The Shape of Things To Come

Happened to be a shop while, by chance, Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech was on the radio. Understandably criticized, it was generally compared to George Orwell’s 1984. It made me think about a song that borrows from Orwell, Tracy Chapman’s Why?, which you can (I hope) hear here.
Love is hate
War is peace
No is yes
And we’re all free

But somebody’s gonna have to answer
The time is coming soon
When the blind remove their blinders
And the speechless speak the truth

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So what should upon my wandering eyes should appear but ABC-TV’s schedule for Tuesday night, Dec 15: A Charlie Brown Christmas. From 8 to 9 pm – 1 hour. When they last broadcast it, LAST Tuesday, as noted here, squeezed into a half hour slot:

Gone was Sally’s materialistic letter to Santa, which finally sends Charlie screaming from the room when she says she will settle for 10s and 20s.

Gone was Schroeder’s miraculous multiple renditions of “Jingle Bells” from a toy piano, including the one that sounds distinctly like a church organ.

Gone was Linus using his blanket as an improvised slingshot to knock a can off the fence no one else can hit, complete with ricochet sound effect.

Gone were the kids catching snowflakes on their tongues and commenting on their flavor.

Gone even was poor Shermy’s only line. He thought he had it bad because he was always tasked to play a shepherd. He had no idea.

And why were all these classic scenes cut? To plug more ads into the show, of course. To sell burgers and greeting cards — and to relentlessly plug the insipid-looking new Disney “soon to be a classic” show immediately following.

So did ABC relent to some sort of pressure? Inquiring minds want to know. But THIS seems to be the viewing of A Charlie Brown Christmas to watch – or record, even if it’s filled with even MORE ads. And – it is hoped – an apology.
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Still catching up, after two sick days this week. One of the truths I’ve long known is that when you’re sick or injured, but don’t act particularly sick or injured, people forget. I experienced that Wednesday, and I admit it: it made me rather cranky.
My wife and daughter both had a snow day, but they seemed to think it was MY snow day too; no, I’m home because …ever look at a computer screen and see it as doubled, only slightly out of sync? That’s what was happening to me. Yet the daughter wanted to play a game while the wife took a nap – a nap; *I* needed a nap. And when the wife announced that since we had this found opportunity, we could (oh, boy!) work on the household budget. No, no, no, it’s YOUR found time; it’s my SICK time. I almost escaped to the local library except I didn’t want to infect strangers.

It’s odd, but I hate taking off sick time. And I have LOTS of it. At the beginning of December, I had 145 days. If I use three in December, I still get 1.5, so I’ll still have 143.5 days left. And it’s not as though I get paid it out when I retire, or can apply the time to my health benefits; when I leave, I lose them. The only way I’ll use them is if I have a catastrophic illness or injury. But it takes so little to fall behind at work – 180 e-mails and 14 phone messages to look at on Thursday.
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Two children’s birthday parties this weekend – goody.
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I was looking at my face in the mirror recently and noticed that my cheeks are slightly darker than the rest of my face, as though the pigmentation after its loss in the vitiligo had returned. More recently, a small circle near my left temple and a larger circle around my right has also gotten darker. I find it odd that I really don’t know what I look like from month to month of late.
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When I was growing up, there were two songs, with similar titles, which appealed to me. One was The Yardbirds’ Shapes of Things, which got up to #11 in the US pop charts in the spring of 1966. The other is Shape of Things to Come by Max Frost & The Troopers, which reached #22 in the fall of 1968. Seems to be my message du jour.


ROG

Well, it’s 1-2-3, what are we fighting for?

Like most Americans, I remember September 11 exceedingly, and painfully, well. And when the United States invaded Afghanistan, as much as I dislike war, I did not protest. I understand the notion of self-defense; I even understand the notion of vengeance.
And I was no fan of the Taliban even before 9/11. I recalled that the Taliban wrecked this ancient (3rd century AD) Buddhist statue, the tallest Buddha figure in the world, and I recalled that it really ticked me off. So I figured that if these are the “bad guys”, then our government, heck the world should root them out. And the world, including France, not so incidentally, responded.

But the mission got sidetracked by more Mesopotamian interests. And while there’s a (legitimate?) government in place in Aghanistan, there seems to be no exit strategy after nearly eight years. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen said on NBC’s Meet the Press last month, “From a military perspective, I believe we’ve got to start to turn this thing around from a security standpoint in the next 12 to 18 months.” When asked what success looks like in Afghanistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said, “We’ll know it when we see it,” a truly pornographic response, as more than one critic has noted.

But even George Will, for cryin’ out loud, referred to our policy in Afganistan as Operation Sisyphus. There may be a legitimate reason for staying in Afghanistan, but like increasing number of Americans, I’m just not seeing it.

I’ve noticed that the National Day of Service and Remembrance is getting some flak. I don’t object to it per se, but it’s not really resonating with me.

My sentiment on this day in more in line with International Unity Day, proclaimed for today by the International Institute For Human Empowerment. Its unity pledge:
We welcome the advent of the new Millennium. We will meet its challenge by first acknowledging that our planet is rich with diversity, but one in humanity. Together we pledge that we will support only the programs and legislation that elevate all people toward equality. We desire to live in peace with our brothers and sisters internationally, and will work toward equity of opportunity in every area of our lives. We celebrate our commitment to improving international relations by living peacefully while sharing active concern for those less fortunate. Together we unite in our desire to end oppression, hunger, and poverty by seeking educational opportunities, including access to technology, for all.

Maybe it’s a little soft and fuzzy mission, but that’s how I feel on this day.

ROG

December Ramblin’

I must say that these Bush midnight regulations have made me so annoyed I want to throw a shoe. Wait, it’s already been done. Some pundit is suggesting sending shoes to the White House, the smellier the better. I would never suggest that; 20500; no, not me.
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100 Web Tools to Plan the Party of the Year From Your Cube
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Specialized’s Christmas card
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You may have seen this video last Christmastime:or LINK.
About 8 million people saw it on YouTube and as this ABC News story shows, brought forth a reunion of Straight No Chaser.
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AdFlip bills itself as “The worlds largest archive of classic print ads.” the fact that it doesn’t know how to use an apostrophe does not negate the fact that it’s a fun site. Some stuff is free, but a lot more can be accessed for a fee.
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The Third Annual Orgasm for Peace Sunday, December 21, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Greenwich Mean Time.
“The theory is that if enough people can experience orgasm in the same time frame while projecting a conscious intention for peace and harmony on the planet, a surge of physical and spiritual positivity will infuse the Earth’s energy field.”
That would be 6-8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time
12 midnight to 2 am on December 22 in New Zealand, if I’m calculating this correctly.
I’m reminded of my old antiwar days:
“What Do We Want?”
“Peace!”
“When Do We Want It?”
“December 21, around noon, GMT!”

ROG

T is for Thank You


I’ve said more than once before in this blog that the writing (or whatever it is I do) on this site and elsewhere helps me keep my equilibrium.

So, thank you for coming by.

And it does have its specific unexpected benefits. Just in the last week:
One blogger sent me this and wrote, This Made Me Think of You!
Another blogger has promised me secret swag.
And most incredibly, I commented about a musical group another blogger mentioned on Friday, and yesterday, an album from said same group arrived at my door! Thanks! I liked it on first hearing, especially Mission.

So, as my post-Thanksgiving (US) gesture, I have a few things I would like to send to you all, free of charge, just for the asking. Some of these I have offered before, but since there are new people that come by, I thought I’d make them available again.

Item 1: an annotated version of the United States Constitution. Quantity remaining: about two dozen. I’m an old political science major, and I think it’s important for folks to be aware of its content, instead of what they THINK it says.

Item 2: the book And don’t call me a racist! Quantity available: about six dozen. this was the sourcer of part of our church’s Black history month discussion last year. I’m fascinated by the story of the elderly woman who self-published this book.
I was reading an old ESPN the magazine this week. Someone commented that if people stopped talking about race, then racism would go away; I respectfully disagree.

Item 3: a button that reads Choose Peace. Quantity available: about ten dozen. It’s about 2 inches in diameter and is green with white lettering.

You can request as many as you want. I’m going to wait until Friday, December 12 and send them out. I’ll fulfill the ones with single requests of items (and by that, asking for one of each would be considered a “single” request) first, then parse out the multiple requests after that. So if, e.g. someone asks for all 24 Constitutions, I’ll give out the ones with the single request first, and the one asking for all of them last.

Your charge for postage – zero. Is this offer available outside the United States? Yes.

Know that I may throw in something extra, probably music related.

Send requests to rogerogreen (at) gmail (dot) com

Oh, and feel free to tell others.

Thank You (the Led Zeppelin song) – Lizz Wright
or here

I Thank You – Sam and Dave
or here

Thank You – Sly and the Family Stone
or here.


ROG

War to End All Wars

Since I understood its meaning, I always liked Veterans Day. When I was a child, I loved the parades.

Now, I appreciate the perhaps the foolhardy optimism of a war to end all wars, which is what they called The Great War; it ended on November 11, 1918, which became Armistice Day. Of course, the Great War became World War I when we fought World War II. Armistice Day became Veterans Day, and we’ve had a couple wars since then.

Even as we honor those who fight the wars the politicians send them to, the foolhardy dream remains:
I ain’t gonna study war no more,
I ain’t gonna study war no more,


Ain’t Gonna Study War No More.
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United Methodist bishops call for US withdrawal from Iraq.


ROG

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