Good News from Chile; Great News for Mankind

Item: from The New York Times  --"Rescuers Pull All 33 Miners to Safety in Chile. Two months, nine days and eight hours after their excruciating ordeal began, the last of the 33 miners trapped in an apartment-sized hole a half mile under Chile was delivered safely to the earth's surface, capping one of the most dramatic survival stories in mining history. With the entire nation rapt and much of the world riveted,the last miner, Luis Urzua, rose smoothly out of the small hole in the ground, prompting an eruption of applause and cheers that seemed just as heartfelt as the outpouring that followed the emergence of the first miner nearly a day earlier."

This is happy news. It is good news for the families of the once trapped miners, good news for Chile and good news for people everywhere. It speaks well for the survivability of man and for the resourcefulness of man, to overcome hard obstacles, and to do what would have seemed to be impossible. It speaks well for the communal effort, of man pulling together to save those thirty-three lives.

Well done to Chile, and to all the folks who helped in the rescue.

Rally to Restore Sanity - Seattle

http://www.sanityseattle.com 


Rally to Restore Sanity - Seattle 

Westlake Center

Saturday, Oct 30 at 9 a.m.

To quote Jon Stewart, we're looking for the people who think shouting is annoying, counterproductive, and terrible for your throat; who feel that the loudest voices shouldn't be the only ones that get heard; and who believe the only time it's appropriate to draw a Hitler mustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler.

Are you one of those people? Excellent! Then we'd like you to join us at Westlake Center on October 30 for the Seattle Rally to Restore Sanity. Together we can send a message to the screaming meanies: that we can disagree without being disagreeable; that civil discourse is alive and well; that it's possible to listen, respect, and connect even when issues divide us deeply.

Thank you Jim Baum!


Solomon Burke, R.I.P.

Soul singer. Soulful singer. Singer who brought the music from his soul. Singer who made music almost spiritual as the tune and the words went deeper into the heart, and touched on the soul. Voice that called for a response from the heart.

Song writer of soulful songs, writer of who reached into the heart and beyond. Man whose music will live beyond him. Talent that does not die. Solomon Burke his physical body died early this morning, Sunday.

Solomon Burke was on a plane, arriving at the Amsterdam airport, on a flight from LA. He was on his way to perform in an Amsterdam club. He was 70 years old. His physical body died, but his music will not die.

Solomon Burke won a Grammy, was a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, He wrote the song "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," which is a pop music standard.. He wrote the song "Cry To Me," which is his best known song. He performed on stage for more than five decades.

Solomon Burke, R.I.P.

John Lennon: Imagine Peace

"Imagine there's no countries/ It isn't hard to do/ Nothing to kill or die for/ And no religion too/ Imagine all the people/ Living life in peace ..." -- John Lennon.

Yesterday, John Lennon fans remembered.

From the Associated Press -- " A crush of fans circled a flower-graced mosaic in Central Park's Strawberry Fields and sang lyrics from "Imagine" on Saturday to honor Beatles legend John Lennon on his 70th birthday. On the day when the Liverpool Lad would have become a septuagenarian, thousands of fans from around the world gathered to remember the floppy-haired British superstar who just wanted to give peace a chance."

In New York City, a city Lennon is reported to have loved, the city where he died, people gathered in Central Park, in the section called Strawberry Fields, where there is a memorial to John Lennon, and a plaque, which lists 121 countries that endorse this spot as a Garden of Peace.

John Lennon's music speaks to the generations, poses the questions the generations have asked since the beginning of history. Why are there wars, when most people hate war? Why do people follow leaders who lead us into war, when people know peace is the better option? John Lennon's music addresses the issue of peace and war, asks the generations to imagine a world without war, and reminds us that we don't have to have wars.

Skinny Women, Big Men Makes More

Cenk and company at The Young Turks reacted to a report on the obvious, that looks count at the workplace, that people are judged and paid on their looks. See the video.

There is no denying the fact that employees, people, are valued, on a monetary basis, as much, if not more, on their looks than on their brains. A modeling looking gal always gets the boss's eye and gets pushed closer out front, so visitors can see her. The plain, the overweight, get held back in the enclosed offices, behind the decorative plants.

As for men -- It's in the muscles, dude. The hunk goes upfront. We haven't progressed that far from a time when we all had to hunt to survive, and the strong guys always took the point, whether to take on a dangerous beast, or to run down and to overpower the prey.

My hope is that things don't get so bad that in order to make a living everybody will have to look like models -- skinny ladies and big muscled men.

Mario Vargas Llosa

The Nobel Prize In Literature 2010 was awarded to the Peruvian Author Mario Vargas Llosa. For years Mario Vargas Llosa had been a writer-in-waiting for the prize. If another year had gone by without the long awaited announcement, all of South America would had been transported to Stockholm, Sweden, and all the old aunties and grandmothers would had stood outside the Swedish Academy's gate.

Journalists are writing that Mario Vargas Llosa wasn't on the lists of favorites. The names mentioned were Cormac McCarthy, Haruki Murakami and Ngugi wa Thiong'o. So it were the prayers of the old aunties and grandmothers, and the tears of the guild of master printers of all those unopened past books selected for the prize, and probably the spirit of perpetual doubt that caused those Scandinavians to choose Mario Vargas Llosa as a safe pick.

The consensus choice? A poll of all the poets who have gone to Heaven is that Mario Vargas Llosa is gifted and the gifted are too often underrepresented. Who knows for sure how the Swedish academy chose Mario Vargas Llosa. Its members keep its methods wrapped in secrets and mystery, which Heaven tells us will melt away slower than snow does on ice. It is the opinion of book lovers, who still pray to Heaven, that Mario Vargas Llosa has enjoyed the Muse favor for a long time, and for that academy to overlook brilliance for another year would have been cause for speculation as to whether every one in Sweden is blind.

John Lennon at 70? Imagine?

One of my favorite song writers of all times, John Lennon, would have been 70 this week.

Yesterday -- actually, all week, the web has been / is warming up with tributes to John Lennon. A lot of people have begun imagining an older John Lennon.

October 9th is the 70th anniversary of his birth and his fans are planning events of remembrance and celebration for October 9th, and for December 8th, on the 30th anniversary of his death. See the video. Yoko Ono, his widow. imagines what John Lennon's 70th birthday could have been like if he was still alive.  John Lennon looked forward to growing old as much as he looked forward to life,

From the Los Angeles Times -- In 1980, a 40-year-old John Lennon sang to his then-5-year-old son, Sean, "I can hardly wait to see you come of age."  John Lennon was "unabashedly anticipating the future. And to his wife, Yoko Ono, he borrowed a sentiment from poet Robert Browning and crooned "Grow old with me / The best is yet to be … whatever fate decrees, we will see it through."

More on Rick Sanchez

What? Rick Sanchez fired for making remarks about Jewish people and comedian Jon Stewart ?

It seems that Rick Sanchez was a little too thin skinned and reacted to Jon Stewart's mocking him by stepping a little bit too strongly. Mr Sanchez stepped in the do-do, by making a broad criticism of Mr. Stewart. Mr. Sanchez based the criticism on the comedy star's ethnic group, as if some one other than Jon Stewart is responsible for Jon Stewart's humor.

In my humble opinion, the best way to battle comedians is with humor, with jokes, by mocking them, and not by making the wrong step of stepping into do-do, which is where responding in anger leads.

I think -- CNN reacted too quickly and wrongly, based on what Rick Sanchez said on that radio program. See the video. Maybe there are other issues between Rick Sanchez and CNN, and there is something missing in the story. Rick Sanchez was one of the best people CNN had. His firing is CNN's loss.

As for Jon Stewart? I think he is one of the best people on cable TV.

Dean Forces Student Labor

Alleged Crooked Person

What?  A college dean?  A dean at St John's in New York had her own private slaves? She forced students to do work at no pay? To do her own private work? Work and no pay is slavery. Where is she now? Out on bail. Well, here is a case when some one. if convicted. should do big-time time.

 

From a CNN report-- "Cecilia Chang required scholarship students at St. John's University to take out the garbage, shovel snow and cook food at her home in Queens, New York.

"Chang threatened the students and placed them in fear that if they refused to perform these personal services, they would lose their scholarships and be unable to attend St. John's. At the time, she was a vice president and dean with the authority to award scholarships. In addition to requiring students to perform household chores, Chang also asked students to conduct financial transactions and deliver cash to her at a casino, according to the affidavit."

The local labor board should go after her for the students back wages. What ever funds she has should be seized, so that the students can be reimbursed.

She was suspended from her job back in January,accused of embezzlement, of stealing more than $1 million from the university, using that money for personal things, including gambling at casinos,, meals at restaurants, shopping trips at Victoria's Secret.

Stupid CNN Decision: Fire Rick Sanchez ?!

Fired after calling Jon Stewart a bigot?!

Item from the Associated Press --"CNN says that anchor Rick Sanchez has been fired, a day after he called Jon Stewart a bigot while on a radio show. Sanchez said on a satellite radio program Thursday that Stewart is bigoted toward 'everybody else that's not like him.' The Comedy Central 'Daily Show' host has frequently poked fun at Sanchez on the air .Also in the interview, Sanchez had mocked a suggestion that Jews are a minority. Stewart is Jewish. The statement from CNN says Sanchez 'is no longer with the company.' In it, the network also thanks Sanchez 'for his years of service" and wishes him well.' "

Something seems to be missing from this account. CNN fired Rick Sanchez after he criticized Jon Stewart, who mocked him? Did he also mock CNN? Mocking Jon Stewart can't be a firing offense? Mocking CNN? Who doesn't mock CNN? And fired for calling Jon Stewart a bigot? Jon Stewart has been called worst. Something is missing from this story?

Rick Sanchez was one of the best people on CNN, which is a failing cable channel, because it doesn't have people bold enough to call Jon Stewart a bigot.

Do I think Jon Stewart's a bigot? I think Jon Stewart is a very funny comic, a funny man who takes a poke at people. I would not be surprise to see him take a poke at CNN.

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