Sunday Songs

A blend of older and newer and older.

I started listening to Neil Diamond's "Love on the Rocks" from the Jazz Singer, drifted to Tony Bennett and then ended up with Lady Gaga and finished with Adelle - which suggests that my music tastes are varied and somewhat less than predictable. So I though that I'd share some Sunday Songs.

Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present. As of 2001, Diamond had sold over 115 million records worldwide including 48 million in the USA alone. He is considered to be the third most successful artist on the Billboard chart behind Barbara Streisand and Elton John.

Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Lady Gaga came to prominence as a recording artist following the release of her debut album The Fame (2008), which was a critical and commercial success that topped charts around the world and included the international number-one singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". Lady Gaga is recognized for her flamboyant, diverse and outré contributions to the music industry through her fashion, performances and music videos. She has sold an estimated 23 million albums and 64 million singles worldwide, making her one of the best selling music artists of all time.

Anthony Dominick Benedetto, better known as Tony Bennett (born August 3, 1926), is an Italian-American singer. Bennett is also a serious and accomplished painter, having created works—under the name Anthony Benedetto—that are on permanent public display in several institutions. He is the founder of the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in New York City. He has sold over 50 million records worldwide.

Living a Life in Harmony

Good judgment comes from bad experience.

Bad experience comes from bad judgment.

Bad judgment comes from ignoring good advice.

Good advice comes from good judgment.

And then, maybe "judgment" has nothing to do with it?

or maybe it goes like this---

And sometimes you just have to "go for it"?

Another Obama Endorsement

A grown woman who appears not to be disabled and who loves her free ObamaPhone protests at a Romney rally in the middle of the day. You know, when most people are at work.

She delivers an eloquent endorsement to re-elect Barack Obama as president for four more years. The telephone is free to people who the government feeds and clothes. When you consider that 47% of Americans pay no federal income tax, she's likely part of that group.

Who pays for her "Obama phone"?  -- I guess that I do.

How did she qualify for her free telephone and free calling service?

• Disability?  ....looked like she was moving around just fine.
• "Foo" stamps?  ....looked well fed to me.
• Social Security? ....didn't look to be old enough.

Consider that vote bought. Ohio is one of the 'must win' swing states in this election and President Obama is using taxpayer money to bribe those who pay no taxes to vote for him.

God helps those who help themselves. Obama helps those who don't.

A day at pre-school

Sometimes I have to take off the super-suit and just be Clark Kent. I know that's shocking to you blog readers, but it's true.

Alyssa (age 3) is in pre-school while her mother works at her law office. Last week I took a morning to visit her at school. Little girls have a way of getting into Grandpa's heart.

After some classroom work, we had spaghetti (as special meal that the kids helped make). I wear a gold ring with a coiled dragon on it (kyokushin third degree black) that some of my friends also have. Alyssa is obsessed with the ring. She didn't want to eat her spaghetti. She wanted to play, and who wouldn't. I told her that I'd let her wear my ring but if she did, she'd have to eat her spaghetti like a dragon. Keep in mind that she just had noodles in her bowl, no sauce. So she agreed, and wolfed down the lunch.

Alyssa (with her Aunt Amanda and cousin, Cannon) loves so swim even more than go to pre-school. Her favorite films are "How to Train your Dragon" (thus the importance of the dragon ring) and "Tangled.

Photos from the Front Lines

Prisoners

Detained by the Mexican Navy (SEMAR)

It has become the face of modern Mexico

SSP detainees marched in from a UH-60 Blackhawk provided by USGOV

Mexican Muslim wanna-be insurgent

Female narco with .30 cal Browning machine-gun detained by female federales

USGOV supplied equipment supporting the endless war on drugs

Just waiting for a ride out of the hot zone - and that big bird home

With every war there is time for reflection, and that usually comes at the end of the day or the mission, when things are calming down and the adrenalin void begins to hit.

T-Ball

One for all - All for one!

Griffin #3

Today the Temecula Diamondbacks (D-Backs) took on the Temecula Athletics in a fierce game of T-Ball. 

As with all T-Ball contests where the team members are three years old, there is a lot of confusion. However, it all counts in the right direction. 

T-Ball is one of those stages in a child's development where they are all truly all-stars. I'm not one of those people who pronounces that 'everyone is a winner', but since the goal here is to build sportsmanship, help enhance and refine coordination skills, etc. and generally let the kids have a good time - they all win.

However, if you asked Griffin who won, he would tell you that the D-Backs showed the Athletics how it was done downtown!

Home Run #3!!!

Cannon, waiting for two more years so he can stand behind the plate!

Bad Decorating

I don't know that this is the ULTIMATE expression of horrible taste, but it's somewhere in the top ten.

Sons of Anarchy - Season 5

Living the life of THE CUT.

"Harleys were a lot more fun when they were 'exclusively' ridden by angry, violent, intoxicated, anti-social, poorly groomed, heavily tattooed MANIACS."

Having been a patched Hessian in the 1990's, I can say that while Sons of Anarchy is only a television show, it's well done and comes a lot closer to genuine than most television series. The Hessians were exclusively white as were the Hell's Angels, the Hessian's only substantial rival in Southern California for many years. If you wanted to be a scooter tramp and you were black or latino, you joined the Vagos or the Mongols.

Kurt Sutter, creator of Sons of Anarchy, shares some of the new challenges for Jax & Tara on season 5.

A few out-takes.

TV Show Review: Revolution

Revolution takes place in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian future. Fifteen years earlier, an unknown phenomenon disabled all advanced technology on the planet, ranging from computers and electronics to car engines, jet engines, and batteries. People were forced to adapt to a world without technology, and due to the collapse of public order, many areas are ruled by warlords and militias. The series focuses on the Matheson family, who possess an item that is the key to not only finding out what happened fifteen years ago, but also a possible way to reverse its effects. However, they must elude various enemy groups who want to possess that power for themselves. (Wikipedia)

-Criticism- 

Fifteen years from the "end of civilization as we know it" people are primarily armed with state-of-the art graphite compound and recurve crossbows with composite arrows/bolts with plastic vanes/fletching but they have a very light draw weight that means arrows won't pass through the target. Just stick in it about two inches. Call me picky, but archery with even a modest throw (IBO Speed: 300 fps +/-) will pass COMPLETELY THROUGH a human body at even a range of thirty or forty meters. Now if they were dipping the heads (pointy end) in some sort of fast acting neurotoxin or venom, I could see the quick kill - maybe. However, archery has a habit of bleeding out its victims, not rendering a quick kill. The wound channels are large but people don't just drop dead unless you make a very solid head shot. And the people in this series don't make head shots because it's made for prime time viewing.

The 'militia' also carries flintlock muskets and some of the very cool people have modern rifles and pistols that fire fixed ammunition. Come on - fifteen years from now there are no more modern weapons IN AMERICA? Whoever made the movie must not get out much. We live in a society that is armed to the teeth.

Nobody wears camouflage clothing, nobody travels at night. Charlotte "Charlie" Matheson, an attractive early twenties woman (Tracy Spiridakos, age 24) and her young, attractive blonde step-mother partner with an forty-something unarmed nerd to travel across hostile terrain in search of a missing uncle (sort of a ninja - former US Marine Corps sergeant).

NBC wants a clean, politically correct television show that is so unrealistic and "silly" that IMHO, it's not worth watching.

Music: Bob Seger

I don't mind dating myself with a music review here. It is what it is, baby!

Robert Clark "Bob" Seger (born May 6, 1945) is an American rock and roll singer who put the Silver Bullet Band together and in 1976, achieved national break-out with the album Night Moves. A roots rocker with a classic raspy, shouting voice, Seger wrote and recorded songs that dealt with blue collar themes and was an exemplar of heartland rock. 

Fire Lake is a song about taking risks. Gypsy leathers refers to the notion that you are not affiliated with a gang and that you're going to take life by the horns. Playing cards and accepting it if it comes up, "Eights and Aces".

Uncle Joe was married to Aunt Sarah but he decided to bag the marriage, jump on his motorcycle and run off to Fire Lake.

Night Moves is about -- night moves.

Glen Doherty RIP

WOBURN, Mass. - A Massachusetts woman says her brother was among the Americans killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya.

Kate Quigley said in a statement Thursday that Glen Doherty "lived his life to the fullest." Quigley spoke outside her mother's home in Woburn, north of Boston. She asked for privacy while the family grieved "our American hero."

Three Americans were killed at the consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday along with U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. The State Department has not publicly released all their names.

Quigley has said in media interviews that her 42-year-old brother was a former Navy SEAL who was worked for a private security company.

Family and friends, as well as Woburn's police chief and State Rep. James Dwyer of Woburn stopped by the home to offer condolences.

Take the World

Chorus to TAKE THE WORLD

Your pulse it races with mine and I swear that there's no other girl
Your body shakes, it's like tonight we can take the world
Your pulse it races with mine and I swear we can take the world

She Wants Revenge is one of those newer groups that isn't all that well known but their music has a unique feel to it that appeals to me. The group is a musical duo, based in the San Fernando Valley (suburb of Los Angeles), California. The group's debut album She Wants Revenge was released in early 2006, with three singles to follow ("These Things," a video featuring Shirley Manson from Garbage, "Out of Control," and "Tear You Apart" for which the video was directed by Joaquin Phoenix). The band has sold more than 300,000 records in the US. The band's second album,This Is Forever, was released on October 9, 2007.

The group's third album, entitled Valleyheart, was released on May 23, 2011. Take the World is featured in that album and is available on iTunes for about a dollar.

Tear You Apart is another hit (mentioned above) and the video is edgy. You can check it out on YouTube HERE.

Fighting Child Poverty

In America, progressives and the mainstream media promote homosexual marriage over traditional marriage for the sake of political expediency and their agendas. Politicians who gain political hay by promoting 'class warfare' have a vested interest in establishing a voting base of more single mothers out there needing government assistance. Thus, those in need are inclined to vote for politicians who promise them a free ride. 

However the numbers show with shocking clarity that the best way to fight child poverty is to promote the institution of marriage. Government programs do not effectively fight child poverty.

On Wednesday, The Heritage Foundation introduced a new web page illustrating how marriage protects against child poverty. The new web page features 14 charts, a new Special Report for the U.S. as a whole, and charts and research for each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. (h/t the Last Tradition)

The research shows that U.S. children in married-parent families are 82 percent less likely to be poor than are their peers in single-parent homes. Similar statistics hold true for California (marriage drops the poverty rate by 74 percent), Wyoming (87 percent), Illinois (85 percent), and Connecticut (91 percent). (The Last Tradition - op cit)

I am not condemning single-parent households. However, the solution to financially healthy children would seem to be clear. In an age and in a place where so much money is spent to promote homosexuality as a solution to  -- I'm not really sure what it's a solution to, but if you look at the recent political convention, the gay/lesbian/transgender crowd sure got a lot of attention as being something to aspire to. That's precisely the WRONG place to put emphasis.

We instead, need to focus on STRENGTHENING nuclear families and finding a way to reduce child poverty in America. Today

Obama 2016 - A Blockbuster Hit

"2016: Obama's America" the documentary feature film is based on Indian-American conservative author Dinesh D'Souza's book, "The Roots of Obama's Rage."

Big news at the box office: The film pegged as the anti-Obama documentary has outsold all other movies opening this weekend, according to early reports. "2016: Obama's America" raked in $2.2 million on Friday, outperforming other openers "Premium Rush" and the indie comedy "Hit and Run." The earnings also make it the top-grossing documentary of the year. 

The surprising numbers put the film in fourth place overall on an otherwise sleepy box office weekend. It follows the cast-ensemble pleaser "Expendables 2" at No. 1 at $3.7 million, and the Jeremy Renner-anchored "Bourne Legacy," which secured the No. 2 spot at $2.7 million. Animated flick "ParaNorman" snagged third place at $2.3 million on Friday. (LINK TO ARTICLE)

I saw the movie in a crowded theater and was surprised at the questions that it answered about the roots of Obama's bewildering decisions over the last four years that have seen the US debt plunge to sixteen trillion dollars. I've continually asked myself "WHY IS HE DOING THIS?" The movie answered those questions.

Love him or hate him, you don't know him...

As a documentary that is timely, I have to give it TWO THUMBS UP!

Late Breaking UPDATE: This weekend, "2016" became the second biggest documentary in movie history by box office standards.

Post of the Day

And so it goes.

Shopping at a Chinese Walmart

It's China so if you prefer halal or kosher food, it's not going to be stocked. In fact, it's a unique experience for most epicures. 

Fresh Crocodile

Assorted meat, pawed over

Roasted bull penis

Assorted frogs and turtles (not pets)

Live reptiles (not pets)

Assorted dried reptiles

Hot and spicy beef granules

An advertised value

Powdered horse milk would make the Great Khan proud.

Somebody Else's Money

Politics is always somebody else's problem unless you're the politician putting your hand in the public's pocket. That's business as usual everywhere in the world. The big joke is always that it's better to 'own a politician than to be one'.

However, in the US, in this upcoming presidential election, it's becoming critical to work to repair the machine. Clint Eastwood's speech (above) addressing President Obama as "the empty chair" was not the most eloquent, but his point was made clear. We can't keep borrowing money that we don't have and literally wasting it on a utopian socialist dream that has no place in reality.

And now people are celebrating "empty chair day" with vacant chairs and simulated teleprompters...