December 31st, 2007 by Max
Color TV’s
Microwave Ovens
VCRs/Tivo
Satellite TV’s
Satellites – Remember Sputnik went up the year I was born!
CD’s/DVD’s
Cell phones
Home Computers
Digital Cameras
Air Bags
Safety Glass!
McDonalds
Dental Floss!
Posted in Changes in the World In My Lifetime | 4 Comments »
December 31st, 2007 by Max
But by this time next year we will have elected another President. And THAT person, will be smarter than the one we got now!
So let’s celebrate!
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December 30th, 2007 by Max
Not enough people do it.
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December 30th, 2007 by Max
1. Do something about the corrupting influence of money on politicians in Washington.
2. End the war in Iraq and get the troops home. I know, but I think its time to make the Iraqis run their country.
3. Aggressively pursue new energy technologies. Its time we had a Jimmy Carter style vision of energy independence.
4. Institute a fair and verifiable paper ballot based uniform standard voting technology across the country.
5. Rework trade deals with China which will insist that if American companies are competing with Chinese companies they compete on fair terms in regard to environmental and labor standards. Encourage Labor Unions in China. They are a socialist country, right?
6. Universal health-care.
7. Rollback the Bush tax-breaks for the wealthy.
8. Border Security. No more deals with Dubai. More technology and better training of border guards, more border agents and more and better airport security.
9. Amnesty. Fines. Path to citizenship and becoming taxpayers for the 14 or so million illegals. This may be expedited by a stint in the armed forces. Its time to bring these people into the light, and tax their earnings.
10. A sincere effort to improve America’s image in the world.
Anybody talking like that? I know there’s more. What did I forget?
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December 29th, 2007 by Max
What’s with Iowa and New Hampshire? This system is rigged. And it was rigged by the Conservatives. This below regards the last election:
In line with national exit polls, 22 percent of Iowans identified ”moral values” as their most important issues, ahead of the economy (21 percent) and the war in Iraq (20 percent). Of those most concerned about moral values, 87 percent voted for Bush in Iowa, about 7 points better than national responses from values-driven voters. Fully one-third of Iowa voters said they were evangelical Christians, who also went for Bush by a 7-to-1 ratio. http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/11/04/religion_based_voters_provided_critical_edge/
New Hampshire isn’t 1/3 Evangelical Christians, but its filled with Libertarians who are the political equivalent of them!
Then we go to South Carolina. South Carolina! Nuff said.
Rudy Guiliani is trying a “wait them out strategy” of going for the big states after Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have done their damage to our democracy.
Honestly I hope he wins, because right now this game is rigged.
Its no wonder we get the candidates we get!
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December 27th, 2007 by Max
How do you define courage? Benazir Bhutto’s picture in a dictionary would make a good definition.
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December 26th, 2007 by Max
Max delivered this speech at his father’s funeral. I had to publish it. Here it is:
If only we remember.
If only we remember that day at Fourth Lake, or that day of one of the Prep’s Boat Rides.
If only we remember Christmas in Flushing, or Disney World. Or Fieldstone Farm. Or Nazareth Farm.
If only we remember, as they will tell us, that this grief is selfish, as difficult as that is to believe at this time.
I am reminded to speak of the teacher, coach and father, but all those suggest really, that I speak of the teacher, since what is a coach, but a teacher? What is a father, but a teacher? And I ask your indulgence in understanding my need for something tangible now, something tactile to hold on to.
It wont be difficult to figure out the deep symbolism of the pieces of chalk you’ve been given. As a big part of his medium, I offer you each a simple reminder of the teacher and all the theorems he wrote on all those blackboards from Brooklyn to Binghamton.
So I ask each of you to take a piece of chalk. Hold that piece of chalk, that thing that comes from the earth where our faith tells us Murtha must return, like all of us, hold it for just a moment.
Break it. Go ahead, snap it. Pretty fragile. Pretty easy to break.
Keep one piece. Keep it for yourself. And with the other one, find someone. Someone you know, someone you love, someone you just met. Someone you never met, just passed in the street.
And give them that other piece, and maybe you’ll say, “I knew a teacher once.” Or something like that. Whatever way is best for you to share that chalk, to move along that piece.
Maura has spent the last several years with Dad, and we owe her a great debt for being so good, and patient, and tireless.
And Claire, she was there, first. If I could pin him down, I think Dad might say she was his favorite, but I don’t know.
Brigid and Megan sing a song in their choir - “Our God is an Awesome God”. I believe it to be true. I believe his Kingdom to be enhanced. The Kingdom of heaven becomes even more of a place to aspire to because Murtha has joined Rosemary, and Doug Gell and Vincent Walsh, and Gerry O’Brien, and Eileen Menzies and so many others.
OK. I’d better stop right there because we could be here all day – but just one more thought.
Nancy – we love you. And Dad loves you. And we know how much you miss him and how close you hold him and Mom. You do that the best, for all of us. Thank you.
Jen, EJ, Rob, Chris, Paul, Dan, Pete, Meri, Leah, Molly, Dylan, Brigid, Megan, Noah, Ian, Tucker, Brody, Piper, Addison – know that he loved you and how proud he was of each of you as the individuals that you are, even if he couldn’t hear you, lately.
My father was a teller of shaggy dog stories, like his old friend Doug gell, and to an extent like his friend Lew Angelo. But I think Lew listened to more stories than he told. But those two men, friends of Murt’s, were only two of so many people who over more than thirty years made this community such a good place for my father and his family. As much as the city boy in me can’t grasp it, I know he loved the tomato plants, and rolling hills and even the flat awful fairways of Genegantslet, right Bob?
I think my father’s pronunciation of “Tioghnioga” changed every time I came here to visit.
If only we remember how Murt loved us all. His co-workers at Brooklyn Prep and Catholic Central, and Nazareth Farm, and his friends here. I cant say that my father loved everyone, and certainly not in equal measure. He was human, and flawed, and might have done only a little better than I at keeping his temper from time to time. You know, Jim, you should be glad you didn’t have to play badminton against my father. If you could imagine a worse opponent, a sorer loser than I, well, it might have been Dad.
I will choose to remember some simple things: my father’s smile, his ready laugh, his kisses goodnight - and Willy O’Grady.
Mark Twain said, “Let us endeavour to live, so that when we die, even the undertaker is saddened.” I think that’s what we have here.
If only we remember.
Good Night, and God Bless, sweetheart angel Murtha.
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December 24th, 2007 by Max
I have an old friend named Tom Ranger. I haven’t seen him in a long time and I would like to rectify that, but that’s not why I’m writing this. Over the years whenever we strayed into politics I found that Tom and I didn’t agree so much.
That is why it was a surprise to me, when he said, during on car chat at Christimas time with this song on the radio “This is my favorite Christmas song”. Tom worked hard at being non sentimental. Now … This is MY favorite Christmas song and I realize that Tom and I had more in common than I realized. Though I admit to being sentimental.
Meanwhile the intellectual in me, respects the intellectual in Tom. Here’s to our favorite Christmas song:
I Believe In Father Christmas:
They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on Earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winter’s light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell
And eyes full of tinsel and fire
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
And they told me a fairy story
‘Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes
‘Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise
I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
All anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on Earth
Hallelujah Noel be it Heaven or Hell
The Christmas we get we deserve
i-believe-in-father-christmas.mp3
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December 24th, 2007 by Max
I loved the Beatles. My Dad did not. John Lennon once said something to the effect that they had a bigger following than Jesus Christ. My Dad thought that meant, he (Lennon) thought he was better than Christ. I later learned he was just kind of amazed at the statistics.
I used to dislike his song “Imagine” because he said, “Imagine no Religion”. Now I see the wisdom of it.
I was just looking at another John Lennon lyric. Sadly, this is still perfectly appropriate:
Title: John Lennon – Merry Christmas (War Is Over) lyrics
Artist: John Lennon
So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas War is over
For weak and for strong If you want it
For rich and the poor ones War is over
The world is so wrong Now
And so Happy Christmas War is over
For black and for white If you want it
For yellow and red ones War is over
Let’s stop all the fight Now
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas War is over
And what have we done If you want it
Another year over War is over
And a new one just begun Now
And so Happy Christmas War is over
I hope you have fun If you want it
The near and the dear one War is over
The old and the young Now
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
War is over if you want it
War is over now
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December 24th, 2007 by Max
Three cheers for Bud Light!
For years fans have been bitching about steroids and now Bud Selig has done something about it. And it was actually courageous, considering he’s left MLB exposed to potential Libel suits based upon the testimony of clubhouse people under duress. Now I’ve heard that “absent malice” it is hard to prove Libel, so we’ll see.
But he’s taken on the players union. He’s done SOMEthing. Buster Olney was talking about Wally Joyner (named in the report) and how he was a “power hitting first baseman, hitting 14 home runs, while McGuire was hitting 60″. Joyner took steroids because he felt he ‘had’ to.
So in the name of the little guy, the average guy, who can’t compete while the big guys cheat. And in the face of the players union – which isn’t really a union at all but an association of professional people with a LOT of clout … I say, Yay Bud!
He did something. I think this year will mark the end of the ‘Steroid Era’ , and that’s cuz Bug Selig took on the players and drew a line in the sand!
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December 13th, 2007 by Max
I keep wanting to start this by saying that the world should recognize that a great man died yesterday. What follows, you may expect, would be an elegy for a statesman. Or some small wry comment about an average Joe, who was “a great guy”.
Murt Lawrence was neither a statesman nor an average Joe.
He was a great man.
There’s something to be said for a guy who does his best as he sees it. Murt did that. Along the way he, and his wife raised a family that followed the rules. Did the things that people should do, and thrived. Clan Lawrence is strong.
To me Murt was the definition of father and teacher, not flawless, I suppose, but always trying to do right as he saw it. I can’t tell you how he lived his life. The majority of that life I did not know. But what I saw was a man who loved his family, loved his church, loved his job, and loved learning. If ever there was a man who was what you saw, it was Murt. His strength was the first thing you noticed. I always had the sense that he was doing exactly what he wanted to do. I suspect that Murt Lawrence’s times of self doubt were long over before I met him. What he thought he was supposed to do … he did that.
He lived a Catholic life of compassion and forgiveness, as near as I saw, without judgment. I respect any religious person who lives the ideals of their faith with both certainty and tolerance . Murt did this.
Strength and forgiveness. Justice and tolerance. A life lived with purpose. And he loved to read. He loved the English language, in which he held a degree, and was humble enough to forgo this passion to teach math, a need in the Catholic School where he taught. But he never gave up reading. I suspect, he enjoyed learning as much as he enjoyed teaching.
In the following days people will share anecdotes of Murt and I will look forward to hearing stories of the great and the near great that he knew.
Against a backdrop of a world filled with small statesmen measured by their arrogance and their ignorance, Murtha Paul Lawrence’s intelligence, humility and humanity are an indication of true greatness.
Posted in Changes in the World In My Lifetime | 2 Comments »
December 9th, 2007 by Max
So, here I am, talking to Don, watching the Giants – whom we call “Pain and Suffering” and it occurs to me just how we should interrogate the people in Guantanamo Bay.
Make them watch the God Damn Giants!
The thing is we’ve been holding these people for six years. During that time, if we have let them watch the NY Giants football team they might have become attached to this team.
So … let’s say the Giants need a score. They can even have the lead it doesn’t matter because the Giants always find a way to screw it up.
The Giants have been torturing us for years.
Let Plaxico Burress get open in the end zone. Maybe its late in the third quarter…
Then ask your ‘detainees’ if they know where Bin Laden is. They’ll tell you. They’ll tell you which room in which cave in Kafiristan, and which is his favorite side of the pillow!
They’ll say … I’ll tell you anything. Just one time, Let Eli throw the fucking ball ON TARGET! Please … I … can’t … take it any more!!!”
Like I said. Torture!
Posted in Max's Theories, Sports | No Comments »
December 7th, 2007 by Max
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/05/america/letter.php
Read this article. Among its major points is the fact that Florida and Michigan are breaking party rules this year, by having their primaries before they are allowed to do so by rule.
So.
The Democrats are banning all delegates from these states from the National Political convention.
The Republicans are banning half???
Half???
This article explains the history … which is good … but it doesn’t handle the next question …
Why not have a one day national primary? Wouldn’t that be more democratic?
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December 6th, 2007 by Max
I’m writing this on my new MacBook black! Yay. I’ve still got a million things to do with this like Skype and Firefox to name a few … SO I’m cutting this one short. But yay for me!?
Posted in Blogroll | 1 Comment »
Countless Screaming Argonauts