Proud to say I’m a “Liberal”

“If by a “Liberal” they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.”

~ John F. Kennedy, 1960

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is the traditional kick off for Summertime, even though the official first day of summer is not until later in June. For many, Memorial Day means picnics, trips to the lake,  baseball games, horseshoes, pool parties, kids out of school, barbecues and the Indy 500.

And, yes, it means all those things, but there is a greater meaning.

The loss of a loved one in war must be a horrible burden to bear, one that I have not personally felt, but one that I can empathize with completely.

Our great nation, however imperfect she may be, has stood the test of time and our brightest and best have stood up for her and defended her throughout history, some with the forfeiture of their lives.

The shot heard ’round the world. The Battle of New Orleans. Gettysburg. The Hundred Day Offensive. Pearl Harbor, Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge and Iwo Jima.  The Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. The Tet Offensive.  The Mother of All Battles. Kabul. Baghdad.

No matter your thoughts on these wars, you have to respect those that fought them for us, and those that made the ultimate sacrifice. They deserve no less.

Today, when you sit down with your family, friends or even alone, take a moment to reflect on those that stood tall to protect our freedom and liberty.

But I would also suggest that you remember those that lost their lives, but not in uniform, but for a cause greater than themselves.

Medgar Evers. Dr. King. Rachel Corrie. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. Matthew Shepard. Harvey Milk. Rachel Corrie. Tom Hurndall. The Kennedy’s. And many, many more.

Today is the day we set aside to honor those that have come before us, blazing a trail so we all may have a better life. As you celebrate the day, stop to remember and honor those that have made this day possible.

It’s the least we can do.

William Stephenson Clark

iggydonnelly

3/16/1954 — 5/2/2010

He was a dedicated father, son, brother, and friend.  He loved music and relaxed with his guitar.  He loved people, he fought for the common man, and he will be sorely missed.  When the Prairie Pops blog began it was both because Steven wanted a civil place to hold discussions and because there were rumors the local newspaper might be facing financial problems and shut down.  He made sure there was a place he could find his friends if that happened.  His friends were important to him.  And we all know we’re better people because he called us friends.

This is the description Steven wrote of himself when he began this blog in March of 2009 —

iggydonnelly borrowed his nickname from Ignatius Donnelly, a prairie populist who started the People’s Party in 1892.  The original Donnelly was a senator from Minnesota.  The people in the Populist party were against the rich and for the common man.  In 1892, Ignatius Donnelly said… “The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes, unprecedented in the history of the world, while their possessors despise the republic and endanger liberty.”

The blogger donnelly has worked in various Kansas Community Mental Health Centers since February 1st, 1982.  The blogger has worked at his current place of employment since 1992.  Donnelly is a student and sometimes adjunct instructor of psychology.  The blogger donnelly is an advocate of progressive politics and free thought.  Donnelly has never raised any corn, but he has raised hell if there was no one around to watch, that is.  This author believes that same sex marriage is a civil rights issue and is a supporter of this cause.  In his spare time donnelly conducts psychological research that combine his interests in “positive psychology” and treatment planning for persons with severe and persistent mental illness.  He has one teenage son and one teenage daughter, who both with the aid of many heavy sighs, have learned to tolerate their father.

Health-care reform

On the eve of passing a national health-care reform bill, I’ve been thinking about Senator Edward Kennedy.  He would no doubt have helped make the argument that when you get this close, there are some things more important than reelection.  Speaker Pelosi, who often cites Senator Kennedy’s call for comprehensive health care, made that case recently on ABC’s This Week when she said “Why are we here? We’re not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress. We’re here to do the job for the American people.”

Back in the good old days after the Senate passed its bill and before the Democrats lost their filibuster-resistant majority, negotiators had planned to name the legislation for Ted Kennedy and Michigan Congressman John D. Dingell, Jr., the senior House Democrat who had been advocating universal coverage since he arrived in 1955. That won’t happen; there are just too many other matters to worry about now.

Senator Kennedy’s son, Patrick Kennedy, when asked what his Dad would say: “This was never for him,” he said. “The greatest honor for him would be getting more people covered, any which way or how.”

A tribute to Senator Kennedy

Here is a stirring tribute song to my good friend, Senator Ted Kennedy called ‘Headed Home.’ I wrote this song with the great Phil Springer. Take a moment to listen to the words. You don’t have to agree with everyone’s politics…none of us agree 100% of the time. But you have to admire a lifetime dedicated to public service and improving the lives of others — and that is just one of the many things that made Ted great. I think this song captures a small part of Ted’s legacy of service. Listen to it and see what you think.

Senator Orrin Hatch

Lyrics:

Through the darkness
We can find a pathway
That will take us half way
To the stars.

Through the rain and fog
We can find a clear day
Shoo the shadows and doubts away
And touch the legacy that is ours.

Yours and mine
And our children’s
For all time.

Just honor him
Honor him
And every fear
Will be a thing of the past.

America, America
We’re headed home
We’re headed home
At last.

Just honor him
Honor him
And on the reefs of despair
We shall not crash.

America
America
We’re sailing home
Sailing home
America
America
We’re headed home
Headed home
At last.

Written by: Orrin Hatch and Phil Springer

The Senate’s great lion

In a recent article written by Senator Edward M. Kennedy and published in Newsweek, he explains why he fought to make health care available for every mother or father who hears a sick child cry in the night.

In 1973, when I was first fighting in the Senate for universal coverage, we learned that my 12-year-old son Teddy had bone cancer. He had to have his right leg amputated above the knee. Even then, the pathology report showed that some of the cancer cells were very aggressive. There were only a few long-shot options to stop it from spreading further. I decided his best chance for survival was a clinical trial involving massive doses of chemotherapy. Every three weeks, at Children’s Hospital Boston, he had to lie still for six hours while the fluid dripped into his arm. I remember watching and praying for him, all the while knowing how sick he would be for days afterward.

During those many hours at the hospital, I came to know other parents whose children had been stricken with the same deadly disease. We all hoped that our child’s life would be saved by this experimental treatment. Because we were part of a clinical trial, none of us paid for it. Then the trial was declared a success and terminated before some patients had completed their treatments. That meant families had to have insurance to cover the rest or pay for them out of pocket. Our family had the necessary resources as well as excellent insurance coverage. But other heartbroken parents pleaded with the doctors: What chance does my child have if I can only afford half of the prescribed treatments? Or two thirds? I’ve sold everything. I’ve mortgaged as much as possible. No parent should suffer that torment. Not in this country. Not in the richest country in the world.

fnord

Joan-one of my favorite people of all time.

Hilberta Elizabeth (Joan) Dahlin, forever 49, of Marina del Rey, California died peacefully on August 9, 2009, with her family gathered by her side.

She was born September 26, 1924 in Tarkio, Missouri to Gertrude Leoline Kaufman and Lyman Henry Sommer.

Hilberta and her younger sister, MaryAnn, traveled the world with their parents. The Sommer girls attended boarding school in Wichita, Kansas and graduated from Holy Family High School in Glendale, California.

After graduation, with the news of Pearl Harbor, Hilberta joined the Women’s Ambulance and Defense Corps of America. She was one of the first women to become a fulltime State Guard member. Hilberta subsequently received her bachelor and her master degrees from Northwestern University in Illinois.

Hilberta met her future husband, Carl Roy Dahlin, a US Marine, at a USO dance in Santa Barbara. They married in February 1945, and settled in Santa Monica, California until they took up residence on Harding Avenue in Venice, which the family occupied for the next 50 years. Here they raised their ever-expanding family, a great source of her pride and joy.

Mrs. D, as she was known by her students, was a beloved teacher. When the youngest of her eight children entered kindergarten, Mrs. D began her long and storied career in the classroom. She touched generations of families as a 6^th grade teacher at St. Mark’s Catholic School in Venice and then as a teacher and librarian at St. Monica Elementary School in Santa Monica where she remained until her retirement. Mrs. D received numerous awards and accolades for her achievements, including Outstanding Elementary School Teacher and Teacher of the Year as well as being honored for serving 54 years in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Joan will be remembered for her strong Catholic faith, her adventurous spirit, her love of traveling (both home and abroad), her sharp sense of humor and sense of fun, her selflessness and generosity of spirit, her preservation (insistence) of correct grammatical use in the English language and the positive impact she had on the lives of countless people. She will be sorely missed and fondly remembered by all who knew and loved her.

Joan was preceded in death by her husband, Carl Roy Dahlin, her sister, Mary Ann Sommer and her granddaughter, Jennifer Dahlin.

Joan is survived by her children Roy Anthony, Karl Hilbert (Janet), Jon Kristin (Theresa), George Kurtis (Irma), Erick Joseph, Mary Leolyn Carl (Bradford), Mark Thomas (Kerry), Karin Marie Dahlin, Lisa Ann Reid (Steve), David Dahlin Glover (Vanessa), Bob Fuhrmann, 24 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren.

Joan visited my mom ,when I was taking care of her in Joplin, Mo, twice.  Both times were outrageous fun. I would take them both for rides to various parts of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. I had to make both ride in the back seat because of the noise generated as both talked at the same time. How they ever understood each other is still a mystery to me, and one science would do well to investigate.

Joan, my mom, and two nuns toured Europe decades ago for two months. They bought a mini-van and drove it all over. I should get with my sister and write down some of their adventures, as there were many. For instance, while in Holland, they got lost, drove down the wrong road, which happened to be an exclusive bike road. They got stopped by the local gendarme, who politely escorted them to the correct road, called ahead and had the local hotel ready for them when they arrived there. Try having that done over here.

I will seriously miss her charm and sense of humor. May you rest in peace, Joan, and say hi to mom.

Goodnight, Walter Cronkite. . .

 

Walter Cronkite died at age 92.  See here for his obit.

Shawn’s Famous Friends — THE BEATLES

Okay, I know. This is really becoming annoying, huh? Addictive personality, WHO ME? Yes me. I admit it, freely. So instead of working on that defect of charcter here at PrariePops for all to see, maybe I can try to twist it into something positive.

Those of you who know me here know that I’ve been shamelessly promoting my favorite artist Shawn Phillips http://www.shawnphillips.com/. That can’t be all bad, The Friggin Loon has started listening to Shawn. So instead of doing a disservice to him, (by making you all bitter through my own obsessive behavior) I’ll take a different approach. A series of videos featuring Shawn’s more well known friends. Gauranteed to blow your mind!  ~sekanblogger

 “I was invited a couple of times to Paul McCartney’s and George Harrison’s house. We were on a very friendly basis. Paul invited me to a session, and I ended up singing background vocals on “Lovely Rita Meter Maid”, and we saw each other socially many times after that, at the Moody Blues house, and various clubs around London. I gave George some basic lessons on sitar, before he ever actually met Ravi Shankar. It was basically the same with John and Ritchie (Ringo). Although, I never went to their houses.” 

“Very nice guys, every single one of them. John Lennon and I got along very very well. George was really the quietest one. He was quite an introvert. He didn’t really finger pick, but he was a much better guitarist than a lot of people give him credit for. When we sat around jamming, he would play things that just absolutely amazed me! It wasn’t what he played; it was the speed at which he’d play them. He never really showed off that side on any of the Beatles’ records. That guy could jam and he’d play these amazing runs.”  – Shawn Phillips

LYRICS HERE

Ed McMahon Seated At Carson’s Side Again

 

“Most comic teams are not good friends or even friends at all, Laurel and Hardy didn’t hang out together, Abbott and Costello weren’t best of friends. But, Johnny and I were the happy exception. For 40 years Johnny and I were as close as two nonmarried people can be. And if he heard me say that, he might say, ‘Ed, I always felt you were my insignificant other.’ ”  -Ed McMahon

 My favorite Ed McMahon memory is the episode where Richard Pryor had retuned for the first time since his near death free-basing accident. That’s been a number of years ago, and I’m telling this from memory. Richard appears to thunderous applause, gets seated and tells one joke; “Do you know how many niggers can ride in a volkswagon?….SIX! Five in the seats and Richard Pryor in the ash tray.” Ed prompltly FELL OUT of his chair, crawled over to Carson, climbed on his lap and laughed like a crying baby. God rest Ed. All of us boomers could learn a thing or two about being a BEST FRIEND. ~sekanblogger

obituary here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/arts/television/24mcmahon.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=ed%20mcmahon&st=cse

Neda And The Twitter Revolution

“RIP NEDA, The World cries seeing your last breath, you didn’t die in vain. We remember you.”

That Twitter post was from a man who said he is a guitarist from Nashville, Tennessee.

“Don’t be afraid Neda”, her friends and father are telling her as she dies. One blogger posted that Neda was protesting with her father in Tehran when pro-government Basiji militia opened fire and shot her.

“The final moments of her tender young life leaked into the pavement of Karegeh Street today, captured by cell phone cameras,” the unnamed blogger posted on Newsvine.com. “And not long after, took on new life, flickering across computer screens around the world on YouTube, and even CNN.”

With journalists in Iran being arrested, deported and generally shut down, kids on twitter have become the eyes and ears of the world. I see the world changing from the common man’s point of view. Government leaders here, and all over the world are clueless when it comes to the new networking. Not only do they not know how to use it to their advantage, they have no idea how to deal with those who do!

If twitter had been online during the Teinamen Square uprising, we would all know the name of the one brave Chinese sould that we only refer to as “The tank guy”.  Thanks to twitter, which suspended scheduled downtime to facilitate the protestors in Iran, the whole world knows about Neda. Shot dead in front of her father on the day we celebrate as father’s day. The most shameful actions brought into the world’s view by the younger Iranians who use modern networks.

On a slightly lighter side, I am thoroughly amused and can relate to the scramble in Washington DC to sign up for twitter. God help us if the congresscritters and lobbyists figure out what 16 year old kids already know.

I feel Obama’s response has been appropriate. I also feel deeply moved by the bravery of these common people. Being on twitter and watching the tweets from Iran while seeing video of Neda has deeply moved  me. Many twitter users have either changed or modified thier avatars to anything green as a show of support. I do the only thing that Obama can do. Watch, listen and comment in support. ~sekanblogger

related post here https://iggydonnelly.wordpress.com/2009/06/20/big-brother-in-reverse-sekanblogger/

Vonnegut’s Blues for America

Time for a cacophony of thought, sight and sound. I must be gone today, but hope this leaves you thinking and talking with each other. Kurt wrote this during Bush’s reign of idiocracy. I’m throwing in the video because it seems to fit somehow. I think Kurt would approve….

Kurt Vonnegut being a WW II veteran, I thought about him today. D-Day, the beginning of the modern world political era. The beginning of something we would all like to restore and preserve, America’s standing as a world leader, not only in business, but as a moral beacon. If America were anything like what men of Vonnegut’s era envisioned, I’d be a proud conservative, as it would be a better place, something worthy of conservation. ~sekanblogger

KURT VONNEGUT-

No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious and charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.

If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED

FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

WAS MUSIC

read Kurt’s “Blues For America” here:

IN RESPONSE TO EVIL ________ one love

I always find myself amazed, and in light of recent Kansas events wordless, at man’s ability to twist words of spiritual men. In our state this week it just happened to be a christian who carried out his own twisted thoughts. My prayers and condolences to Dr. Tiller’s family and friends.

These types of religious/hate crimes are common worldwide for various reasons. In trying to formulate some sort of response to this senseless death, I kept coming back to the same point. That is, that whatever the response is, it must not for me anyway, involve further hatred and speech inciting more hate. I started to write something with all the best quotes; Ghandi, Buddha, Christ, Mohammed. It read like a sermon. I ended up turning to music again. I’m not sure how this video relates to these events, but it seemed appropriate at the time. ~sekanblogger

George R. Tiller

August 8, 1941 – May 31, 2009

A doctor is dead.  Does anyone think this will eliminate the problem of unwanted pregnancies?

fnord

“I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.” -President Obama

“This is sad and shocking news. My prayers go out to the Tiller family and
the members of his church who witnessed this terrible crime.” -Kathleen Sebelius

100 Most Influential

I was reading the nominations for what TIME magazine calls, “Your TIME 100.”  It’s a list of 203 nominations for the world’s most influential in government, science, technology and the arts —  according to those who took time to nominate, vote, rank…

The entire list is available here.

We’re completing the fourth month of 2009, so it seems with so much of the year left a bit premature to be determining who and what was influential for the year.  Reading through the list I find names I don’t recognize.  How can they be on the short list of most influential in 2009, and I not recognize them?  Others that I readily recognize make me wonder what kind of society would think they should be influential?  Should we denote whether they make a positive or negative influence?  Probably other than selling a special edition of TIME, this list has little value.  Or maybe we need to look at the list very closely, reflect on our society, and who and what influences us most.

fnord