Sunday Morning Coming Down

 Tom Ricker, a high school classmate spent some time in pandemic times prior to vaccines playing and singing country and western songs(et al).  He did it on a daily basis and they were recorded on Facebook. A lot of the songs were familiar and snipets from the porch with his dogs.  Reluctant to make requests, I just listened to and meandered in my thoughts as I heard the history of a lot  of songs.   My niece just called, and we talked about her trips to WV.  Country Roads by John Denver and Morning Morgantown were two songs that helped me make a decision about graduate school. And after a winter in Morgantown, I have a new appreciation for the song 30,000 lbs. of Bananas. 

Went with the folks down to Bayside for lunch before getting on the bus for Morgantown WV to start MPA classes.  Classes wouldn't start for about ten days, and I would soon miss the Florida weather, but I didn't have an apartment, car, and wanted to see a little more of the town and campus before school started.  Said goodbye to my parents, sure I would see them again, but unsure if I would be returning to Florida. Deciding on graduate school involved a book that had a list of graduate schools. I could have gone to the index that listed schools with MPA programs, but I just started at the back of the book and wrote letters to the University of Washington in Seatle, the University of Wisconsin, and "the" West Virginia University.   

An early implementer of rock and roll music I was not.  In fact, I think most of the music I listened too was on somebody else's stereo until I was about 18 years old.  I was not an early fan of the Beatles and in some ways rock and roll somehow escaped me and even though I went to high school dances, it was mostly to catch a ride to eat pizza on a Friday Night.  I got a Zenith Trans-Oceanic Radio and listened to shortwave radio.  Radio Moscow, HCJB, VOA... were as popular as WLS in those days before college. Then I went to college, and I got to listen to a collection of eight track cassette tapes courtesy of Andy Krause, who was a fan of Neil Diamond, The Rolling Stones and whole lot of other groups.  He may have worked at Ampex, a company that made cassettes, if my memory is correct.  I think he liked Solitary Man. I'm pretty sure it was part of his top ten. Another Digression. Sweet Caroline: The song reached No. 4 on the  Billboard  Hot 100 ch...

Bob Dole made a mistake endorsing Trump but I'm sure he is rolling over in his grave after hearing this. I just finished listening to Liz Cheney read several e-mails to Mark Meadows from folks in the Capitol regarding the situation at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. I watched what happened at the Capitol live on TV.  You had to intentionally go somewhere like Memorable Entertainment TV to miss coverage. A former Mayor of Miami Dade County newly elected took one of his first votes to question the voting in Arizona. Given his background and ultimate supervision of elections in Miami Dade County as mayor, he should have known better but that's the way the republicans roll these days. Just forget about it, please.

The passing of Robert Dole is another reminder of the passing of the "greatest generation".  The textbooks have defined those folks as a generation shaped by the economic depression of the 1930's and the Second World War. The following is a quote from Senator Dole:  "In politics honorable compromise is no sin. It is what protects us from absolutism and intolerance"'. You might ask yourself what has happened to the sense of community that existed but now seems to be wavering at best .  I'm reminded of a scene from "Foyle's War" with Detective Foyle responding dryly about his prospects after the "War". "It depends on who wins". Dole a college athlete left the University of Kansas to enlist like many others to fight for this country.  As Lt. in the army, he was severely injured in an artillery and aerial attack and spent over two years in a military hospital recovering and rehabilitating. Losing the use of his right hand wh...

 Joel Osteen had a father, John, who was also a preacher who became a successful televangelist, taught his son the ropes and then left him the family business after dying suddenly of heart attack. Although Joel attended Oral Roberts University, he never graduated and studied radio and tv production rather than theology or divinity.  The following was reported this morning.  I'm looking forward to further details on this story. Dec. 3 (UPI) --  A plumber working at Joel Osteen's mega-church in Houston found a large amount of money hidden inside a wall seven years after $600,000 was reported stolen during a break-in. The plumber, who identified himself only as Justin, called into  a KILT-FM morning show  to recount how he found envelopes full of cash and checks inside a wall while doing work at the Lakewood Church, which is led by Osteen and his wife, Victoria. Illinois had a popular Secretary of State, Paul Powell.   Although Powell's government sa...

 Even if you have never been a fan of boxing, you should understand how huge an impact Muhammad Ali had on the world. He was an exceptional athlete whose trash talking started out like WWE lunacy to hype his boxing matches. He was an international figure who changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali after winning the Heavyweight Championship of the World.  Conversion to Islam was controversial back then and his own personal conversion seemed even more controversial given his friendships with Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad.  The long-term views of his beliefs were very sincere. It also connected him to people on a worldwide basis. He spoke forcefully in favor of civil rights not only in the United States but on a worldwide basis. His refusal to be drafted and conviction for draft evasion during the Viet Nam War made him one of the most important spokesmen against the war. Being stripped of his titles and restricted from boxing, his personal sacrifices were real....