, Travel Editor
Dubai is a new city of massive, wacky and often brilliant skyscrapers. But, alas, since they were all built quite recently, the city's sewer system is not even close to keeping up.
As NPR's "Fresh Air" reported last month, only a very few of these edifices are actually hooked up to the central municipal sewer system. All the rest of the towers must install massive storage tanks and hire huge fleets of tanker trucks to carry away the waste. These buildings work basically like RV's! The tanker trucks, when they pull into the overburdened central treatment plants, are often forced to wait on line, for as long as 24 hours at a time, to dispose of their "cargo."
Dubai is a new city of massive, wacky and often brilliant skyscrapers. But, alas, since they were all built quite recently, the city's sewer system is not even close to keeping up.
As NPR's "Fresh Air" reported last month, only a very few of these edifices are actually hooked up to the central municipal sewer system. All the rest of the towers must install massive storage tanks and hire huge fleets of tanker trucks to carry away the waste. These buildings work basically like RV's! The tanker trucks, when they pull into the overburdened central treatment plants, are often forced to wait on line, for as long as 24 hours at a time, to dispose of their "cargo."
---o0o---
Marvin Gaye "heard it through the grapevine" hit No. 1 on the charts 43 years ago today::::::How Marvin changed the music biz
By Jack Brummet, Music History Editor
43 years ago today, in 1968, Marvin Gaye hit No. 1 on the charts with "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," one of the great R&B songs of all time, and the biggest selling Motown single up to then.
MG also changed the way that corner of the music business worked. He controlled the recording and arrangements of the song, and along with Buddy Holly, Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, and other makers and creators, broke the crooked--and stifling--music business system where artists ("talent") were robots, answering to the producers and A&R men. MG's album "What's Goin' On?" with its sweet melange of of funk, jazz, and Latin soul was a strident departure from the Motown Sound, and was Motown's first really autonomous work, made without the "help" of Motown's staff producers, A&R men, or Barry Gordy himself.
43 years ago today, in 1968, Marvin Gaye hit No. 1 on the charts with "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," one of the great R&B songs of all time, and the biggest selling Motown single up to then.
MG also changed the way that corner of the music business worked. He controlled the recording and arrangements of the song, and along with Buddy Holly, Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, and other makers and creators, broke the crooked--and stifling--music business system where artists ("talent") were robots, answering to the producers and A&R men. MG's album "What's Goin' On?" with its sweet melange of of funk, jazz, and Latin soul was a strident departure from the Motown Sound, and was Motown's first really autonomous work, made without the "help" of Motown's staff producers, A&R men, or Barry Gordy himself.
---o0o---
A blast from the past--> South Park: Jesus vs. Santa Claus (NSFW)
A very early South Park. Most definitely NSFW -- includes strong language and images of Jesus some of you may find disturbing. /Pablo Fanque
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Quote of the day: David Axelrod likens Ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich to a monkey's butt
"I told my colleagues yesterday a bit of homespun wisdom I got from an alderman in Chicago some years ago when one of his colleagues wanted to run for higher office and he was really dubious. He said, ‘just remember the higher a monkey climbs on a pole, the more you can see his butt.’ So, you know, the Speaker is very high on the pole right now and we’ll see how people like the view." - David Axelrod, Obama Campaign Senior Strategist
---o0o---
A crazy music video by Marc Gómez del Moral (definitely NSFW)
Warning--not safe for work, includes abundant nudity, a couple of disturbing images, and some politically incorrect scenes. This video is delightfully messed up, and fascinating. . .
EL GUINCHO | Bombay
EL GUINCHO | Bombay from MGdM | Marc Gómez del Moral on Vimeo.
---o0o---
Monday, December 12, 2011
Serial Adulterer Newt Gingrich "Endorses" The Iowa Marriage Pledge
By Mona Goldwater, Ethics Editor
From today's @NewYorkTimes: "Newt Gingrich became the latest Republican candidate to endorse the so-called marriage pledge, a controversial document put forward by an influential evangelical group in Iowa that opposes same-sex marriage and abortion."
"Mr. Gingrich stopped short of signing the pledge, however."
The Iowa pledge, put together by the Family Leader, asks candidates to try to block same-sex marriage and women “in forward combat roles.” It also requires pledgees to remain faithful to their spouses and support “robust childbearing and reproduction.”
Newt didn't actually sign; he just "endorsed" it. Perry, Bachmann, and Santorum all did sign the pledge. Newt, of course, is the only one in the field who has publicly admitted to cheating on two of his wives (so far).
The pledge's relevant section follows. If Newt is really reformed, as he claims, it looks like he can endorse the Pledge with a (more or less) clear conscience:
"9 — As applicable if married now, wed in the future, or whenever interacting with another's spouse, a person of the opposite sex or of personal attraction. No signer herein claims to be without past wrongdoing, including that of adultery. Yet going forward, each hereby vows fidelity to his or her marital vows, to his or her spouse, to all strictures and commandments against adultery, and to resist the lure of pornography destructive to marital intimacy."
Mr. Gingrich is off the hook with the pledge for his past sins.
The most interesting part of the pledge is where they get into economics. WTF? How is this in the Marriage Pledge?:
"Commitment to downsizing government and the enormous burden upon American families of the USA‟s $14.3 trillion public debt, its $77 trillion in unfunded liabilities, its $1.5 trillion federal deficit, and its $3.5 trillion federal budget." Again, this is in "The Marriage Vow."
From today's @NewYorkTimes: "Newt Gingrich became the latest Republican candidate to endorse the so-called marriage pledge, a controversial document put forward by an influential evangelical group in Iowa that opposes same-sex marriage and abortion."
"Mr. Gingrich stopped short of signing the pledge, however."
The Iowa pledge, put together by the Family Leader, asks candidates to try to block same-sex marriage and women “in forward combat roles.” It also requires pledgees to remain faithful to their spouses and support “robust childbearing and reproduction.”
Newt didn't actually sign; he just "endorsed" it. Perry, Bachmann, and Santorum all did sign the pledge. Newt, of course, is the only one in the field who has publicly admitted to cheating on two of his wives (so far).
The pledge's relevant section follows. If Newt is really reformed, as he claims, it looks like he can endorse the Pledge with a (more or less) clear conscience:
"9 — As applicable if married now, wed in the future, or whenever interacting with another's spouse, a person of the opposite sex or of personal attraction. No signer herein claims to be without past wrongdoing, including that of adultery. Yet going forward, each hereby vows fidelity to his or her marital vows, to his or her spouse, to all strictures and commandments against adultery, and to resist the lure of pornography destructive to marital intimacy."
Mr. Gingrich is off the hook with the pledge for his past sins.
The most interesting part of the pledge is where they get into economics. WTF? How is this in the Marriage Pledge?:
"Commitment to downsizing government and the enormous burden upon American families of the USA‟s $14.3 trillion public debt, its $77 trillion in unfunded liabilities, its $1.5 trillion federal deficit, and its $3.5 trillion federal budget." Again, this is in "The Marriage Vow."
---o0o---
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Contrary to the wingnuts' claims, BHO is no dove. He's a Scoop Jackson Democrat.
Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
---o0o---
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Friday, December 09, 2011
John Lennon's involuntary departure
By Jack Brummet, Rock Ed. and NYC/Metro Ed.
"Imagine no John Lennon." December 8th is such a sad day. I just read a piece about Lennon on The Norton Report.
We lived a few blocks away from the Dakota and often caught glimpses of John and Yoko around the UWS. I remember Keelin was in a store on Columbus once, and they cleared the store because the Lennons were coming in to shop.
That night, December 8th. 1980, we could hear the sirens from our place on W. 84th. I was listening to Vin Scelsa on WNEW-FM 102.7, when he got word that his friend had been assassinated. It was utterly devastating listening to Vin's reaction. There was such a pall over New York those next few days; it was heartbreaking. New York had bounced back a little bit from the lows of the mid-to late 70's. And then, this. In our town. One of our flawed, but great heroes, eliminated. . .
"Imagine no John Lennon." December 8th is such a sad day. I just read a piece about Lennon on The Norton Report.
We lived a few blocks away from the Dakota and often caught glimpses of John and Yoko around the UWS. I remember Keelin was in a store on Columbus once, and they cleared the store because the Lennons were coming in to shop.
That night, December 8th. 1980, we could hear the sirens from our place on W. 84th. I was listening to Vin Scelsa on WNEW-FM 102.7, when he got word that his friend had been assassinated. It was utterly devastating listening to Vin's reaction. There was such a pall over New York those next few days; it was heartbreaking. New York had bounced back a little bit from the lows of the mid-to late 70's. And then, this. In our town. One of our flawed, but great heroes, eliminated. . .
---o0o---
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