when libs actually said something

Oh, for the good old days when entertainers made actual comments about what was actually happening in society. People are just useless today with their politically correct speech.

I was quoting the Masochism Tango to my daughter earlier and we went to You Tube to find it. Video below. Then I started going through Tom Lehrer’s bits. Just perfect – when you grow you will disgust me … smile at people inferior to you for just one week … Catholics are funny with their rituals … there’s nothing more fun than poisoning the pigeons in the park. All the videos are below, and all the lyrics here.

The Masochism Tango



When You are Old and Grey



National Brotherhood Week



Poisoning Pigeons in the Park



The Vatican Rug

eating rats

I picked up this article on boycotting an Israeli water company from life in israel. Seems the water comes from the Golan Heights, which the folks organizing the boycott (which has now resulted in a cancellation of the services contract) is predicated upon the land being merely occupied by Israelis and actually belonging to the Syrians. Sounds like a quibble to me. Historically, the lands belonged to Israel. I guess all the politically correct care about are recent claims. The isolation of Israel in advance of the End Times continues. Tell me, when will Russia place “peace-keeping” forces in the Palestinian-occupied lands?

I can get to the tenth and final level of this game, but not past the windmill in that level. After two hours, I started to act out and had to stop.

When I was in high school (1976) I saw Kingfish at the Masonic Theatre in Scranton. The band was centered around Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead. Very small venue, full of mind-altering substances, great time. In 1984 or thereabouts, I saw the Dead at their Mecca – The Greek Theatre at Cal-Berkeley. I brought a bottle of juice with me. The ticket guy asked me if it was electric. I said, “Do I look like I still do acid?” He smiled and let me in, juice still in hand. It was a full liter – enough to make $500 or so – if it was anything other than what it was, which was just juice. I was drifting through the Internet Archive and found Bob’s current band, Ratdog, and a live recording. You can search on top and find more. I also found – and you can look yourself – a lot of Phil Lesh live. Sadly, he is performing much like a Grateful Dead Tribute band. Too many Dead songs in the sets. Guess Bob was the real artist.

Want access to a huge collection of Dead concert audio? Read this and enjoy topping off your hard disk.

I can’t recall if I linked this poster-creation site before – your pic, your words. Enjoy.


Nuf said, eh?

river stones

There’s an old Jewish story – old being before the Maccabees – about the flat stones found in the southern foothills of the mountains. The stones were clearly river stones, but no river was there, nor had one ever been there to anyone’s knowledge.

In the mountains beyond the foothills were eagles that were particularly vicious hunters. They were patient and nothing escaped their attacks.

As the cold weather came to the regions north of the mountains, the geese would fly south over the mountains. As they honked to each other in flight, their honks also told the vicious eagles of their presence. The eagles would soar to the heights of the geese, and drag their bodies back to the eagles’ nest to be eaten.

Over time, the geese learned to stop and rest before crossing the mountains. They would each take a stone from a riverbed north of the mountains into their mouths. They would then fly over the mountains silently, as the river stone filled their mouths and they could not honk. Since they flew so high and so quietly, the eagles were never aware of their presence.

As the geese cleared the mountains, they would drop the river stones from their mouths. Hence, the river stones in a place where no river ever flowed.

The direct interpretation of the story was that there was a time to speak and a time not to speak. Speaking at the wrong time could have dire consequences.

I like to step back from the story and find a more general meaning. There is a time when some acts are appropriate, and a time when those same acts are not appropriate. Doing an act out of its proper time can have, indeed, dire consequences.

Even more generally, there is a season for acts. Sometimes those seasons end and never come back. Continuing to do an act beyond its season can have dire consequences.

“Dire consequences” can never be looked at too narrowly. Effects can be direct to the actor, direct to those acted upon, or indirect to those two or others beyond that limited group.

This discussion reminds me of teaching Ethics. No act ever occurs in a vacuum. It is as if every act creates energy. The energy of every act ever performed lingers to this day. A bad act today can affect perceptions and decisions decades from now.

I always liked the simple ethics test called, “newspaper headline.” What if your acts were fully described on page one of the newspaper for all to read – friend, family, and foe alike. Would you still do the same act in the same way? Could you defend your actions to your harshest critics? What will you say when the dire consequences become public?

I think I shall be reminded to review my own acts every time I find a flat stone.