It has been 45 years.
There is not enough one can say about this day if you are my age and were in the US in 1963. I was 11-1/2 at the time. Nothing much bad had ever happened to me as things went back then. Shortly after I was born we went into the eight Eisenhower years. When JFK was elected it was like all was great in the world. Not that the Ike years were so bad in retrospect but it seemed like we were moving into a whole new direction, the future, full of optimism.
Suddenly on one crisp, sunny autumn afternoon it all ended and everything changed. My sweet little innocent world was altered forever. Hell, two days later I saw the suspected ‘assassin’ gunned down on live TV. It was all cruel doses of reality delivered before I got through my ‘wonder years’.
For better or worse, I never really got over it.
Nov. 22, 1963 was the end of Camelot and the beginning of the Johnson years which brought both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the escalation of the Viet Nam War.
In the 50’s we were hunting communists at home, but in the 60’s we decided to hunt them abroad. It was based on a great Rethug idea called the Domino theory which said if Viet Nam went communist, all of Southeast Asia would do the same. They were wrong, of course.
Then came the Hippies who wanted to make love not war and the other half of America who wanted to make war on Hippies, Black folks and anyone else who looked different or said radical things with the the word peace somewhere in their philosophy.
While the recent John McShame campaign didn’t get to bring it all back, their charges of socialism and then communism had a horrible echo and were leveled with the same abandon and lack of concern for the facts.
Where once being called commie brought ruin upon the victim, this time it was the name callers who went down in flames. Maybe that’s progress.
Great job, Vernon!
Lincoln Karim has a photo spread in December’s National Geographic
David Broder has a well crafted and very appealing argument for health care actually getting done, this year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/21/AR2008112102651.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
Can’t embed
Three things that still stand out in my mind going back to that time-
At the school assembly they called to tell us about the assassination, my freshman best friend and I laughing at the prospect of LBJ, this texas clown hillbilly with huge ears, being president- the beginning of a lifetime of perhaps inappropriate cynicism.
The shadowy on-screen murder of Oswald during an unnecessary perp-walk which years later raises a red flag
The funereal muffled drum beat as the black-draped caisson was being pulled through the streets-buum; buum; buum; brrrrrrrdddddddddd buum; buum; buum; brrrrrrrrrrrddddd buum; buum; buum; brrrrrrrrrrrddddd buum-bum bubum
A sound just as appropriate for a dying empire as for a fallen leader
And it’s really surprising that he lived as long as he did, and might very well had died in office anyway, had he not been killed.
Still can’t embed
A Better Brew
:40:
KP, great video yesterday evening. Thanks!
For your educafacation:
well, i got as far as “even your mother needs bookkeeping.” Imagine that.
Good start to the day, vern. i remembering feeling lost that day. I was a child and bewildered by what it meant, but knew it was grave to the country.
Got fresh crab at the harbor again this morn. They found the leak. my deck leaks in to the garage below. they had the garage closed and i made them open it all up for air flow. (i’m over the garage) i think it’s better. have windows open and fire going. they’re cutting out the mold and spraying and drying. it smells to high heaven in that garage but okay up here. wonder how spores travel…….
I wasn’t even a twinkle in my mom’s eye when JFK got assasinated. But I do remember when Reagun got shot. I was on the bus coming home from school. I think we may have had a radio in there. No one took it seriously and they were making fun of it. I may have joined in a little. Or it’s possible I didn’t have any reaction at all. I didn’t really have an opinion of Reagan at the time.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1509319618/bctid1902482338 :dancers:
:joe:
So, My Bush loving dad said that he was gonna support Obama and get behind him even though he didn’t vote for him. I thought that was pretty cool. Then we talked about other stuff like jobs and the auto manufacturers and he said union workers make everything too expensive and I was glad I listened to Randi the other day because she was talking about that and how the corporations problems are the fact that they’ve got layers upon layers of middle managers who do nothing, know nothing and make a ton of money. CEO’s too. The waste that goes on above the workers is insane, really. I’ve been saying for almost a year now that companies are gonna have to really slim down and get rid of the pork like private jets and staying in fancy hotels etc. The real waste is not at the worker level like it is at the top. So, I was glad I had heard Randi talk about that cuz it gave me some ammo.
TV dinner
Another YouTube
Embedding disabled by request
Syracuse 24
Notre Dame 23
:yippee:
Gee, spoiled their Senior Day, final home game, and bowl chances all in one game.
I hate Notre Dame.
I think the Huskies are the worst team in the country. I don’t follow sports very closely though.
Heh…although I was not yet born back then, I’m struck at how frighteningly well history tends repeats itself, and how easily it happens because so many people are utterly blind the what went on in their world back then and what really goes on in their world now.
Re: 16
I dunno, couldn’t they have found a better pizza chain than Dominos? Even Pizza Hut? Of course, there’s nothing better than your local places and everyone knows which ones those are. Here, it’s Red Devil, Nello’s or Ottos in Tempe. I would never choose Dominos. :yuck:
The Road to Pizza Nirvana Goes Through Phoenix
I have wanted to go here for some time.
I hate Notre Dame.
Comment by pjsauter — November 22, 2008 @ 6:14 pm
Agreeance. One of my goals in life is to one day go to South Bend and throw rotten tomatoes at Touchdown Jesus.
Bad news for the Zips:
Akron 42
Ohio 49
But at least Ohio State beat Michigan, which granted isn’t all that difficult this season. Five in a row, though!
:banana:
who requested embeding disabled vernon?
It is usually the record company or maybe the maker of the video. At least they still leave it on YT. I can’t embed anyway for some reason on a day that I do the intro. Don’t know why.
Folk Songs About The Kennedy Assassination
Yeah, Pizza Bianco. It’s very famous. I haven’t been there but know people who have and you have to wait in this loooong line to even get in and get a table. No reservations. People that I know were pretty frustrated with that. It’s kind of ridiculous.The pizza might be good, but there’s an alternative where you can actually go and get a table or make reservations. It’s in a historic house down town, here and The pizza was pretty good. I can’t remember the name now but I’ll find out. The owners take ceramic classes where I used to teach. I can’t compare it to Pizza Bianco but, I have a hard time standing in a long line to pay a lot of money for pizza when I know a whole bunch of good pizza places around town.
I would never choose Dominos.
Comment by Kristapea — November 22, 2008 @ 6:55 pm
Especially if you know that their founder is a right-wing religious zealot who believes that Catholic doctrine, or at least his interpretation of it, supercedes U.S. law.
http://tinyurl.com/lsuju
Local tastes better anyway.
And he’s a size queen too!
http://tinyurl.com/4nshf5
There was a time when the restaurant K-Paul’s in NOLa opened up in a closed nightclub here for 6 weeks and people would get in line 6 -8 hours before they opened. You also had to wait in line in NOLa for several hours at their home place. I done it and it was worth it. Doesn’t hurt that you can drink frozen daiquiris while you wait.
My headphones cord is shot 🙁
It’s a good thing the cord is detachable, but I don’t know where to find a replacement.
:yawn:
OU 65
Tech 21
wow! That was amazing!
PJ, I saw your orange-outfitted team today, congratulations!
I prefer homemade pizza.
food => Made the teenager crab cakes with the fresh crab and he ate a ton. (a mom likes to feed her child, no matter the age.) He flew in via Vancouver and breezed through customs. It’s amazing how efficient the Canadians are at that.
good luck trav with the wire. :fire: