One Day More. Can we make it? The air is filled with excitement and anticipation. Never have more Americans been so enthralled with the changing of the guard. I don't know if it's the politics, or it's just the desire to feel civilized again. With the Obamas in D.C., the country once again will be able to hold our heads up. We can throw off our burkas! Say good-bye to the ignorant crackers who have been running things for the past 8 years. Our long national nightmare is almost over.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Our Guy (Obama) vs. Their Guy (Bush the Moron)
Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama : Election Night
Chicago, IL November 04, 2008
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.
.... But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you. I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.
.... The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.
.... And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. .... And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:
Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
Bush the Moron
I hate Republicans. I have no further wish for peaceful coexistence. They liked this guy. Bush the Moron. The Republicans liked him because he is white, wealthy, and male. And because he killed lots of people in other countries, and told most Americans to go suck an egg. The Republicans think Bush the Moron is a brave guy because he repeatedly did and said the most stupid moronic things ever, but refused to be embarrassed. Why should he? After all, he's white, wealthy, and male. A few of the popular sayings of our first President who was not smarter than a fifth grader: Bush the Moron:
1) The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.
2) If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
3) Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.
4) No senior citizen should ever have to choose between prescription drugs and
medicine.
5) I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change.
6) One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared.'
7) Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.
8) I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.
9) The future will be better tomorrow.
10) We're going to have the best educated American people in the world.
11) One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures. (This gem was spoken during an education photo-op)
12) Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.
13) We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.
14) It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.
15) I stand by all the mis-statements that I've made....George W. Bush to Sam Donaldson
Chicago, IL November 04, 2008
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.
.... But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you. I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.
.... The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.
.... And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. .... And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:
Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
Bush the Moron
I hate Republicans. I have no further wish for peaceful coexistence. They liked this guy. Bush the Moron. The Republicans liked him because he is white, wealthy, and male. And because he killed lots of people in other countries, and told most Americans to go suck an egg. The Republicans think Bush the Moron is a brave guy because he repeatedly did and said the most stupid moronic things ever, but refused to be embarrassed. Why should he? After all, he's white, wealthy, and male. A few of the popular sayings of our first President who was not smarter than a fifth grader: Bush the Moron:
1) The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.
2) If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
3) Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.
4) No senior citizen should ever have to choose between prescription drugs and
medicine.
5) I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change.
6) One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared.'
7) Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.
8) I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.
9) The future will be better tomorrow.
10) We're going to have the best educated American people in the world.
11) One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures. (This gem was spoken during an education photo-op)
12) Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.
13) We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.
14) It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.
15) I stand by all the mis-statements that I've made....George W. Bush to Sam Donaldson
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday
12 million people were kidnapped from Africa from the early 1600s to about 1860 and brought to "the americas" (including south america), with approximately 650,000 of them brought to the U.S. and sold as slaves. By 1860, the beginning of the civil war, there were 4 million slaves in the U.S.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States When Lincoln became president, he did not swear to end slavery, but instead just said he did not want it to spread beyond the existing slave states. Then the South left the union and the civil war began. Some people contend that Lincoln only freed the slaves as a strategy to help the North win the war, figuring it would be extremely difficult for the agricultural south to wage a war and address the loss of free slave labor at the same time.
After the Civil War, a group of southern white men started the organization known as the Ku Klux Klan. The primary ideology of the Klan was white supremacy: whites are inherently superior, blacks are inferior, white men must "control" the black population by all means available, including violence. The Klan provided leadership in a reign of violence, and they terrorized blacks, routinely lynching and murdering black men to re-gain control of the black population in the south. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan
White crowds in the south often gathered to cheer on the Klan as a group of white men would storm into the home of a black man, beat him, kick him, drag him, without trial or justice, without any protection of the police, take the man out to a public area, surrounded by crowds of white American citizens, cheering, and then the white men would hang the black man from a tree, often lighting him on fire at the same time, while the crowds cheered. 
The laws, and law enforcement, refused to even acknowledge the concept of the "murder" of a black person by a white person. This is the same demeaning attitude towards an entire group of people that led the law to declare that it was impossible for a man to rape his wife, and any woman out in public after dark by herself was probably "asking for it," and therefore wasn't "really" raped. Some groups of people in this country have always been considered lesser, and therefore the popular victims of violence.
http://withoutsanctuary.org/main.html (Photo source)For black lynchings, there is actually a surprising amount of photographic evidence because taking pictures at lynchings was considered fun, and those photos were commonly reproduced and sold as postcards for people to send to their friends and family far away: wish you were here written on the back, the picture of a mutilated hanging dead black man on the front.
The Klan first began after the Civil War and has gained and lost membership and popularity at different times. From 1915 through the 1920s, the Klan became very popular and actively violent again, partly in response to the number of immigrants coming to the U.S. from Europe. During that period, it is estimated there were 4-5 million Klan members in the U.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_KlanToday there are still Klan members in the country, but their numbers are in the thousands only. The real successors to the Klan seem to be right-wing political organizations and some religions that preach hatred of others and justify the use of violence, if not invite "god's violence" to be brought down against everyone who is different from the particular group.
When considering the life and the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., it is imperative to view it in light of the centuries of violence in the U.S. against black men. No black person in the U.S. lives without a thorough understanding of the pervasiveness of white violence against blacks, and of their own family members going back generations who have been lynched, beaten, murdered by mobs of white men.
When black people in the U.S. decided to begin pressing for a betterment to their own status in society, to ask for a fair application of the laws, each and every one of them knew that the mere act of asking for fairness would subject them to possible murder. When Martin Luther King, Jr., began organizing and leading black Americans to ask the U.S. government to enforce their constitutional rights to equal protections of the law, equal treatment in our society, he used the tactic of nonviolence, and encouraged all his followers to be nonviolent in everything they did. Never raise a hand to a white man. Don't argue, don't fight back. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that if black people stood up and defended themselves against attack, they would be slaughtered.
Yet even though he preached only nonviolence and lawful means of asking for an equal opportunity in our society, Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered anyway. The simple act of asking for fairness received the death sentence.
Billy Holiday wrote the song "Strange Fruit" about the lynchings of black men in the South.
Friday, January 16, 2009
The 12 Steps To Recovery From The Bush-Cheney Years.
Two different people I spoke with today were telling me about a problem in their lives, and both said, completely separately from the other, that they had to take it "one day at a time, one step at a time." And I thought how we have become a 12-step nation, or at least we're familiar with the concept that there are steps people have to take to "recover" from serious problems, trauma, or illness. They can't just wait for "recovery" to arrive, or to wake up one morning and be cured of what ails them. A self-help nation that believes we can become honest with ourselves about our own unhealthy conduct, look for guidance about how to change, then follow steps to a healthier life. It always starts with getting honest, and always includes being accountable.
It seems the same should be true for our nation as a whole. We have spent 8 years with Bush and Cheney as national leaders. We have allowed them to use the entire U.S. treasury and military to bully, murder, bomb, rape, pillage, and loot many nations of the world, while terrorizing and intimidating the others, demeaning those who stood against their brutish ways by calling them "old Europe," and suggesting that civil nations that oppose war are sissies, should be ridiculed or possibly destroyed. We have been led by two of the most barbaric and disgusting men to assume national leadership in decades. We allowed them to do these things. And we have been sickened and our nation infected with disease as a result of that association.
Yet I already hear people with national voices arguing that we should let bygones be bygones, so what if they tortured, let's move on. As if we were talking about a spat, or a misunderstanding, or a missed phone call, instead of talking about the intentional mass murder of human beings. And the intentional theft of the retirement and savings, and jobs, and future, and college accounts for many Americans. These crimes defy categorization in decent societies. People focus on Madoff's scam, but ignore the massive scale of similar theft and con carried out by by the largest financial institutions in this country. These people need to be in prison, and they should be stripped of every penny they have. They should be forever scorned in polite society, their names written in schoolbooks under lists of "American Traitors."
So how do we move towards a national cure? How do we recover? We don't solve the 8 years of waging war on others simply by inaugurating a new president, even if he is cute and smart and everyone likes him. At least for the people who have been murdered, have lost homes and families, those kidnapped, tortured, murdered during the 8 year reign of terror, the inauguration brings them no compensation or relief for the damage they've suffered.
Let's look at the standard 12 steps and see if they provide any national guidance for the citizens. I've started with the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, but there are 12 steps for overeaters or rageaholics, or drug addicts, or gamblers, or any other type of extremely deadly behavior symptomatic of people with such high levels of dysfunction that they are essentially suicidal in their behavior. I've modified them as I think appropriate to address our extreme national dis-ease.
1.) We admitted we citizens were powerless over and excluded in all meaningful ways from the decision-making and policies of our entire national government and economy -- that all decisions in this country are made by a small elite group of rich people who care nothing for the citizens and care nothing about what it is we want -- and that our lives had become unmanageable.
2.) Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves -- participatory democracy with all citizens equally involved in decision making and in running the country for the benefit of the citizens -- could restore our nation to a sane way of living in the world.
3.) Made a decision to turn our lives over to the concept of a new nation committed to participatory democracy and equal involvement by all citizens as we understand it.
4.) Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, our nation, our politicians, our economy, our relationship with each other and with the rest of the world, and our behavior as it has harmed ourselves and the rest of the world.
5.) Admitted to ourselves, to our neighbors, and to the rest of the world the exact nature of our wrongs.
6.) Were entirely ready to cooperate with the other citizens of this country and of the world to remove all these defects in our national character and conduct, to hold our own people accountable for their crimes, and to be accountable to the rest of the world.
7.) Humbly asked our justice system and our politicians to appoint special prosecutors to investigate charges of inhumane torture, kidnapping, murder, the deliberate waging of war for the purpose of stealing other countries' resources, and the financial crimes committed in this country which have robbed not only the citizens of the U.S. but also many people throughout the world. But if the politicians and justice system fail to act promptly, we citizens appoint our own prosecutors, begin recall and impeachment against any politician who opposes us, and take control of the government by peaceful means to accomplish our goal of prosecutions, accountability and reconciliation.
8.) Made a list of all persons our politicians, business leaders, and nation had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all by holding public hearings and exposing the criminals, prosecuting those against whom there is sufficient evidence, taking back all the money they have stolen and distributing it to the victims, imprisoning those found guilty, and creating a national fund to begin compensation to people in the world injured or harmed by the U.S. either through war or through economic crimes.
9.) Made direct amends to the people we have harmed wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10.) Continued to take inventory of our nation's conduct during the 8 years of the Bush-Cheney regime and going forward, when we discover additional crimes done to people in this country or in the world, promptly admitted it, prosecuted, and took appropriate action against the wrongdoers and to compensate the victims.
11.) Sought through public discussion and cooperation with our own citizens and the people of other nations of the world to improve our conscious contact with all the world and all the people of the world, seeking only for knowledge of what is the right way for us to live in peace without destroying the world, striving to create a world in which all people are free from war, violence or hunger, have shelter, medical care, education, opportunity, and jobs, and seeking through discussion and cooperation the power and will to carry that out.
12.) Having had a national awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to to other Americans, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
It seems the same should be true for our nation as a whole. We have spent 8 years with Bush and Cheney as national leaders. We have allowed them to use the entire U.S. treasury and military to bully, murder, bomb, rape, pillage, and loot many nations of the world, while terrorizing and intimidating the others, demeaning those who stood against their brutish ways by calling them "old Europe," and suggesting that civil nations that oppose war are sissies, should be ridiculed or possibly destroyed. We have been led by two of the most barbaric and disgusting men to assume national leadership in decades. We allowed them to do these things. And we have been sickened and our nation infected with disease as a result of that association.
Yet I already hear people with national voices arguing that we should let bygones be bygones, so what if they tortured, let's move on. As if we were talking about a spat, or a misunderstanding, or a missed phone call, instead of talking about the intentional mass murder of human beings. And the intentional theft of the retirement and savings, and jobs, and future, and college accounts for many Americans. These crimes defy categorization in decent societies. People focus on Madoff's scam, but ignore the massive scale of similar theft and con carried out by by the largest financial institutions in this country. These people need to be in prison, and they should be stripped of every penny they have. They should be forever scorned in polite society, their names written in schoolbooks under lists of "American Traitors."
So how do we move towards a national cure? How do we recover? We don't solve the 8 years of waging war on others simply by inaugurating a new president, even if he is cute and smart and everyone likes him. At least for the people who have been murdered, have lost homes and families, those kidnapped, tortured, murdered during the 8 year reign of terror, the inauguration brings them no compensation or relief for the damage they've suffered.
Let's look at the standard 12 steps and see if they provide any national guidance for the citizens. I've started with the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, but there are 12 steps for overeaters or rageaholics, or drug addicts, or gamblers, or any other type of extremely deadly behavior symptomatic of people with such high levels of dysfunction that they are essentially suicidal in their behavior. I've modified them as I think appropriate to address our extreme national dis-ease.
1.) We admitted we citizens were powerless over and excluded in all meaningful ways from the decision-making and policies of our entire national government and economy -- that all decisions in this country are made by a small elite group of rich people who care nothing for the citizens and care nothing about what it is we want -- and that our lives had become unmanageable.
2.) Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves -- participatory democracy with all citizens equally involved in decision making and in running the country for the benefit of the citizens -- could restore our nation to a sane way of living in the world.
3.) Made a decision to turn our lives over to the concept of a new nation committed to participatory democracy and equal involvement by all citizens as we understand it.
4.) Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, our nation, our politicians, our economy, our relationship with each other and with the rest of the world, and our behavior as it has harmed ourselves and the rest of the world.
5.) Admitted to ourselves, to our neighbors, and to the rest of the world the exact nature of our wrongs.
6.) Were entirely ready to cooperate with the other citizens of this country and of the world to remove all these defects in our national character and conduct, to hold our own people accountable for their crimes, and to be accountable to the rest of the world.
7.) Humbly asked our justice system and our politicians to appoint special prosecutors to investigate charges of inhumane torture, kidnapping, murder, the deliberate waging of war for the purpose of stealing other countries' resources, and the financial crimes committed in this country which have robbed not only the citizens of the U.S. but also many people throughout the world. But if the politicians and justice system fail to act promptly, we citizens appoint our own prosecutors, begin recall and impeachment against any politician who opposes us, and take control of the government by peaceful means to accomplish our goal of prosecutions, accountability and reconciliation.
8.) Made a list of all persons our politicians, business leaders, and nation had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all by holding public hearings and exposing the criminals, prosecuting those against whom there is sufficient evidence, taking back all the money they have stolen and distributing it to the victims, imprisoning those found guilty, and creating a national fund to begin compensation to people in the world injured or harmed by the U.S. either through war or through economic crimes.
9.) Made direct amends to the people we have harmed wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10.) Continued to take inventory of our nation's conduct during the 8 years of the Bush-Cheney regime and going forward, when we discover additional crimes done to people in this country or in the world, promptly admitted it, prosecuted, and took appropriate action against the wrongdoers and to compensate the victims.
11.) Sought through public discussion and cooperation with our own citizens and the people of other nations of the world to improve our conscious contact with all the world and all the people of the world, seeking only for knowledge of what is the right way for us to live in peace without destroying the world, striving to create a world in which all people are free from war, violence or hunger, have shelter, medical care, education, opportunity, and jobs, and seeking through discussion and cooperation the power and will to carry that out.
12.) Having had a national awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to to other Americans, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Five Days: Here He Comes To Save The Day
He's skinny but he's tough. (We hope).
Here he comes to save the day
That means that mighty Obama is on the way!!
Here he comes to save the day
That means that mighty Obama is on the way!!
Old Gas Stations.
I like old gas stations. I don't like cars, and I don't like new gas stations. But I do like old gas stations and I'm sorry that they're all being torn down.
Old gas stations are the successors to the western town saloon with hitching post out front, cowboys riding in at the end of the season, thirsty, lonely, with a paycheck they're ready to spend.
Old gas stations represent America in the 1940s and 1950s. Survived the war. In fact, we were the heros and everyone loved us. People were exploding out of the cities to the wide open spaces soon to be paved and covered with stucco boxes. I imagine owning a car was a pretty big deal, must have made people feel like they were rich.
Old gas stations. Before they became Spas-Oxygen Bars-Auto Specialty Shoppes. Just old gas stations. They make me think of those movies like The Postman Always Rings Twice, or Double Indemnity.
Bored, isolated, sheltered couple living in conservative America, saving a few pennies, then along comes the handsome but slightly dangerous single man looking for some quick love and willing to do whatever it takes to make a buck. It sounds so mysterious compared to modern crimes: crack addict rips off liquor store. No romance there.
Old gas stations are the successors to the western town saloon with hitching post out front, cowboys riding in at the end of the season, thirsty, lonely, with a paycheck they're ready to spend.
Old gas stations represent America in the 1940s and 1950s. Survived the war. In fact, we were the heros and everyone loved us. People were exploding out of the cities to the wide open spaces soon to be paved and covered with stucco boxes. I imagine owning a car was a pretty big deal, must have made people feel like they were rich.
Old gas stations. Before they became Spas-Oxygen Bars-Auto Specialty Shoppes. Just old gas stations. They make me think of those movies like The Postman Always Rings Twice, or Double Indemnity.
Bored, isolated, sheltered couple living in conservative America, saving a few pennies, then along comes the handsome but slightly dangerous single man looking for some quick love and willing to do whatever it takes to make a buck. It sounds so mysterious compared to modern crimes: crack addict rips off liquor store. No romance there. 
Arrest Bush. And Cheney. And All Their Homies.
From Danny Schechter's blog, MediaChannel.org. http://www.mediachannel.org/ A group of patriots will be at the inauguration to remind everyone that after the party is over, we need to arrest, try, imprison those Americans, regardless of wealth or power, who are guilty of war crimes and/or financial crimes. Instead of going after neighborhood 12-year-old throw-aways, let's go get the big boys and really stand up for ourselves, for our nation, for all our people. Do the right thing.
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