they subjugate the meek, but it's the rhetoric of failure

Okay, let me tell ya what I envision the press is. They get the information, they research the information, they write out the information and we disseminate said information. I am old enough to remember Cronkite, Reynolds, Huntley/Brinkley. They had the idea down. Joe Wershba who recently passed took on the McCarthy machine knowing Friendly and Murrow had his back. Even back then Paley believed in a well informed populace and backed Murrow. We have no one standing up like that now. Maybe its the proliferation of news and our desire to hear our view parroted that prevents us from getting news, perhaps it's all we can do to stomach our news in little bite sized morsels for our feeble brains to process...perhaps we're to lazy with all of the information out there at our own hands to dig and look and see what IS going on. I know our parents and grandparents had to have their news handed out by reputable newsfolks. Now, we look to the celebrity to spoon feed our news to us.


The blame for the growth of O'Reilly, Hannity, even Olbermann  and O'Donnell lies not with them they merely are conduits. No it's OUR fault. We have allowed them to form all of our views and repeat the things we want to hear. Well folks all of us Blues, Purples and Reds have to stand up and demand real news and real context given to us. A week after his monumental fail with Jon Stewart, Chris Wallace actually stood up and asked Bat Boy's Spawn if she was a "Flake". He has since been "asked" to apologize to the flavor of the month and even though we know she's bat guano insane if Fox tells it's sheeple to capitulate to the Government whore that she is, they do...that's not journalism folks, this is glorified cheerleading. we're as guilty on the left, waiting with bated breath the return of Olbermann, we cried over the suspension of Schultz, and we wait for Rachel's reaction to find out if we should be mortified...We have the ability to know what's up. We have the net, we have the brain power, we have great capabilities than our parents...it is now up to us to really do the hard work and dig and truly form OUR opinions.

Jon Stewart- The Filet Mignon of Bulls**t?

So clearly Jon Stewart continues the tradition began by Will Rogers and carried by the legends like Bruce, Carlin, Hicks, et al. The jester who cites that the emperor is nude whilst he carries on as though he were wearing fancy duds.

Mr. Stewart went to the den of thieves and actually got one to admit that yes they were thieves. Stewart wasn't even callous about it. He called it effective and that they have a niche. Granted it is a disgusting niche. It's Goebbelesque in its deception, but it is a niche that speaks to it's viewer. He gave the host Chris Wallace a credit that must make his father cringe but still he gave him that credit. Mr. Wallace came out and admitted that Fox News does indeed cater to the right.  Stewart even admitted to Wallace that BHO was a disappointment to him. He even clearly stated that there is no left wing bias in the media. It IS more a bias toward laziness and sensationalism. Jon Stewart carried himself well in the interview. He made the point that he IS a comedian and when Wallace brought up "proof" that Stewart uses it as a shield Stewart in essence told him "Yeah, and...?"

No here's where Mr Stewart "proves" himself to be a liar. He told Wallace that Fox Viewers are constantly rating last in every poll in information received. They constantly misinform their viewer and that they are not above a lie to further their agenda.

Politifact.com. A watchdog for pundits I generally agree with, claimed that his statement was false. They even went so far as to show that Fox viewers were given better information than "The Daily Show". Of course it's not meant to be news!. It's not as slapsticky as it was when Lizz Winstead created it and Craig Kilbourne was the host. It has more (and it's hard to believe that this is the right word) gravitas than it did then, but at it's core it is a satire of news shows. If you get something out of it, good for you, but by no means is the daily show a true comprehensive "news" show. Though Jon Stewart has some earned journalistic credibility by showing all sides and even addressed the politifact "scandal".

Look all Jon Stewart is not the "news". Blue here isn't even news. I am clearly partisan. But what he has done shows more journalistic integrity than all the talking heads combined and perhaps that can be lesson if it is wanted to be applied by all the wanna be "news" shows.

My Life Has Been a Poor Attempt To Imitate the Man. I'm Just a Living Legacy to the Leader of the Band

It would be trite to boil down our father's influence to mere pop culture references. "Some dad's are like Archie Bunker and others are like Ward Cleaver..." It makes for a nice Hallmark moment, but it doesn't offer what our fathers offer us.

My solid liberal beliefs and by extension my sisters solid conservative beliefs extend from our fathers no nonsense, no bullshit attitude. My father was a WWII vet. Hence, my reverence toward the "greatest generation" that I DO believe in. He was awarded three bronze stars in the European theater. Should have been awarded a purple heart but refused to have his commanding officer put in for one because his injury "wasn't that bad". He would never tell a 'blood and guts' story. He took all that he saw and lived and died with it. He would regale us with humorous stories that made the world on the brink seem like a "crazy day at work".

He also worked for the local fire department for 25 years. He was a driver which means he was pretty damned good at his job. He loved listening to his Hank Williams albums and singing along (badly). He was surprisingly a good cook and it was always the attention to details he paid heed to. When big stuff went wrong, it was water off a ducks back...but God Forbid little Blue or little Red sis forgot to take out the trash.

I never took the opportunity to tell my father in his life what he meant to me but I have spent the rest of my life understanding his lessons. Thank you Dad and Happy Fathers day to you, and to all fathers out there.

I Hear the Thunder, from Three Miles Away. The Island is Leaking Into the Bay

A young Blue listened to Dan Fogelberg when he was a teenage romantic and bought the album "Phoenix". So imagine when he heard a great rocking tune by this wonderful sensitive poet. It was called "Face the Fire" and it lends some lyrics to this title. Fast Forward some thirty two years. Mr. Fogelberg has passed, (much, much to early) young Blue has become Ole Blue, romance has given way to reality...But Nuclear power was becoming relevant in a positive way. Some of us liberals were realizing that when ran right, it's a clean energy, ways are even being conceived to make nuclear waste and meltdowns a thing of the past...Then a massive earthquake ravages the country of Japan. The Fukushima nuclear plant is affected. Of course the nuclear powers there are scared so they fudge some facts but sadly it seems we may be paying the price in our country for that fudging. When it became known that some facts were being hidden, we, in the States,  raised holy hell with them. Many tales of bravery are coming out like seniors volunteering their time to see damage and be guinea pigs for the future generations, skeleton crews volunteering their time in the plants again, in essence, dooming themselves...But boy are we pissed at the Japanese Government for not telling us the full story...


Folks we can get off our soapbox. How many of us in the states now that in Nebraska there is a level 4 nuclear emergency in their power plant? It isn't just the "lamestream media" or "liberal media" not covering this. We only hear about this from the Salem times or Hawaii times. No Fox looking to capitalize on a mistake happening in the Obama Administration (his fault or no), no NPR to calmly tell us that two or three states away that serious shit is going down, No CNN having Anderson Cooper tell us in his heartfelt, touching voice how brave people are in Nebraska...we get nothing.

I do understand the concept of top secret. If we know the truth about some things we will be scared shitless or definitely lack some judgement that better trained minds than ours, but if I at 14 was smart enough to catch on to the serious issue that was Three Mile Island, don't we think, media outlets, there's some 14 year old say maybe in Nebraska, that would like to know what the fucks up?

through our sorrow, all through our splendour, don't take offence at my innuendo

another thing baffles Ole Blue, it's about our nations way of cleaning up presidents or famous figures that foul up or worse yet do nothing and making them into "honored" statesmen. It never fails to amaze me that under his watch, Eisenhower allowed the mad man named Joe McCarthy drunkenly ramble on about all the "commanists" in Washington, D.C. Then Ike went and played golf, like Dick Cheney went and had a heart attack or ten, like Wilson, had a stroke in office (not nearly as severe) and because three days before his term ended tells us about the vast "military industrial complex" and all of us Blue, Red and Purple wet themselves like he was a prophet warning us that it would take over and giving us this grand warning. To me especially looking back it was more like "I got mine and I'm screwing y'all over but thanks for blaming the Catholic" Yet when I see polls looking back at the Eisenhower presidency I see many that have him considered a top ten president? QUICK name one accomplishment?...okay take your time and name one accomplishment...yeah that's what I thought. Civil rights were being fought for in SPITE of Ike. He did the one good thing in his term of naming Warren his chief justice of the Supreme Court but unlike the Shrub, Ike felt that Warren was the worst thing that happened to the country...there's our war hero for us. Disappointed that his nominee was surpassed only by John Marshall bravo Ike!

And then there's St Ronnie of Eureka. the ole Gipper, Dutch who would smile as he twisted the knife in your middle classed back. The former union leader who decimated air travel, the man who embraced the trickle down theory of economics that in essence tries to build a country from the top down. I am no carpenter but I know that if i build my entertainment unit from the top down, well I will be working on that sucker until I have no idea what to use it for. The man who when elected set civil rights back thirty years and then like American sheeple that we are, RE-ELECT a man riddled with Alzeimers disease when he's 45 feet from the button. I must stand and applaud my fellow americans. some of them not a brain in their head!

Yet with Reagan some worship at the altar of Ronnie and claim great miracles of healing and wait for Benny the Nazi to beatify him. I think some red stater found an image of Ronnie burnt into toast. After all he IS the model for republican Jesus...what bugs me is some lefties eat that image up too. We don't need to vilify these guys anymore because their dead which means in the same measure we sure as hell don't have to burnish their legacy. Their dead, they luckily didn't kill the country with their mismanagement but they surely left a bad dent in it. Once we understand the true damage these two "patriots" did there will be no parade just a simultaneous head slap of about 60 million strong saying "what WAS in that kool-aid?"

i said upside down you're turning me...

Baffled. Pure baffled. If you would tell me how to destroy the republican party from within I would tell you this is how. First sneak a Democratic adviser in and tell them to: Go bat shit crazy on religion, Americans love their religion but get everything wrong and make Jesus out to be a capitolist pig....then I would tell them alienate half the voting base by telling them a man will define what rape is, then go out and attack health care, when you fully have the people on that side then run the economy into the ground (screaming America, America, America the ENTIRE time) then when a democrat comes in blame him or her for your mess. After you completely have the voting populace on your side further castigate public workers by bullying them into giving up their unions then go to middle town America and do one of these two things (both would be ideal) either tell the people that who they voted for were idiots and your can't be trusted so your friendly neighborhood republican will take over the city with one emergency financial manager OR during a city council meeting tell the people they must give their keys to their houses to the city so they can drop on by anytime.

another thing I would do, is have nothing but hypocritical asses pass judgment on people to stain them and then be caught in these same peccadilloes. Or similarly have the whoremonger run on a family values platform then have him caught with his diaper down. Perhaps i would tell people how important civil rights  then would run with question "was our president born here?" and run with the show us your papers routine. Yes if I infiltrated the republican party I would tell them to do this and more because surely this would destroy them.

Then I would gather every person with less than 100 working brain cells and pump them up with false historical information and say the bat shit craziest things I could and tell them spell the sign any way you want you're mad! and tell them it's exactly what sam adams fought for then made his beer! I would get a vapid congressperson to spout this same shit over and over. Until finally the citizens would understand that these people are fucking nuts. That they would screw over their own mother to get elected, that they don't give a damn about you.


Then how would I feel if the bat shit insanity took hold? Nahhhhh that's impossible, this is America and like the great comedian/philosopher Bill Hicks "Here's your 56 channels of American Gladiators, Be free America, You are free to do what we tell you"

And Now For Something Completely Different...

I will talk about politics all day long. I will breath fire and brimstone and raise holy hell at any right winger and even my vitriol will hit some of my lefty brethren. Today is not that day. Today I harken back to a more innocent time when I never heard of the "Woodstock" that hadn't happened yet or was still to new in our consciousness, to a time when astronauts and going to the moon was a huge bit of news in our culture. Richard Nixon was president. William Milliken was the new governor in the State of Michigan. The Internet was just about to have computer scientists wetting their pants and even Sesame Street was an idea not yet brought to fruition. At the risk of sounding condescending or remembering things the way they weren't it WAS a simpler time.

It was also a time lil Blue would be taught by a teacher that was nearly the perfect Kindergarten teacher. Mrs. Marjorie Gauntlett understood what the word "Kindergarten" is Childrens Garden. She gave many young kids a chance to grow. Gave them a gentle hand to do the things the right way. Constant teaching of how to do things the correct way. Repeating the good lessons our parents gave us to do things the correct way. She taught us to stand for ourselves. Mrs. Gauntlett was known for her yearly circus of kindergartners. The 5 year old princesses, the ringmaster, I remember being an "Emmett Kelly" style sad clown. She also gave many a student teachers the same helpful, gentle guidance toward their career in primary
education.

As you can see this is a hail and farewell to a fine person. Mrs. Gauntlett though you did not know it you helped create "Ole Blue" and I thank you for all your kind teachings and like my parents (and as you were my first teacher you had that much sway back then) you helped me do the right things and allowed me to stand up for me and for that and any of us that were taught by you this is how you will live forever. Thank you.