Conscience

You can't trust corporate America, and you can't trust the government, so you have to trust your conscience. How do you trust your conscience?  Know yourself. How do you know yourself?  Know your mind, know your heart, know your soul.  Know these aspects by study, practicing empathy, getting to know others as deeply as possible and learning all of the above with honesty, tact and compassion. Then, if someone tells you to do something you know is wrong, there will be one less blindly complicit human being and one more length of stride toward creating a world to be proud of.

Freedom from What, Exactly?

As the rich get richer, they get smarter with marketing.  How else could the fashion industry make so many people think that $200 jeans made by Chinese slave children are better to have than cheap ones you can get for $21.99?   Remember always, as those of us who were alive in the sixties still can, that corporate backing is the push behind Republican politics - and the subtext of, "keep the government out of my life," is "I don't want rules that stop me from doing whatever I want, regardless of the effect my behavior has on anybody else." 

Freedom has more to do with being civil to others and sharing responsiblity than it does with letting the people who own the most own ever more without paying a proportionate share of taxes or being held accountable to the rules the rest of are bound to.  It's a falsehood to claim that deregulation (for one example) represents some form of freedom.   Well, I guess in some ways it does represent freedom - freedom from the American Dream.

Read:
Separate but unequal: Charts show growing rich-poor gap
by Zachary Roth

"The Great Recession and the slump that followed have triggered a jobs crisis that's been making headlines since before President Obama was in office, and that will likely be with us for years. But the American economy is also plagued by a less-noted, but just as serious, problem: Simply put, over the last 30 years, the gap between rich and poor has widened into a chasm."

IamIsaid

Listen to Neil Diamond's classic, I Am I Said with a subtle twist, as performed by osullivus mattox virtuous in special sessions, December 2010.
Iamisaid by jeanosullivan

This recording made under terms of fair use to evoke discussion about dynamics of volume and the messages carried through presentation, for educational purposes.

King Queen of the Road

Photo: Larry Sterling (w/graphics added)

Listen to Roger Miller's classic performed by osullivus, mattox, virtuous in special sessions in December, 2010.  Recorded under terms of fair use as a prompt for discussions on musical phrasing as well as the sociology of gender stereotypes.

King Queen of the Road by jeanosullivan

vocals and guitar, osullivus; vox-trombone, mattox; drums and percussion, virtuous.

Dog Alone

The dog across the alley barks in distressed repetition
I feel sorry for her
but am getting mad at the same time.
Sharp edged it hurts my ears.
My instincts are to save her
From harm, alarm, fear
But it's just that she's alone again, again
again, again.  How?

I would throw some food over the fence to make her stop
But would they think a neighbor had tried to poison her?

The other night I opened the window,
turning off the lights, and yelled, 'QUIET!"
so loud my voice echoed through the darkness.
I could see kids playing in a yard a couple of houses down
freezing in mid-frolic
repeating perfectly intoned whispers of my shout
as their mom ushered them inside.
So now I don't yell  "QUIET!" anymore,
although the dog did stop.

I Think This is a Good Song

A good song, a nice bike ride, a fireplace and full moon, a seashore and sand, a galaxy and clay, just some of the elements of an ideal day. I Think This is a Good Song. Featuring the trio: osullivus, mattox, virtuous playing an original score.

From the Category: Backward

Think about it: it wasn't that long ago that in Alabama two men could walk into a bar and within just a few minutes one would be served a beer and the other would be murdered.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told a church crowd just moments into his new administration that those who have not accepted Jesus as their savior are not his brothers and sisters.
 
This guy just shifted the hate over a little, that's all.  And, as it was before the Civil Rights Movement, he seems to think there is nothing wrong with his approach.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday!

"And another reason I'm happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands didn't force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them.  Men for years now have been talking about war and peace. But now no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "I've Been to the Mountaintop" April 3, 1968.

Le Ballon Rouge

Et le Ballon Rouge!
(in four parts)

part 1



part 2



part 3


part 4

Paddle to the Sea

On Film Day at school in the 1960's, we learned about art, history, safety, what to do in a nuclear blast, good table manners, how to revere a new book, and we got to see this film, "Paddle to the Sea."  It's a story of innocence and good luck - and geography.

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3

Footwork

Temptations performing, "My Girl".  Simply delightful. 


(Embedding was disabled so click the link.)

Finding a Voice

It's the story of the golden voiced homeless man in Ohio.  Usually these "amazing talented person!" videos turn out not to be amazing.  This one turns out to be amazing.

"This clip speaks for itself -- literally. The Columbus Dispatch discovered a homeless man along Ohio's I-71 claiming to have 'the God-given gift of voice,' and what began as your everyday viral video has exploded into a life-changing experience for one man. Yesterday morning he was a panhandler; today he's the most in-demand voice personality in the world..."

Read the story. Watch the videos.  Here's a guy who gets sober, finds his spiritual path, focuses on the good, and does not fade away.  Not everyone who does the above survives or thrives, but here's one who is having a good upswing, and that is pleasing.

Virtual non Virtuoso

"I know about everything and I know nothing," said the internet junkie.

One for the Good Guys

They've invented an airbag for bicyclist's heads
to use instead of a helmet
So they can ride with the wind in their hair
and be protected should they crash, flip or plummet.

This is a good use of human ingenuity
I like it better than guns
I like it better than a war machine
that's brighter than a million suns.

There you go cruising freely through life,
when abruptly, your course is diverted.
A neutral protector that springs into action
Is quite the oppostite of perverted.

No Further Condemnation; Free to be a Condomnation!

Pope declares condom use less evil than spread of HIV.  "'This is a game-changer,' declared the Rev. James Martin, a prominent Jesuit writer and editor."  See, this just goes  to show, sometimes you gotta do what's right, even if the voice of authority has not yet figured out the obvious.

Black Hole Physics for Non Math Types

I got this info from a reliable source, though I don't remember if it was Nova or something on the History Channel: 

To understand the density of a black hole, imagine the earth at its current weight and size.  Now imagine it squeezed down to the size of a golf ball, but keep the weight the same.  The density would be so high the gravitational field would suck everything into it, even light. Et voila!

If it's too upsetting, just don't imagine it with any of the earth's creatures being involved.

Here's a story about the new baby black hole!

"War is Not Healthy For...

"Children and Other Living Things" ...such as soldiers and their families, to for example.  War is obsolete; we're too smart now to pretend it's just a series of territorial exercises (aren't we?).

Art Imitates Art

I couldn't help noticing the similarities (and each from the depths).

Click on pic to see bigger version.

That $163 Million Could have Helped California

"Meg Whitman spent at least $163 million on her bid for the California governorship. How much is that exactly? If a baby born today were destined to spend $163 million from now until the age of 90, he or she would have to spend nearly $5,000 per day, every day, until the year 2100 to reach the $163 million mark!"*

*CSU Employees Union

Stuff Written Down Left Lying Around

German Diplomats weren't so diplomatic after all.