FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN by Leonard Cohen

They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'd really like to live beside you, baby
I love your body and your spirit and your clothes
But you see that line there moving through the station?
I told you, I told you, told you I was one of those

Ah, you loved me as a loser
But now you're worried that I just might win
You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline
How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I don't like your fashion business, mister
And I don't like these drugs that keep you thin
I don't like what happened to my sister
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'd really like to live beside you, baby
I love your body and your spirit and your clothes
But you see that line there movin' through the station?
I told you, I told you, told you I was one of those

And I thank you for those items that you sent me
The monkey and the plywood violin
I practiced every night, now I'm ready
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I am guided

Ah, remember me, I used to live for music
Remember me, I brought your groceries in
Well, it's Father's Day and everybody's wounded
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

The Art Of Freak Dancing

It is my belief that it is the diversification in this country; The Great Melting Pot, that has always been the driving force of progress, that we have adapted, changed course, and held high the standard for others to immolate proudly.

A good example of this multi-ethnic blending was the band,” Santana,” that exploded on the music rock scene when they played at Woodstock. Santana’s Afro-Latin rhythms which pioneered a blend of rock, salsa, and jazz fusion took rock to a whole new level and direction that no one was expecting. The band's sound was a blend of the Black, Latin, and White members and featured Carlo’s melodic, B.B. King influenced blues-based guitar lines, set against Black Soul base lines, and Latin percussion such as timbales and congas.

This is why I have chosen this video clip for you to enjoy. So dance like no one is watching, let yourself go, and embrace the diversity that is OURS!!

All Is Now Forgiven With The Irsay Family From A Childhood Baltimore Colts Fan

As a child I grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore. I remember well the excitement in 1958 when the “Greatest Game Ever Played,” was unfolded before us all in Baltimore. This is when the underdog, “The Baltimore Colts,” beat the much favored “New York Giants,” for the nationally televised championship football game.

So many future Hall Of Fame players like Frank Gifford, Rosey Brown, Sam Huff, Don Maynard, Andy Robustelli, and Emlen Tunnell played on this Giants team. On the other hand Baltimore had only been in the league for 6 seasons as an expansion team. Coached by Weeb Ewbanks who had future Hall Of Fame players like the GREAT Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, Alan “The Horse” Ameche, Lenny Moore, Gino Marchetti, and Don Joyce. Football historians have given the credit to Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry for inventing the “2 minute drill.”

Yes in 1953 the Baltimore Colts, (who use to be the Dallas Texans and were moved to Baltimore), were now here in 1958 playing for the National Football League Championship. The Colts name came about because of the tradition of Baltimore’s rich history with racing, and breeding of horses. The obvious example of this history being the second leg of the triple crown, “The Preakness Stakes.”

The game was played on December 28, 1958 at Yankee Stadium in New York. The 1958 game was the 26th annual NFL championship game. To add to this drama, this was the first nationally televised Championship Football game and the game played out better than if someone had written a suspenseful script. The Colts beat the Giants 23-17 in overtime, earning their first ever championship. The game would later be known as “The Greatest Game Ever Played!” Then as if to prove that they were not just a fluke, there was a rematch between the two teams in 1959 and the Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants again by a score of 31 to 16.

The Colts went on to play and win many Championships and later Super Bowls establishing many memories to the young “Engineer of Knowledge.” As a child playing quarterback in little league football teams in the area…I did not know any better than my heroes who played for the Colts….that they did not walk on water.

I remember all too well my father, a physical education major school teacher, surprised me one Sunday in 1967 and took me to Memorial Stadium to see the Baltimore Colts play the Minnesota Vikings. We sat on the 50 yard line, 6 rows back from the field, and I watched Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry work their magic. The tickets cost $7.00 each and I can say that this day was one of the best days of my life!

Well I can only say that it is hard to describe the feeling when Bob Irsay, with Mayflower moving vans, snuck away in the dead of that cold, snowy night; and stole my Baltimore Colts along with my fondest childhood memories, to Indianapolis. Little did anyone know on that December 18, 1983, the Colts would play their final game in Baltimore. Almost after the season ending win at Memorial Stadium; Colts owner Robert Irsay began talking to other cities about moving the club. On February 13th he toured the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis and the rest is history.

To this day football fans in Baltimore still burn in effigy the image of Bob Irsay. Even though we are now Baltimore Raven’s football fans, “named after the Edgar Allen Poe poem, “The Raven,” still will not forgive and move on past their distain and hatred of anyone with the Irsay family name.

By now you must be asking, “Engineer, where are you going with this story and isn’t your title, “All Is Now Forgiven?” My answer to you is “YES.” I can say today that on a personal level, I can forgive the son Jim Irsay for his father’s sins of stealing my Baltimore Colts and childhood memories because Jim, as the owner of the Colts and with the foresight of what is best for the NFL; VOTED AGAINST RUSH LIMBAUGH FROM OWNING THE ST. LOUIS RAMS!!!!!

I want to say to Jim Irsay that he has single handily with his vote restored my faith in professional football and enabled me to release my resentment and inwardly held anger after these so many years. In closing I want to say “THANK YOU” and may nothing but good things happen for you in the future.

White House Openly Confronts Fox News’s Lies!

There have always been factions that publish or make public oppositional political viewpoints with their own slant to a sitting President in the past, but Fox News has gone to the extreme of just propagating blatant lies.
Harry S. Truman banned reporters he disliked from his presidential yacht. Franklin Roosevelt placed his journalistic critics out of earshot at the back of the room during presidential press conferences.
No such subtleties in Barack Obama's White House. The White House is taking a full out frontal assault exposing the Fox News Channel calling quite bluntly, “their broadcasting of lies.” Of course the White House does not expect an apology from the network’s owner and driving conservative force, Rupert Murdoch.
As a response to the Fox News’s propensity to fabricate facts and inaccurate broadcasting topics for the sole purpose of showing the President in a bad light, the Obama White House gave all major networks interviews except Fox News for their Sunday talk shows. Chris Wallace of Fox News response was to simply call the White House "the biggest bunch of crybabies." (Oooooh, what a scathing editorial from this intellectual group. Is this the best that Fox News has? Name calling?)
One of the White House's main targets to date is Glenn Beck, the conservative Fox News commentator whose rants of provocative commentaries that are more often full of inaccurate and misstatements than not.
This past Wednesday, September 30, 2009, Glenn “Blowhard” Beck went on a negative rant about President Obama going to Copenhagen to try to get the Summer Olympics for Chicago. The White House’s counter attack pointed out Beck's lack of research of the subject and misinformation by referencing the financial losses Vancouver sustained hosting the Olympics. What any well read person knows is that Vancouver won't host the Olympics until 2010, and the clueless Beck should have said the Calgary Olympics.
Beck has also gone on another negative rant to say that President Obama’s confidante, Valerie Jarrett, had participated in a controversial August phone call that attempted to recruit artists to create works that promoted President Barack Obama's policies. The White House noted that Jarrett did not participate in any such call. Just another fabricated incorrect lie for the sole attempt to make the President look bad.
Now of course Beck has stated that the White House political director, Patrick Gaspard, had ties to ACORN but the Pulitzer Prize winning Web site, PolitiFact quickly debunked these claims by publishing the facts, and once again, Glenn “Blowhard” Beck, had just made up more lies to base his arguments against the President. PolitiFact has posted and debunked many false claims with regards to the White House that Glenn “Blowhard” Beck continues to repeat along with others on the Fox News Network.
As I see it, the White House has no other option but to meet these falsehoods head-on at every turn or the lies will have a tendency to take on a life of their own to be quoted by the conservative lemmings who want nothing more than to believe them to be true. The President said in his speech to Congress that he would call out those that misrepresented his record and that includes ideological news outlets like Fox News and its various commentators. "In this day and age," Dan Pfeiffer, the White House deputy communications director, added, "every falsehood must be met head-on no matter how absurd the charge or discredited the source."
Now in conclusion, I do want to caution this administrations calling every inaccurate comment a “lie” because it could end up like the old fable, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” but do not be afraid to call it what it is and do not back down from its meaning. When there's a willfully dishonest statement made by these fabricating conservative bias personalities, attack and expose the “LIES” when there is not any question in the context that it is being referred to, and do not be afraid to call it a “LIE” as an accurate use of the word.

Where Have All the Christians Gone?

In a recent study of Americans’ religious beliefs shows the number of people who claim no religious affiliation has doubled since 1990, a reduction of fifteen percent, and is the highest point in history.
Those whom identify themselves as Christians are taking plummeting losses in America, while the number of non-believers is on the increase. Non-believers now represent the third-highest group of Americans, after Catholics and Baptists.

Protestants now represent half of all Americans, down almost 20 percent in the last twenty years. If this trend keeps up, in the near future America will become a minority Protestant nation for the first time since the pilgrims.

The demographics of those rejecting organized religion are the under 30 young people. Nearly a quarter of Americans in their 20’s professing no organized religion.

I should state at this time that these non-believers are not particularly atheist. Instead, these individuals have a belief in God but no interest in organized religion, or they believe in a personal God but not in a formal faith tradition.
Organized religions that have been catering to the fanatical right wing aspect believers have been a recipe for failure. It has only turned off and exposed the hypocritical views of this group and turned off the freer thinking younger Americans. Many of the “20 something’s” in Americans who could be interested in God, but they don’t think existing institutions are helping them draw closer to God. The constant drone of the religious right wing political preaching just does not hold up to the truths they can see for themselves.

It is also a fact that Americans’ interest in religion has not always been stable. It dipped following the Revolution and again following Civil War. In both cases it rebounded because religious institutions adapted and found new ways of relating to everyday Americans.

Today, the rise of disaffection is so powerful that different denominations will need to band together for financial reason and transform into shared religious message that will enable a movement beyond the fading divisions of the past traditions. If organized religion does not adapt then America will just become like Europe, where religion is fast becoming an afterthought.

Bravo Senator Gram

I am writing this piece from the prospective of my moderate Republican views. I want to pass on a job well done for Senator Gram with regards to his most recent comments of the fanatic right wing.

Senator Gram’s straightforward and brave account of how far the right wing lunatic fringe the Republican Party is tending to. Senator Gram told a conference hosted by Atlantic magazine the Glenn Beck is aligned with that strange group I like to call “very rich white men whining” and said about Beck, “Only in America can you make that much money whining. He (Beck) is aligned with cynicism but we became a great nation not because we are a nation of cynics but a nation of believers.”

Senator Gram also called those who claim President Obama was not born in America “crazy” and told them to knock this crap off and get on to more significant problems.” He went on to say, “I’m here to tell you those who think the president was not born in Hawaii are crazy.”

Good for Senator Graham. He also stated he was very worried about the passions that cable news cannels were whipping up in recent weeks.

For those who have read my postings before, I have stated and essentially predicted the current poisonous atmosphere could lead to an assassination attempt on President Obama. Graham stated, “If you get rewarded for being a jerk, you are going to just keep doing it.” Graham pointed out a recent article in Newsmax magazine, a far right wing rag, which said a military coup against President Obama could happen as an example of the media madness.

It is a good thing that there are Republicans like myself and Senator Graham who are not afraid to criticize their own political party. We can only hope that such truth and decency will permeate many more politicians at this dangerous time. America badly needs it!