Saturday, March 27, 2010

When The Roll is Called Up Yonder-Is "When" Meaningless if Time Shall Be No More?

As many of you know, I'm mostly Buddhist. Prent calls Cuz a Zen Baptist, I reckon cause he's a Buddhist who believes in deep water baptism.  The first two lines of When the Roll is Called Up Yonder sound semi Zen to me.
"When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;"

A Zen teacher disagreed with me, but he was probably "thinking."

Whatever it is, I Love It.  It's done here by Tennessee Ernie Ford and Dolly Parton. Now there's a pair of big uns.

Táimid tagtha Have! (We Have Arrived!)

On The Virg has been listed on the prestigious Blogs about:  Acquire Spiritual Guidance.  We were selected for our hard hitting investigative piece, and commentary,   Congratulations to The Church of Christ-Too Bad For the Baptists. Ken Starr, Author of the World's Most Expensive Piece of Pornography, to Leave Pepperdine for Baylor.  We could not have done it without help from our loyal readers and their comments.  I give special thanks to our contributors,.  Sally "COUGAR" Snoddy, James T. Bruce,  MacGraham,  Mr. T, and Abuelita.   The following contributors get a little credit- eileen, who is brand new and SHE. who was a stalwart for a while.  The following “contributors” get No credit, nada, zip- Orv who hasn’t posted in years, and Mojohand, Winston and John who have done nothing except place their names as contributors for the prestige of being associated with this blog.  It’s just as well.  They are not spiritual.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Don't Confuse Michael Fischer With Hank Williams Jr. Being a Mean Spirited Racist is a Family Tradition for Some, But Not Hank Jr. His Daddy Saw the Light.

 
Some people think Hank Williams Jr. did The Great Reneger. He did not.  It was done by little known Michael Fischer playing to his Tea Bagger, KKK base.
When I was a kid college football teams were segregated in the South.  Some genius thought it was clever to say that when the teams from up North substituted the were “Reniging.” My guess is that the idea for The Great Reneger, came from that or similar “jokes.”
I’m posting it here hoping people will wake up to what’s going on. NOTE, the political views expressed are shared by others.  The point is the “N” word.  Still, Fischer has his facts wrong too.  Ken said, it well: “It was Bush hired lobbyists to work in his administration. Obama has not. Bush withheld the list people visiting the White House. Obama has not. Bush kept people in secret prisons, tortured them, and denied them access to attorneys or a neutral court. Obama has not. And almost all of the health care debate was, in fact, on C-Span. The entire song was implications that Obama reneged on his promises of transparency. Note, there was not one fact presented to back up that implication. Not one. However, I am glad to see that the song writer is so opposed to the legacy of the Bush Administration's opaqueness and secrecy and so eager (although ignorant) to hold Obama to a higher standard of transparency.”  Here it is, wrong facts, hatred,  racism and all.

To undo the damage done the real Hank Jr.'s reputation, I honor him.

Here's the "live & let live" Hank.

Here's the caring, loving loyal Hank who wanted to “spit some Beechnut” in the eye of the dude who had knifed Hank's friend and then “shoot him with [his] old .45."  It didn't even matter to Hank that his friend was a Yankee from New York City.

The Hank who honored his family.



Last, but not least, and perhaps most importantly the Hank who got us revved up every Monday night for FOOTBAW!

We're in this together

"When we cast our bread upon the waters, we can presume that someone downstream whose face we may never see will benefit from our action."
Maya Angelou

What's the Big Deal?


Thanks to Rob

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Good advise

Researching topics for a workshop, I rediscovered this from Benjamin Disraeli: "Life is too short to be small." Clue....it's not about height.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Even Cajun Kids Don't Know Evangeline Anymore. It's a Shame. I Had To Read Longfellow-They Should Too.

 I was in the coffee shop this morning talking to a young Cajun woman. She called herself a Coonass.  (Ok for her but not for you and me.)  I mentioned Evangeline, but she'd never heard of it.   I was appalled.  I polled the other people in the shop, all under 40, and none of them had either.  I extracted a promise from them that they would read it and that we would meet next Sunday at the same time to discuss it.  I implore all you old folks to impose it on any yewt you know and implore you yewts to read it. It don't get any better'n this:

All was ended now, the hope, and the fear, and the sorrow,
All the aching of the heart, the restless, unsatisfied longing,
All the dull, deep Pain, and constant anguish of patience. . . .

Only along the shore of the mournful and misty Atlantic
Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers from exile
Wandered back to their native land to die in its bosom, ...
Maidens still wear their Norman caps and their kirtles of homespun,
And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline’s story.


Our yewt must not only learn of Evangeline and Acadie, but also know about The forest primeval. ... Ships passing in the night. ... Footprints on the sands of time. and that Life is real! Life is earnest! as only Hank Longfellow can tell them.
How can they recognize their talents without understanding our wonderful childhood rhyme "You're a poet, and you didn't know it. But your feet show it. They're longfellows!?"  Nuff said. 

I'm disappointed.  The yewt are not interested, and there is little support from my generation.  Here, thanks to Ken, is a slightly modified Cliff Notes version. 

Friday, March 19, 2010

Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. (1924-2010). Thanks for the Memories Fess.


His land is biggest, and his land is best
From grassy plains to the mountain crest
He's ahead of us all in meeting the test
Followin' his legend right into the West
Davy Davy Crockett king of the wild frontier

 
Apologies To Native Americans.
Thanks to Sara.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Today is "Bring Back the Snakes Day." St. Patrick Would Approve.

Though some Irish and Druids refuse to celebrate St. Patrick's day, considering him a Welsh foreigner who destroyed their culture, St. Patrick was a good, honorable man .  See, Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Duit.  When he was Bishop of Ireland, the Irish Catholic Church had female priests and some of his successors as bishop were women.  Homosexuals were not persecuted.  See,  You Go Christine! Saints Patrick and Brigid Would Be Proud of You I'm proud to wish you all a happy St. Paddy's day. St. Patrick did make a serious 
mistake when he drove the snakes out of Ireland, though he did it gently.  Had he had the benefit of the knowledge of modern science, knowing the snake's importance to the ecosystem, I'm sure he would not have done so.  I'm certain that he would approve of my plan to reintroduce the Irish Emerald Serpent. (Pictured here) to Ireland.  Today, Ainnir Mitchell, Seamus O'Lingle, Bébhinn O'Connor, and I will release twenty pairs, first at Croagh Patrick, and then in various rural parts of the isle.  Erin Go Bragh!

Monday, March 15, 2010

We Miss You Julius. Hard to Believe You've Been Gone 2054 Years.

After Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, and about sixty others stabbed Julius Caesar to death in the Roman Senate, Mark Anthony spoke at Caesar's funeral: 
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones,
So let it be with Caesar ... The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it ...
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,
(For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all; all honourable men)
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral ...
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man….
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason…. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me. 
Translated from the original Latin by Virgil Snoddy.

Blanche Lincoln's Self-loathing?

"How can you claim to be a Washington outsider while bragging about the pork you've hauled home for your constituents and spending campaign millions raised from special interest lobbyists?
I think you can guess that the scenario described by John Brummett applies to Sen. Blanche Lincoln." Arkansas Times, Arkansas Blog by Max Brantley.
"In Arkansas we have a nationally showcased U.S. Senate race. Our embattled, poll-lagging Democratic incumbent, Blanche Lincoln, runs a TV ad showing herself standing amid misbehaving children who are throwing money, a dollar bill of which comes to rest on the senator’s weary head.
This child’s play represents Washington, the senator sighs in visual metaphor. She makes our nation’s capital out to be a place where she looms taller than the infantile nonsense in which everyone else is engaging.
Her TV commercial gets paid for from $6 million she reaped because contributors perceived that she is a political insider.
This woman has been working practically all her adult life in Washington, first as a congressional staff member and then a young congresswoman before getting elected to the Senate a dozen years ago.. . . . We don’t need political outsiders nearly as much as we need political insiders who shoot straight with us about who they are and what they do. And that would be some politics-as-unusual" Self-loathing insiders By John Brummett

Joey & The Rest of Us Will Miss You Peter. I Hope You're in the Big Gymnasium in the Sky or the Turkish Prison If You Prefer.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

For Some Reason Implausable Denials Are Not Created Equal. Why Do We Love Pam Tillis and Despise Karl Rove?


Uriah Heep Joins Law Firm

Uriah Heep has joined the Lingle Law Firm.  I'm so happy for Cousin Jim.  He's been looking for someone to handle the business side of the firm for years.  Young Uriah is the ideal candidate.  He's bright, honest, and humble.  I'm expecting great things. 

Friday, March 05, 2010

GOP & Insurers Call Domestic Violence Pre-Existing Condition. Traditional Values?

Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women in the United States, and Arkansas tops the list. See, Students Fight Domestic Violence in Arkansas by Mary Marsh
" . . in eight states, plus the District of Columbia, getting beaten up by your spouse is a pre-existing condition. . . .In human terms, it's a second punishment for a victim of domestic violence.
In 2006, Democrats tried to end the practice. An amendment introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), now a member of leadership, split the Health Education Labor & Pensions Committee 10-10. The tie meant that the measure failed.
All ten no votes were Republicans, including Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming), a member of the "Gang of Six" on the Finance Committee who are hashing out a bipartisan bill." from When Getting Beaten By Your Husband Is A Pre-Existing Condition by Ryan Grim. 
Thanks to Young Art

Mythological politics

Mythological politics

Posted using ShareThis

Monday, March 01, 2010

Elect Murray Hill Inc. to Congress. Republican primary in Maryland’s 8th congressional district .


Last week, “all five of the [Supreme] Court’s conservatives joined together…to invalidate a sixty-three year-old ban on corporate money in federal elections,” . . .  many Republican politicians applauded the decision, with RNC Chairman Michael Steele even calling the ruling nothing more than “an affirmation of the constitutional rights provided to Americans under the first amendment.”..
Until now,” Murray Hill Inc. said in a statement, “corporate interests had to rely on campaign contributions and influence peddling to achieve their goals in Washington. But thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, now we can eliminate the middle-man and run for office ourselves.”
“The strength of America,” Murray Hill Inc. says, “is in the boardrooms, country clubs and Lear jets of America’s great corporations. We’re saying to Wal-Mart, AIG and Pfizer, if not you, who? If not now, when?” [...]
Campaign Manager William Klein promises an aggressive, historic campaign that “puts people second” or even third. “The business of America is business, as we all know,” Klein says. “But now, it’s the business of democracy too.” Klein plans to use automated robo-calls, “Astroturf” lobbying and computer-generated avatars to get out the vote.
Murray Hill Inc. plans on spending “top dollar” to protect its investment. “It’s our democracy,” Murray Hill Inc. says, “We bought it, we paid for it, and we’re going to keep it.”
Murray Hill Inc. released its first campaign video Monday. A narrator in the video explains, “The way we see it, corporate America has been the driving force behind Congress for years. But now it’s time we got behind the wheel ourselves.”from Corporation Runs For Maryland Congressional Seat To Protest SCOTUS Campaign Finance Decision  In Think Progress.



Thanks to Matthew.

Protect Family Values-Kiss a Liberal.

Ole Virg don't cotton to IQ tests, but he does believe in family values and can't let this one pass. 
Liberals have, on average higher IQs and liberal men are more likely to be monogamous than their conservative counterparts. Liberalism, atheism, male sexual exclusivity linked to IQ By Elizabeth Landau, CNN
" . . .  more-intelligent people are more likely to say they are liberal. They are also less likely to say they go to religious services. These aren't entirely new findings; last year, for example, a British team found that kids with higher intelligence scores were more likely to grow into adults who vote for Liberal Democrats, even after the researchers controlled for socioeconomics." Study: Are Liberals Smarter Than Conservatives? By John Cloud

Quiz-Is the guy in the picture liberal or conservative?

Clan Snoddy is Proud of It's Latest Hot Rock Group-The Three Amigas.

Happy Birthday Mary.