George Carlin On Lawyers
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Sleepy Orange & Dainty Sulphur Butterflies Leave a comment
George Carlin On Lawyers Leave a comment
Cartoon du Jour 3 comments
Source: Daily Kos
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The Song of the Smoke Leave a comment
Cartoon du Jour Leave a comment
John Lewis, Dead at Age 80 1 comment
I want to see young people in America feel the spirit of the 1960s
and find a way to get in the way. To find a way to get in trouble.
Good trouble, necessary trouble.
–John Lewis
John Lewis, Dead At Age 80 — Photo-Artistry by kenne
I came of age in the 1960s, a time of national unrest centering around civil rights and the Vietnam War. I served three years in the Army during the Vietnam War era, marched and demonstrated for peace and justice. Now nearing my 80th birthday, I remember will the assassinations John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy while embracing the “Beat” generation, its writers, and beliefs.
Having lived in Alabama in the 40s, I couldn’t help but notice state troopers and county posse men attacking the unarmed marchers with billy clubs and tear gas after they passed over the county line. The event became known as Bloody Sunday (March 7, 1965). After Bloody Sunday, President Johnson and Congress began working on a voting rights law on March 15.
A third march started on March 2, averaging 10 miles a day, the marchers marched “Jefferson Davis Highway” from Salma to Montgomery. The marchers arrived in Montgomery on March 24 and at the Alabama State Capitol on March 25. With thousands having joined the campaign, 25,000 people entered the capital city that day in support of voting rights.
The route is memorialized as the “Selma To Montgomery Voting Rights Trail”, and is designated as a U.S. National Historic Trail. The Voting Rights Act became law on August 6, 1965.
“On the front lines of the bloody campaign to end Jim Crow laws, with blows to his body and a fractured skull to prove it, John Lewis was a valiant stalwart of the civil rights movement and the last surviving speaker from the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.”
He died on the same day as did another civil rights stalwart, the Rev. C.T. Vivian, a close associate of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
For Rep. Lewis, the Black Lives Movement was a very moving experience, “. . . very moving to see hundreds of thousands of people from all over America and around the world take to the streets — to speak up, to speak out, to get into what I call ‘good trouble.” John Lewis was a genuine “profile in courage.”
“When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair,
you have a moral obligation to say something,”
he said on the House floor, December 2019, to impeach President Trump.
“To do something. Our children and their children will ask us,
‘What did you do? What did you say?’
For some, this vote may be hard. But we have a mission
and a mandate to be on the right side of history.”
— kenne
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We Live In Interesting Times 2 comments
Robert F. Kennedy and Freckles in Oregon, 1968. — Image by Burton Berinsky
“There is a Chinese curse which says, “May you live in interesting times.” Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind. And anyone here will ultimately be judged — will ultimately judge himself — on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort.”
— Robert F. Kennedy, June 6, 1966
. . . the curse remains
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Existence is surely a debate. 2 comments
Two-Tailed Swallowtail Butterfly (Official State Butterfly of Arizona) — Image by kenne
“The whole content of my being shrieks
in contradiction against itself . . .
Existence is surely a debate.”
— Kierkegaard
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For this Land 2 comments
The Wave in Vermillion Cliffs National Monument — Images by kenne
For this land,
there must be
better leadership
for our tomorrows.
For this land,
there must be
protected lands
for the public.
For this land,
there must be
clean air
for the eagles to fly.
For this land,
there must be
protected heritage
for the Indians.
For this land,
there must be
sustainable development
for the desert west.
For this land,
there must be
environmental stewardship
for our children’s future.
For this land,
there must be
the union of
knowledge and wisdom.
— kenne
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Parish’s Larkspur Wildflower Leave a comment
Parish’s Larkspur Wildflower (delphinium parishii) — Computer Art by kenne
Life is a series of steps,
you climb each one to succeed.
— kenne
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“Everybody Look What’s Going Down” 6 comments
Source — Wikimedia Commons
For those of us who grew up in the 1960’s, there is much to remember. For me, it was the draft, war, motorcycles, Playboy, love, demonstrations, flower children, and of course, the music. Many songs carried the message of the times.
One such song was Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.” Over the years the song has been covered many times and the words still ring true, even more so today.
There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It’s s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, now, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
— Stephen Stills
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Our Global Water Crisis 1 comment
Nicaraguan Women Pumping and Carrying Water to Their Families — Images by kenne
In 2007 I had an opportunity to visit a rural Nicaraguan water project that is part of the Rainbow Network. When it comes to the availability of water, it’s on the backs and heads of women. Even when hand driven water pumps are made available, it is the women who pump and carry the water back to their communities.
The practice of women being responsible for finding and collecting water for drinking, washing, cooking, cleaning is common in many countries. ” They walk miles, carry heavy burdens, wait for hours and pay exorbitant prices. The work is back-breaking and all-consuming. Often the water is contaminated, even deadly. In these instances, they face an impossible choice – certain death without water or possible death from illness.” You can learn more about women and the water crisis at water.org.
Living in southern Arizona one is frequently reminded of the need for sustainable water sources, and global warming will continue to challenge our ability meet water needs. An article in today’s New York Times, “A Parched and Sinking Capital — Mexico City’s Water Crisis Pushes It Toward the Brink,” is one more reminder of the social, economical and health issues caused by the water crisis.
— kenne
Rural Nicaraguan girls start at a young age carrying water for their families.
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Keep On Blogging — 11 Years Out 1 comment
Computer Art by kenne (November 26, 2005)
In November of 2006, I posted the following noting the first anniversary of blogging:
. . . One year ago, 135 entries later and approximately 9,500 hits, this blog began with the purpose of sharing existence through the experience of one with the desire to generate other views on our place in time and space. In doing so, I have come to the realization that this poetic gesture may be nothing more than bullshit to someone else.
So, on the anniversary I’m taking this moment to share a few words from the renowned moral philosopher, Harry G. Frankfurt:
“One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so
much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his
share.”
And I would add, some more than others.
But then, one person’s truth is someone else’s bullshit.
“As conscious beings, we exist only in response to other things,
and we cannot know ourselves at all without knowing them.
Moreover, there is nothing in theory, and certainly nothing in
experience, to support the extraordinary judgment that it is
the truth about himself that is the easiest for a person to know.
Facts about ourselves are not peculiarly solid and resistant to
skeptical dissolution. Our natures are, indeed, elusively
insubstantial – notoriously less stable and less inherent than
the nature of other things. And insofar as this is the case,
sincerity itself is bullshit.”
This view may cause some confusion.
But, not in our upside-down world
in which the normal order of things
seem to be completely reversed.
This often exists because the
, “. . .more you try to stay
on top of water the more you sink;
but when you try to sink, you float.”
kenne
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Computer Painting and Taleb’s “No-Nos” Leave a comment
Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly — Computer Painting by kenne
THE NO-NOS
Muscles without strength,
friendship without trust,
opinion without risk,
change without aesthetics,
age without values,
food without nourishment,
power without fairness,
facts without rigor,
degrees without erudition,
militarism without fortitude,
progress without civilization,
complication without depth,
fluency without content,
and, most of all, religion without tolerance.
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Bee on Blossom –A Picture Is More Than A Picture 2 comments
Bee and Blossom — Image by kenne
If a picture
of a bee on a blossom
is the same as any picture
of a bee on a blossom,
then you are missing out
on how physical and emotional
conditions change each picture
bringing poetry to the
captured moment.
— kenne
Becoming is Superior to Being 
Sleepy Orange & Dainty Sulphur Butterflies On Narrow-leaf Aster Wildflowers (Santa Catalina Mountains) — Image by kenne
“And anyway, what is the difference between self-knowledge and self-obsession?
One encourages a defeat of the ego, the other encourages a feeding of the ego.
One a deeper experience of connection to ourselves, which enables a more
nourishing connection to others. The other, disdain for the deeper needs of the self,
which leads to disdain of others.”
— from On Connection by Kae Tempest
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