Diamond_Dog
Diamond_Dog's JournalGOP Senator says McCain is "Partially to Blame" for White House Flag Drama
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) had complimentary things to say about John McCain, but viewed the White House’s indecision surrounding how long to fly the flag at half-staff unsurprising given the late senator’s rocky relationship with President Donald Trump.
“Well, you know, frankly, I think that John McCain is partially to blame for that because he is very outspoken,” Inhofe told reporters Monday. “He disagreed with the president in certain areas and wasn’t too courteous about it.” Both men, he said, were “strong-willed people.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-mccain-blame-white-house-flag-jim-inhofe_us_5b85007ee4b0511db3d135fe
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So now we are only allowed to honor those who agree 100% with The Orange Moron?
On this day in 1963 ....
Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech before a crowd of some 250,000 people at the 1963 March on Washington.
https://www.history.com/topics/i-have-a-dream-speech
Cleveland Indians' Carlos Carrasco and the American Dream
"The first time I set foot on a baseball field, I cried.
And cried.
And cried.
At least that how my parents tell the story...."
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/carlos-carrasco-baseball-citizenship
Cleveland Indians' Carlos Carrasco and the American Dream
"The first time I set foot on a baseball field, I cried.
And cried.
And cried.
At least that how my parents tell the story....."
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/carlos-carrasco-baseball-citizenship
I get all that your'e saying
and I agree .... some technology is great .... but, yes, it seems as though it's designed to eliminate human contact.
Any time my husband or I call a business on the phone with a question, one of my adult kids will tell me "just look it up on their website"! (and I have found that many businesses are lax in updating their websites!) If I want to call a takeout place to place an order, they tell me to order my food on line. Do't waste time going to a store -- buy stuff from Amazon. Get your library book on line and read it looking at a screen.
Now, I realize a lot of this is very helpful to working people, and I'm not complaining.
The thing that I like the most is GPS, because when I'm driving in a strange town or don't want to get off a highway to ask directions, I find that extremely helpful. Ditto weather forecasts. I don't mind standing in a line in a store, unless it's a real long line ... and, invariably, you will have to wait behind someone whose "technology" is holding everyone else up. (card swiper isn't working, or the card being used is being rejected for some reason). I find that paying with cash is faster, many times.
I have a friend who flat out refuses to use the automated cash registers because she says they takes a job away from a real person.
I love going to the library and taking my time browsing the shelves, only once have I ever read a book on my tablet that I acquired from my library. It was okay, I suppose I might do it once in a great while, but I do like to chat with the librarians who know me and can let me know what's coming up soon or some other service they offer. My library hosts speeches, meetings, workshops, and other things and events.
So, overall, to me it's both good AND bad.
Happy Birthday, Mason Williams! of "Classical Gas" fame!
I had no idea Williams served briefly as the head writer for "SNL" in 1980!
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From Wikipedia:
Mason Douglas Williams (born August 24, 1938) is an American classical guitarist, composer, writer, comedian, and poet, best known for his 1968 instrumental "Classical Gas" and for his work as a comedy writer on Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Saturday Night Live.
In 1968, Williams won three Grammy Awards for his guitar instrumental "Classical Gas".[
Williams has recorded more than a dozen albums, five on the Warner Bros. label (The Mason Williams Phonograph Record, The Mason Williams Ear Show, Music, Handmade, and Sharepickers). The LP cover for the 1968 'Music' was painted by pop artist Edward Ruscha. The credit reads "Sorry, Cover by Edward Ruscha."
Like many writer-performers, Williams was also a stand-up comedian. He set most of his comic ideas to music and sang or recited the jokes in lyric form with guitar accompaniment. In 1964, Vee-Jay Records released Them Poems, a record album on which Williams entertains a live audience with "them poems about them people", covering such varied topics as "Them Moose Goosers", "Them Sand Pickers", and "Them Surf Serfs". A typical "them poem" is "Them Banjo Pickers", which begins: "Them banjo pickers! Mighty funny ways. Same damn song for three or four days!" Several other "them" poems, along with many ditties, song lyrics, odd and amusing photographs from around the country, and assorted bits of visual and verbal silliness are collected in The Mason Williams Reading Matter (Doubleday, 1969), and the Them Poems record album was reissued (also in 1969, on the heels of the success of "Classical Gas"
as The Mason Williams Listening Matter.
Williams has written more than 175 hours of music and comedy for network television programming and was a prime creative force for CBS' controversial Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.[20] His experience in folk music gave him the background for many of Tom and Dick Smothers' comedy routines and with co-writer Nancy Ames, also composed the show's musical theme.
It was on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour that he created and perpetuated the 1968 "Pat Paulsen for President" campaign, an elaborate political satire. Williams also helped launch the career of entertainer Steve Martin. Martin was hired by Williams as a writer on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, for which his contributions were initially paid out of Williams' own pocket. In 1968, he won an Emmy Award for his work as a comedy writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
Other television personalities he has written for include Andy Williams, Glen Campbell, Dinah Shore, Roger Miller, and Petula Clark. In 1980, Williams briefly served as head writer for NBC's Saturday Night Live, but left after clashing with producer Jean Doumanian. In 1988, Williams received his third Emmy nomination as a comedy writer for his work on The Smothers Brothers 20th Reunion Special on CBS.
Capturing Social Inequality in Drone Photographs
American Photographer Johnny Miller became interested in social inequality and segregation when he moved to Cape Town, in South Africa. The country has barely recovered from apartheid, which although officially ended a quarter of century ago, traces of the racial segregation in the form of roads, rivers, “buffer zones” of empty land, and other barriers still exist separating the rich from the poor, the blacks from the whites.
This gave birth to the photo series Unequal Scenes (previously on Amusing Planet) that portrays dramatic scenes of inequality around the world from a drone’s perspective.
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/08/photographer-uses-drone-to-capture.html
Stunning photographs!
Endangered Species Act is Endangered
"If most Americans support ESA, then why are we seeing proposals to undermine its ability to protect species? According to a New York Times article, the proposals reflect a “wish list” assembled by oil and gas companies, libertarians, and special interests in the West."
http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/402602-white-house-proposes-36-changes-to-weaken-endangered-species-act
*********** Hey, we can't have Mother Nature and a clean environment getting in the way of making a buck, now, can we?
Born on this Day -- Roberto Clemente
I cross posted in Baseball.
Roberto Clemente, in full Roberto Clemente Walker, (born August 18, 1934, Carolina, Puerto Rico—died December 31, 1972, San Juan), professional baseball player who was an idol in his native Puerto Rico and one of the first Latin American baseball stars in the United States.
While Clemente amassed a mountain of impressive statistics during his career, he was often mocked by the print media in the United States for his heavy Spanish accent. Clemente was also subjected to the double discrimination of being a foreigner and being black in a racially segregated society. Although the media tried to call him “Bob” or “Bobby” and many of his baseball cards use “Bob,” Clemente explicitly rejected those nicknames, stating in no uncertain terms that his name was Roberto. There was also confusion over the correct form of his surname. For 27 years the plaque at the National Baseball Hall of Fame read “Roberto Walker Clemente,” mistakenly placing his mother’s maiden name before his father’s surname. Only in 2000 was it changed to its proper Latin American form, Roberto Clemente Walker.
Perhaps equally as important as Clemente’s accomplishments on the field was his role as an advocate for equitable treatment of Latin baseball players, in which he took great pride. Near the end of his career, Clemente commented, “My greatest satisfaction comes from helping to erase the old opinion about Latin Americans and blacks.” A close friend of Clemente’s, Spanish-language sportscaster Luis Mayoral, added, “Roberto Clemente was to Latinos what Jackie Robinson was to black baseball players. He spoke up for Latinos; he was the first one to speak out.”
Clemente was an All-Star for twelve seasons, playing in fifteen All-Star Games. He was the NL Most Valuable Player in 1966, the NL batting leader in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967, and a Gold Glove Award winner for twelve consecutive seasons from 1961 through 1972. His batting average was over .300 for thirteen seasons and he had 3,000 hits during his major league career. He also played in two World Series championships. Clemente is the first Latin American and Caribbean player to help win a World Series as a starter (1960), to receive an NL MVP Award (1966), and to receive a World Series MVP Award (1971).
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roberto-Clemente
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Clemente
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