Wednesday Open Thread: It's World Radio Day
It's Day 44 of the Year 2019 CE, meaning that it's February 13, 2019
I always check the history for the day before drafting one of these things, because sometimes inspiration lurks therein, or some event or holiday worthy of amplification or criticism, as the case may be. Then again, too often what you get is stuff like the stuff below. Unless I feel in the mood for a snark fest or serious rant, there is nothing there and worse. Sometimes you wanna throw yourself on the gears and levers (thank you Mario) and sometimes on the third rail instead. So, a wee sample of what is definitely not inspiring or thought provoking about February 13. Sure, Scalia died, but not soon enough to do any good by so doing. To add insult to injury, my forking spell checker rejected Galileo Galilei's last name and suggested that I go with Galilee instead which is so bassackwards and inverted that it made me squint.
1322 – The central tower of Ely Cathedral fell on the night of the 12th–13th. Surely this was an act of god.
1633 – Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition for wrong thinking and using science.
1991 – US forces intentionally bombed the shit out of the Amiriyah shelter, a known civilian shelter packed with civilians. This is a small part of the odious legacy of war criminal George H. W. Bush, our first CIA President, who was recently fulsomely eulogized by a bipartisan mob of the political classes.
2011 – For the first time in more than 100 years the US honored some of the provisions of a treaty with the Umatilla. I can only assume that this was due to a clerical error of some sort.
2016 – Antonin Scalia died.
So what is there to do on such a day? It occurred to me to break down and go on a rant about many things; the obscene amount of bipartisan hate-mongering, fear-mongering, war-mongering, red-baiting, McCarthyism and yellow press, not to mention the fact that I could prepend or append "liberal" to bipartisan, arguably without even using the scare quotes. The runaway over consumption that drives climate chaos and supports and funds the 1%? But that's just a gripe and a whine, not a rant, and a good rant takes a lot of work, energy and creativity which I'm just not really feeling just yet. But, It doesn't have to be mine, now, does it?
Yeah, pick a country, any country, it is only a question of whether it is already history, or probable future. Santo Domingo, Manila, Havana or Caracas, Nicaragua, Haiti, Tripoli and Tripoli again and it's all the same and, we bipartisanly either don't give a shit whatsoever or else proudly support our militarism, imperialism and, of course "our interests".
But it's ok. because we have moral authority derived, I guess, from the ethnic cleansing and genocide that won us the vast territory that we dwell in and plunder. That's why we get to decide who should be in charge elsewhere in the world and how their economies should run, what crops they should grow and who should extract their resources and who they should be sold to, who should be permitted to be elected and who, ultimately should live or die, and whether it should be a sudden brutal death or a slow lingering one. All over the world. Every damn day and night. Forever, because that's what we do and we must love the hell out of it because we always find a bullshit excuse to justify it and support it.
We are fair, however, we're equal opportunity murderers, having started at home and still rising to the occasion if anybody should make too big of a stink about our behavior. Of course, we wage war more actively, often and oppressively upon people of color than lefties. And we jail more of our own than anybody else, which clearly proves our moral superiority. Gotta keep those people down, you know, lock 'em up.
But still, it's bipartisan, pragmatic and centrist as hell, isn't? Oh yeah, fer sure. I always envied the widespread mass support Europeans got, folks like Danny The Red, and now today's yellow vests. Of course, if we tried those tactics here, especially wearing yellow vests, we'd very likely be gunned down, or, at a minimum, heavily gassed, so I guess it's better to just go along to get along, after all, a lot of those countries are as corrupt as we are, maybe even worse, and blah, blah, blah, so we do have an obligation to clean up their act, don't we? Sure we do, it's ok, hell, its our mission because we are exceptional.
All I ask is that there be a lot less cheer leading for and active promotion of all of our assassinations, coups, economic warfare and military interventions. All of our oppression and suppression, our militarism, imperialism, and economic warfare, aka sanctions. It isn't like I really expect folks to do anything about it, or even protest. That wouldn't be centrist or pragmatic. OTOH,while not exactly cheer leading, silence is consent, and cooperation and participation cannot really be anything less than support. So, what if you should wake up some morning possessed of empathy, compassion, a conscience, a sense of justice, any combination thereof, or maybe simply a profound disgust at the lies and hypocrisy that dominate our domestic and foreign policies and behavior? Should that happen, should you run out of soma and/or see the fnords, ask yourself if it is time for a real change and if you should maybe try to speed change up by slowing things down. We can stop this if we simply refuse to participate. No soldiers, no war. No using big banks, no big banks. No consuming MSM yellow journalism in any format, no yellow journalism. No hyper consumption, no overproduction. Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, et. al. couldn't make war machines if their employees refused to work on them. We provide the cannon fodder, the labor, the journalism, yellow or not, the advertisers and advertising, the con men, the telemarketers, the markets and the demand. Yet, somehow, others, the warmongers and hatemongers hold all of the power? Maybe. But what if we shut down just one thing? Or two?
Just sayin' ...
Image is: W.D. Haywood leading a Lowell strike parade from the LIbrary of Congress: Public Domain
Its an open thread so have at it. The floor is yours
.
Comments
Thanks for the OT EL
Very much in agreement for the need to shut down the machine. The part I don't understand is how so called public opinion can be so blind to the destruction caused by American interests : extractors, military and financial vampires. I don't trust polls anyway. May not live to see it, but hope recognition of the world's needs upstages the nationally sponsored greed.
Cheers
Good morning, QMS. Polls are too easy to manipulate for
anybody to trust any of them unless they took the poll and studies and compilations and computations. I know that "xyz" and "abc" are putatively top quality and accurate, but how so and who says and to what extent do they direct opinion instead of gauging it? heh. Rereading the column put me back in a mood, ah well.
Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
We are the bully of the world!
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkJ6ZyMLs4o]
Pretty good rant el considering your qualifier -
Often ranting relieves the frustration. Hope that's your case.
Have a good day all!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning, Lookout. Thanks. Bully indeed, but without
fiddles or finesse.
Have a great one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Sounds like
a rant to me. A good one though.
Good morning, Randtntx. Thanks and have a great one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Excluded from Participation
Question:
Answer:
.
The easy answer is to start participating, to stop being excluded.
The hard part is to start participating and stopping yourself from being excluded.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnmHgnPPkkQ]
Good morning jobu. Thanks.
Selectively, very selectively.
Have a great one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Pebbles in the Pond
Great essay, BTW.
Like most here on this site, when I throw my pebble into the pond, It is MY pebble.
A problem I see regularly in my immediate circle is that many of my friends and family are having their pebbles handed to them either by Fox News, Drudge, MSNBC, ect.
Thanks, and I'll force myself not to use that as an excuse to
segue into Ripple.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Allow me
Here is a nice cover:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHo1fNnXFVU]
My buddies are similarly misled...
....by the NYT and WaPo. And so they say Maduro bad, Guaidó good. And not a word on the US over reach declaring someone president of another country. They voted for the shill, and if I was a betting man I'd suspect Kamala is their fave so far....or may be they will go warren?
It is so sad that honest conversation doesn't (can't?) occur in the MSM. Fortunately we hold music in common and can share that joy...
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
in my mind and in my car
Video Killed the Radio Star - Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club
It's rain gear and high boots walking to the cash machine this good morning. Thanks a million to the workers still contributing to the Social Security system. Aloha.
Newest storm expected to lash North Coast with heavy rain, wind
https://cdec.water.ca.gov/river/russianStages.html
I am simply hoping to not get run down by the multitude of distracted drivers, wish us luck. The river is up five feet since we walked the dawg yesterday, thanks again. Unnatural flood control is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick anyway. Something needs to flush away the herbicide the city slathered all along our walking path. argh glub glub
No umbrella
this morning, unless you Like uncontrolled flight?
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
It can't take the wind, inverted no worky
lol thanks, my little fold-up thingy does fold upward at the slightest gust of wind, not very robust. I do enjoy a nice romp through the puddles, it's fun. Getting splashed in the face by a car speeding by is not really. You have to eXperience Cloverdale yourself to get the full effect. open invitation Apparently it is the fastest growing city in Sonoma County, if you read commercial real estate ads. zoning zone
This morning on the doorstep was a flyer with a plastic scraper attached. It said bilingually: Fat Free Sewers Keep Grease Out of the Drain! so brawndo
chin up
it could be worse
Good morning, eyo. We're getting some of it down here too.
Yesterday was mild, but otherwise a very rainy week. Stay as dry and warm as you can and avid the car splashes AND the erratic cars and trucks.
Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I was remiss when I put this together, I mean, radio day?
Oops, eyo beat me to it. That's ok, different artist. GMTA, eyo.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Radio ga ga
thanks for healing with hugs. get one give one
I miss Freddy. It says Queen is on tour in the comments over there:
Queen - Radio Ga Ga
So if anyone feels like watching an astrophysicist blister the strings for a while, go watch Brian May. goo goo ga ga la la. wtf "someone still loves you"
PEACE
nuclear disarmament
Heh
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Ah Rodidio
I find it appropriate Clear channel banned this song
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOd3tan59BE]
I keep remembering how so many of my favorite artists will be remembered only for their work that serves the PTB, rather than their best.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Good morning, detroit. Yeah, that one obviously had to go.
I long ago started avoiding Clear Channel station, until it seemed that there wsn't nything else. Mow I use slacker, my own collection, stuff embedded in posts and the like.
Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
To be honest I'm half tempted to start a rumor...
that Petty was murdered by network execs because he wrote another anti-corporate album that was too GOOD.
Because he deserves to have people talking about him, and I wanna see the MSM have to deny it.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZJrwQr_t7Y]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
morning el...
et al.
good non-rant. words well strung together like a strand of beads hanging in the sun. dayum. read it twice times.
my favorite part
after all every tiny bit of 'stuff's' (what else to call it?) ultimate source is some extracted resource dug, chopped, transported, processed and reformed, packaged, transported multiple times again, all just for our consumption fix. tyvm bernays. we need to understand that the world wide web is all beings together. one. packaged. breathing. being. gaia.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Good morning, magi. Thanks. How's it going down
thataway? Localized road flooding up here. Have a great one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
very wet...
heh. no flooding to speak of. we are at the southern end of the storm from what I can see on windy app. big rain drops. 63 warm. mucho mas rain to come. 17 has held up so all that technology they put in is working. looks bad in Marin and up eyo’s way and onto paradise.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Here is a good Radio song
My understanding is this. He was supposed to play his other poppy hit for the second song. Note he starts the song... stops, says F this, then they starts Radio Radio, his new unreleased hit to be. Story goes Lorne Michaels stood there the whole time flipping Costello the bird for doing this, and never invited him back for 20 years or somesuch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeOAD2pafc8
Elvis Costello - Radio Radio (SNL 1977)
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Killer
Feb. 13, 1945: Allies use firebombing to destroy Dresden. n/t
Curtis LeMay
was a psychotic fuck. The manufacturing plants Outside of town were still functional After the raid.
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
another great radio song
This is from one of the best albums ever, and live, as much as anything due to the guitarists. The intro to Sweet Jane is perhaps unmatched in rock music.
Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter: how to play two guitars together
Heard the New York station...
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein