Saturday, May 29, 2010

Thursday, May 27, 2010

The Tao of Spartacus Jones



Never believe anything until it's been officially denied.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Race the Wind

In a long-forgotten Dream

Eagle soared effortlessly across a sky

Clean and blue

Chuckling streams capered along

Cold and clear

The hooves of buffalo

Tickled the earth with their dance

And People were free

To live as they pleased

To stay or go

Give tongue to their thoughts

Give action to their heart

And ask no man’s leave

And ponies raced with the wind.


sj



art by Wendy Froshay

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

I Want to Be in the Cavalry



My much-beloved brother sent me the link to this tune.
I'll tell you like told him...

This hits me lots of different wayse
Musically, it's very well done. Got that Irish reel/jig feel that gets you going; can hardly sit still, much less keep your toe quiet.
Lyrically, pretty good. Nice repeating line; great sing-along potential.
Gets stuck in your head.

I remember when I was young and stupid.
Just my kind of song.
If I had to choose, hell, yes, the cavalry.

But that was before I saw my first stiff.
Before my first real close call.
Before my "That could have been me" epiphany.
Since then I've learned that death isn't gallant or heroic or chivalrous.
It's just fucking permanent.
And yet....if I HAD to choose today, right this second -- hell, yes, cavalry.

The ending moment is a nice touch.
The drummer dropping his sticks.
The realization...

So I love this tune and I hate it.
Love it for the lure of gallantry.
Hate it for all the sad young men who have died in the vain pursuit of that gallantry.
And for all those who will.

sj

Monday, May 17, 2010

Ain't it about time.....?

Man is said to have domesticated the horse around 6000 years ago.

Give or take.

Opinions vary, but apparently it was on a week-end.

That’s a long time to keep company.

I had a teacher, who's no longer in this world, who told me that the Creator realized he’d inadvertently made human beings sort of puny and stupid. The Creator then made the horse to help us out, to be our teacher, our helper and our companion.

Humans took “teacher, helper and companion” and turned it into “slave, weapon and toy.”

Insert a long sigh right about here.

One thing for sure.

Horses have learned a whole lot more about the nature of human beings, than human beings have learned about the nature of horses.



sj



Saturday, May 15, 2010

Play it, Sam. You know the one...




This is my favorite version of my all-time favorite song since I was about 10 years old.
That's Ketty Lester on the torch.

sj

Redemption

I know I see the world differently, thanks to him.
I see things, feel things, know things that I wouldn't otherwise.
I know that my life is better for having him in it.
I hope he'd say the same about me.

sj

Friday, May 14, 2010

A Crime is a Crime is a Crime

It doesn't matter WHO does it.
Do the same crime, do the same time.


sj


It does not matter if you think his opponents in the factional infighting to control a blood-soaked empire and its war machine are "worse" than he is in some measure. When you support him, when you defend him, when you excuse him, it is arbitrary murder that you are supporting. It is the absolute negation of every single principle of enlightenment and human rights professed by liberals, progressives -- indeed, by honorable people of every political stripe -- for centuries.

http://uruknet.com/?p=m65930&hd=&size=1&l=e


Monday, May 10, 2010

FOX TO GUARD HENHOUSE


President Oh-Bummer does it again.
Read it and weep.

sj



Obama's Natural Choice of Kagan


by


Glenn Greenwald



It's anything but surprising that President Obama has chosen Elena Kagan to replace John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. Nothing is a better fit for this White House than a blank slate, institution-loyal, seemingly principle-free careerist who spent the last 15 months as the Obama administration's lawyer vigorously defending every one of his assertions of extremely broad executive authority. The Obama administration is filled to the brim with exactly such individuals -- as is reflected by its actions and policies -- and this is just one more to add to the pile. The fact that she'll be replacing someone like John Paul Stevens and likely sitting on the Supreme Court for the next three decades or so makes it much more consequential than most, but it is not a departure from the standard Obama approach...



READ THE REST:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/10-3


Sunday, May 9, 2010

Cool Mann




Herbie Mann.
Used to listen to this cat a lot.
Still sounds great.

Hope you dig it, too.

sj

Saturday, May 8, 2010

It Ain't Rocket Surgey

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

In Memoriam


May 4, 1970.
The Ohio National Guard shot and killed 4 unarmed students and wounded 9 more.
Why?
The students were protesting Nixon's escalation of the war in Vietnam and the presence of the National Guard on campus.
They had a constitutionally guaranteed right to speak out, to petition the government for redress of grievances, to peacefully assemble.

The National Guard shot them anyway.
None of the killers was ever prosecuted.

Killing unarmed protesters was nothing new in the Land of the Free.
But previously, this practice hd only been used against the poor and non-white.
This time, it was middle-class white kids who got shot.
America was officially devouring its young.

40 years later, we have another illegal, immoral war-for-profit.
And now we have "free speech zones," and rampant wire-tapping, and indefinite detention and "extra-judicial assassination" (otherwise known as "murder") of American citizens by Presidential fiat.

Bye-bye, Miss Ameican pie, the day that Liberty died.

sj

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Rain, rain....


Hot, humid.
Needs to rain.
That's ok with me.

Rain makes the grass green and green grass makes the ponies happy.

I'm good with that.

I just need a new hat.


sj