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05 Nov 99 - 11:48 AM (#132198) Subject: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Rick Fielding Thank goodness there have been some great musical threads here the last couple of weeks, because I NEEDED them to take my mind off some of the crap I'm seeing around me "news wise". I'm a political and information junkie so I guess it's my own fault, but I am so troubled by the flat out hypocracy and immorality that has just become "the way of doing things". Oh how I would love to read that the Dean of Queen's University stood up publicly and said "No convicted torturer and murderer is going to get a tax funded degree at MY university! Even if it costs me my job!" (the Karla case...'thought for the day, Nov. 4th) Someone like Walter Cronkite calling a press conference and denouncing EVERY Presidential political candidate for spinning the truth and (consequently) their beliefs every night on TV. Just to hear him say "Shame on you all!" would be wonderful. The Boxing commision to say: "Mike Tyson, when you bit the ear off an opponent, your career ENDED! Now go find a job!" The network Presidents getting together and stating publicly "We will no longer give bad guys and gals the oportunity to sell their books and forge new careers as celebrities on our networks! Simply having a religious conversion and saying "it's time to move on" will no longer be enough for you to make millions on your former crimes (and misdimeanors)" Some prominent defence attorney who finally CAN'T sleep at night because he KNOWS his client is a monster, goes public and says "Our justice system is SO flawed it MUST be changed". I remember years ago Ralph Nader, Michael Moore and a few others taking huge risks. Flawed or not I see them as heroes. I could do with a few more right now. Not the ones who've made careers out of being gutsy..but NEW ones who finally say "Enough is Enough". (ranting)Rick |
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05 Nov 99 - 12:00 PM (#132203) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: katlaughing It's catching, eh? Thats they way I was feeling a couple of weeks ago. Sorry if I was the carrier, Rick. *smile* This might make ya feel a little better. I just had dinner with him and he made me feel reinspired about heroes and fighting the good fight, all over again. Of course, then if I pick up the paper here, I can see the complete other end of the spectrum with some idiot's letter claiming that Matt Shephard wouldn't be dead if he hadn't done this and that; damn it it was all his fault that that down-valley in-bred trash HAD to kill him...well, his and the drugs the perp took. It's all the homosexual dead guy's fault, ya know? Arrgghhhh! Go read that bio; it'll help! luvyaKat |
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05 Nov 99 - 12:14 PM (#132209) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Rick Fielding Thanks Kat. Ya know friends I want to emphasise that I'm not feeling this way from any "left - right" or "liberal - conservative" point of view. If I were ever truly on one side, I'm not anymore because the hypocracy is EQUALLY spread. When N.O.W. completely dissed Paula Jones and prominent black media people refused to say ANYTHING about the O J situation, their bias and self-protection was as blatant as anything Rush Limbaugh could dish out. Sheesh, even to see a prominent wrong-doer come on the tube and actually APOLOGIZE, without just parroting the "it's time to move on" crap. Rick |
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05 Nov 99 - 12:14 PM (#132210) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Lonesome EJ How about Shephard's parents? They personally went before the Judge to plead for the life of his killer, saying that they wanted no more tragedy connected to Matthew.That is an amazing statement for the depth of soul of people who have suffered such a staggering loss. That should give you some hope. |
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05 Nov 99 - 12:50 PM (#132226) Subject: RE: Religious Conversion From: Joe Offer Gee, Rick, you're making me depressed. You remind me of the countless crooked politicians and businessmen who have had public religious conversions under the guidance of some pop guru or television evangelist. Oftentimes, the converted version of the crook is worse than the original. Makes me wonder if bad people can ever really reform. Actually, I think they do, but I think that the people who really change their lives do so much more quietly and less dramatically. -Joe Offer, back from Los Angeles (briefly)- |
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05 Nov 99 - 01:08 PM (#132237) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: catspaw49 Baseball sucks Spaw |
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05 Nov 99 - 01:12 PM (#132240) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Frank Howe Just a suggestion - and not meaning to sound like Pollyanna - it REALLY matters where you look ... allowing the predominant media (as currently constructed) to focus your attention is a recipie for depression. choose your own windows into the world. the good almost always outweighs the bad - it just doesn't make "good" news. |
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05 Nov 99 - 01:21 PM (#132242) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: MAG (inactive) Actually, Rick, your song "Voicesof Struggle" is one I've been using for a lift. I do need to set the record straight on NOW and Paula, tho'. NOW jumped on Clinton's defense with both feet when they made noises about bringing up Paula's past. we, the Women's Movement, fought long and hard to get the "Damaged goods" mentality out of these cases. this was after Paula Jones had refused any and all offers of help from any women's group, which was freely offered; after all, we have the expertise. Paula then went on to lie about the W.M., saying where are they when it's their guy on the line. This blatant lying about hte WM is what turned my thinking on Ms. Jones, who has been living high off the hog, thanks to her political friends. this IS what the NOW president, Pat Ireland, was referring to when she did say to the media, "She chose her friends." Gloria Steinem questioned whether Clinton's Monica thing was an impeachable offense. She did not defend it. and I for one do think that wold have had a very different outcome if it weren't crystal clear Monica threw herself at Bill. Impeachment for terminal stupidity, maybe. Thanks for reading this to the end. |
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05 Nov 99 - 03:35 PM (#132299) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Metchosin Hi Rick, Another (sort of) Pollyanna here. I met an elderly neighbour during a snowstorm, who had been quite a recluse and had only ventured out when she had been without power for a few days and really needed help. She was in tears and ranting about how unsafe the world was and how terrible people had become. She had spent the last few years cooped up listening to "phone ins", on radio talk shows, bitching about the state of things and all the awful crime that occurs. I suggested that instead of listening to talk shows, she should just put on some music station instead, as she was getting a skewed view of the world and her neighbourhood by all the negativity out there, that we are bombarded with. (not in so many words but you get the drift). I think we all feel that we need another hero to help get things right agin, as if they ever were, or as Donavan wrote in Rikki Tikki Tavi, someone to "killa my snakes for me". The best advise I ever received, was from a friend who told me "Once you get the message, hang up the phone." and that's a hard thing to do when we all have a thirst for information and knowledge. We all have the perpensity for doing wrong or evil, even unwittingly, all we can try to do, as an individuals, is lean towards the light. |
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05 Nov 99 - 03:44 PM (#132305) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Joe Offer Frank, thanks for the reminder. I feel most comfortable when I'm wearing my Polyanna suit - it's the one that fits me best, and I think it's actually the one that's closest to reality. The real heroes are the so-called "ordinary" people you meet every day, not the people who seek the headlines. I can think of lots of terrific heroes. Many of them hang out around here at Mudcat. There are some truly extraordinary people right here. Paula Jones and the O.J. Simpson matter were fodder for the tabloids, and have little to do with reality. The feminists and the black leaders were better off not getting involved in those soap operas. Although I preferred John McCutcheon when he did mostly traditional stuff, I admit he's a darn good songwriter. On his latest album, Storied Ground, he's got a great song called Vultures (click) that is apropos to this discussion. -Joe Offer- |
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05 Nov 99 - 04:20 PM (#132316) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Bert Thanks for the real story MAG. It was worth reading to the end. Bert. |
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05 Nov 99 - 04:36 PM (#132321) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Metchosin Hanging up the phone now.......... |
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05 Nov 99 - 05:09 PM (#132330) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: catspaw49 didn't used to suck....had some heroes Spaw |
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05 Nov 99 - 06:02 PM (#132349) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: katlaughing Metchosin..I get it now. Hadn't been here all day, so missed your meaning in the message.:-) Yes there are heroes everywhere who go quietly on with their good works and we DO need to hear about them. I think what Rick meant, though, and I feel it, too, is that we long for a few well-known ones who will LEAD THE WAY. The more famous DO have more of an immediate impact and wouldn't it be wonderful if they used it to inspire instead of to wallow in their own demagoguery? Rick, I used to be a news junkie, esp. politics. Frank makes a good point. Now, I refuse to watch news on television; listen only to the more in-depth news of NPR; and a few newspaper stories. If I want to know more I go to the net. That way I am in control and I do not have to take in all that some broadcaster is spewing out, headline spin and skew, or not. You have an incredible ability to analyse, so I am sure this pasttime of yours is like brain gymnastics and a lot of fun; but, ya know, even Olympians get blisters form too much pactise sometimes. So practise moderation, sweetie. It might help! And, if your brain needs some exercise, you *transact* me and my family, again.**BG** luvyaKat |
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05 Nov 99 - 06:04 PM (#132350) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: katlaughing MAG- forgot to say thank you for sticking up for your sisters! I got a lot of flack for that,too. |
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05 Nov 99 - 06:15 PM (#132352) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: catspaw49 Flack? Flack? Is that Roberta? Saw her once in DC at a small club BEFORE she was Roberta Flack. Spaw - Who misses Hank, the Duke, Stan the Man, the Mick, Big Klu, and all the others who had off season jobs and lived the game. |
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05 Nov 99 - 06:55 PM (#132367) Subject: ADD LYRICS: Heroes From: Stewie Rick, following on from Joe's song prompt, on his latest album,'Look Up', on the Watermelon label, one of my musical heroes, Bob Neuwirth, has fine song called 'Heroes':
Here's to all heroes and half empty bottles
In the wee wee hours when the mind gets to thinkin'
Here's to the sailors so homesick and lost
So here's to the heroes and half empty bottles
In the wee wee hours of their morning Bob Neuwirth, Dry Clam Music BMI Regards, Stewie.
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05 Nov 99 - 06:59 PM (#132368) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Joe Offer Flak - an acronym for Fliegerabwehrkanone, literally "flyer defense cannon" - antiaircraft gun. Alternate spelling flack. Aren't you glad you know that now? It's one of my favorite acronyms, you know. -Joe Dictionary- Hey, Wolfgang, is it Fliegerabwehrkanone, or is it three separate words? |
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05 Nov 99 - 06:59 PM (#132369) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Stewie Damn, the second line in the last verse should read 'they're' not 'their'. I cannot allow such a mangling of the language to stand - mea culpa. Error corrected. Your wish is my command... |
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05 Nov 99 - 07:00 PM (#132370) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Rick Fielding Thanks for responding folks. Naturally there are thousands of acts of great courage every day. People who truly are heroes, who will remain forever anonymous to all but their closest associates. Of course that's not where I was going with this though, as Kat pointed out. It is our PUBLIC figures who disappoint me so gravely. Never has there been such polarization. I expected a few folks to react with a kind of "don't remind me of all the shit out there, I don't need to know all that information". I've always had a need to be really well-informed, and I may be wrong but I don't think it's any kind of "analytical excercise". If so, then there's lots of others here at Mudcat in the same boat as me. Nope I truly find that knowing as much as I can about the stuff going on around us is interesting and helps me form more useful opinions. Mag, thanks so much. I wrote the song "Voices of Struggle" for Arlene Mantle, a very fine lesbian singer and activist who I worked with on and off for about ten years. Arlene came from poverty and much abuse, and through her ability to mobilize (and entertain) disadvantaged women, ended up being honoured in places like France, Chile, Nicaragua, Russia and Poland. Virtually impossible to find her recordings here though. Please don't take offence, but I watched at least a dozen times as her upscale sisters reacted in a very uncomfortable manner with her straight talking blue collar manner. I expect that the leaders who "talk the talk" during a campaign , also "walk the walk", once elected, so I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you on the Paula Jones thing. I've seen Pat Ireland, and dozens of Democratic apologists ad nauseum over the last 3 years, and I felt they put a huge spin on the situation. (for solidarity's sake). Oops, was gonna ramble on some more, but if there's gonna be any solidarity in THIS house, I gotta make dinner! Rick |
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05 Nov 99 - 07:07 PM (#132373) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: catspaw49 Joe...Wie geht es ihnen?...Obviously Wolfgang knows best, but my guess is that its one word. First, I've seen it written that way and second, the German language is BIG on making one LLOOOONNNNGGGGGG word. I no longer remember what it is, but there is ONE word for Fire Insurance Company. Spaw |
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05 Nov 99 - 07:38 PM (#132380) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: poet some body once wrote that a country usually gets the government it deserves. I read this to mean that too many ordinary people are prepared to tolerate hypocrasy and dishonesty in their leading figures forthe sake of peace and quiet. when enough people say no then things will change and heroes will be the norm and no longer required.Don't pass by on the other side. Graham. |
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05 Nov 99 - 07:54 PM (#132382) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: katlaughing Good point, Graham. Spaw, since you call him by his first name, I think you could drop the formal and just ask Joe, "Wie gehts du?" Sorry, Rick, I didn't mean that you only watch to analyse. I know you better than that, I hope. I think it is wonderful that you choose to be well-informed and make intelligent decisions, unlike the average joe and jane blow, who also sit and complain but DO NOT VOTE! Now, here is a hard question, everyone. THIS IS TOTALLY GENERAL. I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT ANY ONE OF US, JUST posing. Are we washed up as activists; waiting for those under 30 something to take up the mantle of social change and justice? Do you take what you watch, make a decision, and act on it, through whatever way that you can? I know a lot of you do when it comes to music. How about politics? Or social issues, specifically? Just wondering and think it could bring some interesting discussion. kat |
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05 Nov 99 - 08:14 PM (#132386) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: catspaw49 Sorry Kat...Good point, but I haven't actually "Drank the du" with Joe, but I guess this place will suffice!(:+) Spaw |
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05 Nov 99 - 08:23 PM (#132388) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: katlaughing S'awright, Spaw; I'se jist joshin'! Rick, as my cat says, "Excuse my foah paws". I did NOT mean that you sit around and complain; syntax, dammit, kat, syntax, mutter, mutter....or was it sintax?I am off to start a new story thread, I think. LeeJ...are you listening? Com'on LeeJ, gottta write, gotta write...more stories in you than the sky has stars. The rest of you, DO NOT BE SHY, come add a paragraph or few. katsmiling&tryingtocheerRickyUP! |
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05 Nov 99 - 08:40 PM (#132392) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Joe Offer Well Kat, I guess I have changed my perspective in the years that have passed since I was all-wise at the age of 20. I'm less likely to believe in posturing and provocation as effective tools, and I'm much more likely to take the effort to listen to those who disagree with me at try to understand them. Issues that seemed so clear-cut 30 years ago, now look a lot more muddy to me. To a great extent, I think I've improved with age. I've maintained my ideals, but I tend to tolerate people more than I used to. There's a danger in that, though - too much tolerance can dull our zeal for justice. Now that I'm retired and don't have to answer to an employer, life is a brand-new adventure ahead for me. I think I'll go joust a few windmills. -Joe Offer- (but I still have to type four more reports this weekend, because I've been goofing off) Oh, and that's "Wie geht es dir." Dative, if I recall correctly. |
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05 Nov 99 - 09:02 PM (#132403) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: katlaughing Ah, but isn't it informally du? Gawd knows you remember MUCH more of it than I do; esp. considering where and how you learned it as opposed to my measly few years in high school!**BG** |
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05 Nov 99 - 09:06 PM (#132405) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Stewie Thanks, Joe. And 'relieving' in the fifth line should be 'reliving' if my wish is your command. I been retired for 18 months - it's a whole new world! Cheers, Stewie. |
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05 Nov 99 - 09:27 PM (#132414) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: bseed(charleskratz) Kat, I used to spend some of my time listening to my local NPR station but gave it up. True, they take time to develop their stories, but they are much too dependent upon corporate financing to make much more noise about US sponsorship of the scum of the earth for the sake of providing businesses with cheap labor and resources than do the "commercial media." Give me Pacifica stations anytime--if they can be rescued from the assaults of their national board of directors. KPFA gets 95% of my radio listening time (in addition to its news and public affairs broadcasts, it has the best music: Sundays feature seven solid hours of roots music, the last hour of which is "Loafer's Glory--the Hobo Jungle of the Mind"--Utah Phillips' great misture of music, politics, humor, reminiscences, etc. Saturday is soul with Johnny Otis, blues, and jazz--and there's lots of great world music throughout the week. --seed |
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05 Nov 99 - 09:55 PM (#132423) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: katlaughing Bseed, are they on-line, now? Up to a year ago, there was no way I could listne to them and I had friends out there who would swear by them. NPR, unfortunately is about the only alternative anything in the altered state of Wyoming. And, I can't stand their music mix. I do liek listening to the BBC on there and also National Native news. Thanks, kat |
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05 Nov 99 - 10:10 PM (#132426) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Rick Fielding You know, I don't even think I want more activists. (I used to be one til I saw how opportunistic some of the leading figures became). Nope. I'd be overjoyed if ONE prominent ciggy executive went public (which means the tube) and said "I was lying..I can't sleep at night. I'm sorry". (and I'm a sometime smoker!) Or how about candidate Al Gore saying in his next speech: Hey, all this "country boy" stuff has been a huge mistake. This image-moulding is driving me nuts! Look I've always been a priveleged rich guy, but I'm experienced, I care about people and trees, and I'll try not to lie to you as much as you have been lied to in the past. So vote for me, OK? Geez, if he said that I'd be so shocked..I'd take out Yankee papers and vote for him myself! Even if ol' Pete Rose would put away the false pride for a moment and say "I really screwed up. REALLY big, and I'm sorry America..now don't ask me about it again! Believe me, he'd be in the "hall" in an instant. HE could probably become president then! I guess to me a public "hero" these days wouldn't have to be a Pete Seeger or a Ralph Nader, just a prominent enough person who in speaking the truth, went against his "group", and was willing to take the consequences. Does anyone doubt that Jesse Ventura blew off what would have destroyed any other politician in America, for one reason only? The people forgave him (for insulting them) because they recognized that he was being honest...stupid..but honest. Rick |
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06 Nov 99 - 12:00 AM (#132480) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: DonMeixner Rick, I know how you feel. We've lost our sense of proper reward it seems. People who whine and whimper and beg for someone to carry their load seem to get the reward that should go to the people who start fresh each day and climb their own hills and kill their own snakes. I have a friend who would sooner die than let a penny of his tax money go to support food stamps. All those people out there who us food stamps are loafers you know. But this same guy makes extra sandwiches for his son to take to school because he knows a boy in his sons class doesn't get lunch and breakfast very often. Sure he is an arch conservative but to him the unnamed are the takers and users, but put a face and name on the needy and he is there to help. He lets neighbors cut wood on shares from his hedges for fire wood. Cut a chord for him take a chord for you and most the time he has them take both chords because "someone else" cut more than they needed. People like that may not be heroes but they are people I admire. Thats where more good is done in the world. By the nameless people who are just good folks to begin with. Don |
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06 Nov 99 - 12:16 AM (#132487) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: katlaughing Our arsewipe governor is one of those types only with no redeeming values. He just told the state last week that people who make under $36,000 should have to pay more taxes for state services because they are the ones who use the services the most! He actually said they should give a little skin. He comes from a wealthy farming and ranching family; he pays no rent on the governor's mansion, nor, I am sure, does he pay any utility bills or worry about HIS kid going hungry at breakfast or lunch. And, he made no mention of how the poor use up such state services as the Dept. of Transportation provides, keeping the roads in good repair for all of the semis that are constantly travelling through. Guess all those less well-off people must be using a lot of the DOT budget, ruining the roads like they are with all those vehicles they own. Oh, and the senior citizens, who are on fixed incomes, whose prescription meds are what? doubling or quadrupling compared to everyone else's? No mention of how much skin they oughta lose over the measly little assistance they might get on paying rent or taking a stupid subsidised city run mini-bus, which you have to reserve a day in advance for your schedule, to and fro to their low cost senior citizen center meal. Nope, the gov of Wyo will make you pay what you don't have in order to give you a little help! What a fawking scumbag! |
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06 Nov 99 - 12:44 AM (#132492) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: DonMeixner Jeezus Katy what do you really think. You almost even sweared once or twice. Don |
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06 Nov 99 - 01:02 AM (#132499) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: catspaw49 She's a feisty lass ain't she? The litter box is one helluva mess tonight!!!! Spaw - and Don, well written and spoken. |
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06 Nov 99 - 03:25 AM (#132504) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: katlaughing Don, LOLWABG (laughing out load with a big grin)! Ya know, if you ever spoke with me on the phone ya probably wouldn't believe it was the same person. Since I write so much for publication, I guess I've learned to censor out the usual salty language; I don't do this when speaking with someone, well...unless it is inappropriate. Get me going on that asshole, though...I've been wanting to write that all week, but knew it'd never get past the editors!**BG** T'anks fer listening, phoaks. And, Spaw.....I've noticed you were out in the litter, too! No fair blaming just me for the mess! katonatear |
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06 Nov 99 - 06:51 AM (#132528) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: McGrath of Harlow If you've got to choose between Don Meixner's friend who's decent face to face with people who need help, while being a prejudiced bastard in theory and when they get to vote, and some right-on liberal who wouldn't give a person in trouble the time of day, sure, I'd sooner have Don's friend for a neighbour. And I've known people like that. People who are racists in theory, but make exceptions for the people they actually meet. Hard-nosed softies.
But I've also known people who have the imagination to realise that humanity doesn't stop outside their circle of neighbourliness, and that it's no good holding out a helping hand, while at the same time putting in the boot.
Love your neighbour, fine, but love your enemy too. Do good to those that hate you. "Noone ever said it would be easy being a rabbit."
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06 Nov 99 - 10:40 AM (#132560) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Micca Kat, am I right in thinking you didn't vote for this POS (piece of sh*t)? I have a fool-proof way of working out voting in elections, and like Lazarus Long I ALWAYS vote, There maybe (and frequently isn't) anyone I want to vote for , but there is ALWAYS someone I want to vote against. But I think in the main I side with Avrell Harriman" The desire to be elected should exclude you from standing". and seasonsbly "The last person to go to parliament with Honest intentions was Guy Fawkes" |
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06 Nov 99 - 12:07 PM (#132589) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Peter T. Well, I am an activist, and am more of an activist as I get older than I ever was in my teens and twenties. But it is ironically more and more difficult to keep going. You do come to think that it is pointless, or that you do it just to keep the bastards from having it all their way. The problem I think is that most activists of a non-right persuasion used to have a fairly straightforward but foggy idea that some large good result was coming, and that their little piece of it was contributing. The only people with that kind of ideology anymore are free-marketers, who see any and all forms of compassion as wrong-headed interference with a system that is working to achieve universal wealth at some time in the distant future. They have an explanation, a plan, and are doing very well out of it. The rest of us are left with the "little piece" -- the ordinary good, the local struggles, the occasional victory. These do not add up to a larger goal, unless you are religious, or have some singular cause you are working for. This kind of work is immensely valuable, and can be more than enough for some people, but it can also be terribly lonely and confusing, and you can eventually feel that you are wasting your poky little time while the big world goes to hell. What heroes do is to show you that the good life can be lived in the larger realm -- they are embodiments of a larger vision (which is what often makes them dangerous). I think it is that larger vision people lack, not heroes. We have become frightened of larger visions, because of the horrible damage some of them have done this century. Communism's worst crime was to poison the belief that having dreams of social justice on a large scale was good, and to waste everyone's energy on that stupid version of it for so long. Still, without vision, the people perish.... The dreams will come back, different, better, smarter. They are coming back in one or two of my students, who start from a deep ironic suspicion of crap, and yet they are stirring down there. Or at least graying professors like to think so. It ain't over yet.
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06 Nov 99 - 12:48 PM (#132595) Subject: RE: I need some heroes, Damn it! From: Rick Fielding Kat..."Arsewipe??" Love it! Don...Your friend reminds me of one of mine. He is Peter the cab driver, who I can't invite to a party 'cause he'll be rude and argumentative with anyone he suspects of being a liberal. He's probably seen as a racist as well....but I've seen the guy who for 30 years helps EVERYONE who needs it. He saves people from getting beaten up in parks,he takes a rape victim to a hospital when the previous TWO cabbies tried to rape her AGAIN! He constantly walks up flights of stairs carrying grocery bags for old ladies when the other cabbies refuse (or ask for extra dough.) He has this "right and wrong" mentality that has no gray areas. He drives at night so he encounters virtually the worst of everything. I think I'm his "token" liberal, because years ago when I met him in a bar and he was railing on about Govt. "handouts", I was the only one who didn't get intimidated. (as you know Don, playing in bars gets you used to mouthy customers) Later in the evening he was quoting boxing statistics and saying "I guess all you commies (it was a folk bar) want boxing banned! From the stage, I yelled "If you don't get your stats right, I'll have YOU banned!" "Whaddya mean?" he says. "You forgot Marvin Hart's name in you heavyweight champs' list" I reminded him. From that day on he's shown up at every gig! He just can't fathom how someone who sings protest songs and writes articles for the Socialist News, can talk boxing with him. I guess I'm as much of an enigma to him as he is to me. But I know he's a good man. Rick |