Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot,
Before the days of Dylan, or the dawn of Camelot.
There lived a race of innocents, and they were you and me,
For Ike was in the White House in that land where we were born,
Where navels were for oranges, and Peyton Place was porn.
We learned to gut a muffler, we washed our hair at dawn,
We spread our crinolines to dry in circles on the lawn.
We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince,
And Eddie Fisher married Liz, and no one’s seen him since.
We danced to ‘Little Darlin,’ and sang to ‘Stagger Lee’
And cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me, Me.
Only girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many,
And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney.
And only in our wildest dreams did we expect to see
A boy named George with Lipstick, in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We fell for Frankie Avalon, Annette was oh, so nice,
And when they made a movie, they never made it twice.
We didn’t have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two and Three,
Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me.
Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp,
And Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp.
We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T ,
And Oprah couldn’t talk yet, in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We had our share of heroes, we never thought they’d go,
At least not Bobby Darin, or Marilyn Monroe.
For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be,
And Elvis was forever in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We’d never seen the rock band that was Grateful to be Dead,
And Airplanes weren’t named Jefferson , and Zeppelins were not Led.
And Beatles lived in gardens then, and Monkee’s lived in trees,
Madonna was a virgin in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We’d never heard of microwaves, or telephones in cars,
And babies might be bottle-fed, but they weren’t grown in jars.
And pumping iron got wrinkles out, and ‘gay’ meant fancy-free,
And dorms were never coed in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We hadn’t seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag.
And Hardware was a box of nails, and bytes came from a flea,
And rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made Me, Me.
Buicks came with portholes, and side shows came with freaks,
And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.
And Coke came just in bottles, and skirts below the knee,
And Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me, Me.
We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues,
We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea
Or prime-time ads for condoms in the Land That Made Me, Me.
There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill,
And fish were not called Wanda, and cats were not called Bill.
And middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three,
And ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me, Me.
But all things have a season, or so we’ve heard them say,
And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A.
They send us invitations to join AARP,
We’ve come a long way, baby, from the Land That Made Me, Me.
So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,
And wonder why they’re using smaller print in magazines.
And we tell our children’s children of the way it used to be,
Long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.
H/T DML
Friday, 17 July 2009
In the land that made me, me.
American Nut Cracker
"We're Going to Go Bankrupt as a Nation, thanks to the Twit I Work For! Like my smile?"
David Warren Paints the Landscape:
"We have one group that lives under the highly artificial and intensely regulated conditions of post-modern urban life. (Even if they go to a cottage, it will be equipped with the electronic paraphernalia to create a bubble of urbanity.) And, we have another group who remain in contact with the eternal verities of life on this planet. (Who, for instance, associate electric power with doing work, as opposed to "making consumer choices.")
"Perhaps better terms for the two sides, to replace left and right, might be "martians" and "earthlings." A War Between Two World Views
I Want a Dee Vorse!
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Thursday, 16 July 2009
WWII PARATROOPER MAKES FINAL MOVEMENT
Darrell “Shifty” Powers, one of the soldiers depicted in “Band of Brothers,” passed away on Wednesday, June 17, 2009.
Powers, United States Army paratrooper and sharpshooter, Easy Company, 2d/506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, died 17 June 2009 of natural causes at age 86.
More about Shifty's incredible war record at STORMBRINGER.
Blue Skies, and Godspeed to you Darrell "Shifty" Powers, Airborne Paratrooper - we know you're in that Great Big Drop Zone in the Sky, making linkup with the rest of your Band of Brothers.
No One Left to Brain Wash
While Obama beefs up the Government's Authority over your personal life, he's withdrawing American power abroad. It's a complex and dangerous world, a tinderbox, in fact. And what is Obama doing? Negotiating our disengagement. Spengler assesses some of the hotspots:
"Obama's policy reduces to empowering America's enemies in the hope that they will conform to American interests out of gratitude. Just the opposite result is likely to ensure: Iran, Pakistan and other regional powers are likely to take radical measures. Iran is threatened with a collapse of its Shi'ite program from Lebanon to Afghanistan, and Pakistan is threatened with a breakup into three or more states." Obama Creates a Deadly Power Vacuum
Well, it's all very exciting!
Just one more installment on our national Death Wish.
SCHOOLGIRL LANDS CATFISH TWICE HER SIZE
It took 11-year-old Jessica 20 minutes to land this monster catfish twice her size, 193 lbs., in Ebro River, Spain. Details here.
More photos at STORMBRINGER
CHARLIE PATTON, HERO OF THE BLUES
This is the story of country bluesman Charlie Patton, by famed underground comix artist R. Crumb. Click here to read the entire saga, higher resolution, readable version.
A spot of history.....
Commandant Louis Joseph Lahure has a singular distinction in military history — he defeated a navy on horseback.
Occupying Holland in January 1795, the French continental army learned that the mighty Dutch navy had been frozen into the ice around Texel Island. So Lahure and 128 men simply rode up to it and demanded surrender. No shots were fired.
H/T Futility Closet via DML
Repealing the Laws of Physics.........
Subject: Automotive Industry Challenge... Dr. David Cole
From a senior level Chrysler person
Monday morning I attended a breakfast meeting where the speaker/guest was Dr. David E. Cole, Chairman, Center for Automotive Research, (CAR and Professor at the University of Michigan ). You have all likely heard CAR quoted, or referred to in the auto industry news lately.
Dr. Cole, who is an engineer by training, told many stories of the difficulty of working with the folks that the Obama administration has sent to save the auto industry. There have been many meetings where a 30+ year experience automotive expert has to listen to a newcomer to the industry, someone with zero manufacturing experience, zero auto industry experience, zero business experience, zero finance experience, and zero engineering experience, tell them how to run their business.
Dr. Cole's favorite story is as follows:
There was a team of Obama people speaking to Dr. Cole (Graduate Engineer, automotive experience 40+ years, Chairman of CAR). They were explaining to Dr. Cole that the auto companies needed to make a car that was electric and utilized liquid natural gas (LNG) with enough combined fuel to go 500 miles so we wouldn't "need" so many gas stations, (a whole other topic). They were quoting the BTU's of LNG and battery life that they had looked up on some website.
Dr. Cole explained that to do this you would need a trunk FULL of batteries and a LNG tank at big as the car to make it happen and that there were problems related to the basic laws of physics that prevented them from...
The Obama person interrupted and said (and I am quoting here): "These laws of physics? Who's rules are those? We need to change that. (Some of the others diligently wrote down the law name so they could look it up). We have both the congress and the administration. We can repeal that law, amend it, or use an executive order to get rid of that problem. That's why we are here, to fix these sort of issues".
This country is in big trouble...
H/T Peter Gunn
Memorial Poem.....
The Dead 1914.
Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
There's none of these so lonely and poor of old,
But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold.
These laid the world away; poured out the red
Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be
Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene,
That men call age; and those who would have been,
Their sons, they gave, their immortality.
Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth,
Holiness, lacked so long, and Love, and Pain,
Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,
And paid his subjects with a royal wage;
And Nobleness walks in our ways again;
And we have come into our heritage.
Rupert Brooke (1887-1915)
H/T JMH
Who better?................from Rico
It was announced today that Phil Angelides the former Treasurer of California would lead a "probe" of the US financial collapse.
Think about it for a minute.
California. The failed socialist welfare cum "dead beat" state currently trying to meet its debts with IOU's that banks are refusing to accept.
WHO BETTER to look into our current economic crisis?
- As California goes, so then goes the US. I guess we're next, huh?
My explanation is simpler...our politicians and economists are behaving like squirrels on crack because their supply has been 'tainted' somehow. Maybe Castro is getting paybacks for those 'laced' cigars many years ago by now lacing their crack supply? That would explain Washington, Wallstreet, and California quite nicely, plus most of the other 52%.
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HEROES OF THE BLUES
Anybody who survived the late '60s, early 70's is familiar with the work of famed underground comix artist R. Crumb. Crumb is the creator of Mr. Natural, of course, Keep On Truckin', and a whole slew of insane underground comics with titles like Zap Comix, Snatch Comics, Bijou Funnies, Fritz the Cat, etcetera.
An icon himself, in the early 80's Crumb created the Heroes of the Blues drawings of 36 prewar country blues artists, dedicated to the pioneers of this uniquely American style of music. Mr. Crumb's work is presented only to promote awareness of country blues.
A long-time rock & blues afficionado, I'd always heard about the African origins of blues, soul, and rock music. When I arrived in West Africa and heard that music for myself I really appreciated the connection - I could hear strains of Led Zeppelin echoing around, where it came from. Heroes of the Blues is one of the concepts explored at STORMBRINGER. - S.L.
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
A repost.....
I wrote this piece as a guest blogger on Jules Crittendens site a couple of years ago....I still stand by what I wrote. We are not fighting an enemy that plays by the rules so why should we.
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death…let’s bring back landmines….
ITS NEVER OVER
On this day, July 15 1974, a military coup overthrew President Makarios in Cyprus.
Also on this day, in 1099 - in a distantly related event - Christian soldiers of the First Crusade took the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege. 
Big Wheel Keeps On Turnin' . . .
Games are good... for the economy
MCV reports that The Conservatives seemed to have realised what
the Labour government has forgotten, that the games industry is major
part of the British export economy. Ed Vaizey discussed support and
"tax breaks" for the industry but didn't go into details, typically.
He seems to want to have a video games presence on the film board. One
has to wonder what the Tories would do when it comes to the heavy
issue of censorship and games.
What the hell is PEGI?
No its not the newest cute character for the "family friendly" Wii, its the new censorship system for games. Instead of having PEGI
competing with Britain's BBFC, the Labour government has surrendered yet more power to Brussels.
"The Video Standards Council (VSC), has also been handed a new role. The independent organisation has a mandate to implement the PEGI classification system for all video games in the UK."
MCV reports that Tanya Byron, author of last year's Byron Review: Safer Children In A Digital World, has welcomed the adoption of this new system. The Byron review was not exactly welcomed by many in the gaming world including me. It should be a bit worrying that a "TV expert" with no experience with the gaming industry has had her recommendations made into policy by the government.
In the light of the moves in Germany and Europe to ban "violent" video games it remains to be seen if this is good news for computer games companies in the UK like Rockstar (Grand Theft Auto etc) and others.
What is the next perk?
Call of Duty Modern Warfare II, to be released later this year, will now come with working nightvision goggles according to sources. Now one has to wonder about the security and pervert implications of this move. There is no word yet on how well they work or at what range they become ineffective. One has to wonder if certain more nannying countries in the world will ban this "special edition" for various reasons.
Still all us libertarian types have yet another reason to buy a game that has always been rather sound anyway.
The other question is... what is some company going to do to top this?
Good Letter.....
Don't know if you all saw the article last month about Barbara Boxer admonishing a Brigadier General because he addressed her as Ma'am and not Senator before a Senate hearing. Anyway this is a letter from a Guard Aviator and Captain for Alaska Air Lines. He hits the nail directly on the head. Maybe we all should send a copy of this letter to the SENATOR
Babs:
You were so right on when you scolded the general on TV for using the
term, "ma'am," instead of "Senator." After all, in the military, "ma'am"
is a term of respect when addressing a female of superior rank or position.
The general was totally wrong. You are not a person of superior rank
or position. You are a member of one of the world's most corrupt
organizations, the U.S. Senate, equaled only by the U.S. House of
Representatives.
Congress is a cesspool of liars, thieves, inside traders, traitors,
drunks (one who killed a staffer, yet is still revered), criminals, and
other low level swine who, as individuals (not all, but many), will do
anything to enhance their lives, fortunes and power, all at the expense
of the People of the United States and its Constitution, in order to be
continually re-elected. Many democrats even want American troops killed
by releasing photographs. How many of you could honestly say, "We pledge
our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor"? None? One? Two?
Your reaction to the general shows several things. First is your
abysmal ignorance of all things military. Your treatment of the general
shows you to be an elitist of the worst kind. When the general entered
the military (as most of us who served) he wrote the government a blank
check, offering his life to protect your derriere now safely and
comfortably ensconced in a 20 thousand dollar leather chair, paid for by
the general's taxes. You repaid him for this by humiliating him in front
of millions.
Second is your puerile character, lack of sophistication, and
arrogance which borders on the hubristic. This display of brattish
behavior shows you to be a virago, termagant, harridan, nag, scold or
shrew, unfit for your position, regardless of the support of the
unwashed, uneducated masses who have made California into the laughing
stock of the nation.
What I am writing, Senator, are the same thoughts countless millions
of Americans have toward Congress, but who lack the energy, ability or
time to convey them. Under the democrats, some don't even have the 44
cents to buy the stamp. Regardless of their thoughts, most realize
politicians are pretty much the same, and will vote for the one who will
bring home the most bacon, even if they do consider how corrupt that
person is.
Lord Acton (1834 - 1902) so aptly charged, "Power tends to corrupt
and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Unbeknownst to you and your
colleagues, Mr. Power has had his way with all of you, and we are all
the worse for it.
Finally Senator, I, too, have a title. It is "Right Wing Extremist
Potential Terrorist Threat." It is not of my choosing, but was given to
me by your Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano. And you
were offended by "ma'am"?
Have a day. Cheers!
J Hill
H/T R Sweeney
