Naked Women! Dancing! Beer!

Okay, now that I've got you here, this is what happens when a blogger with nothing better to do has his usual sources of bloggery dry up.  The President has been relatively quiet, nobody's really stepped out to contend for an AH-CRAP award, A-Rod hasn't been suspended/been released/retired yet, and we're two days from Time Machine, three days from Aussie hockey, and four days from a Sunday message.  So what to write about?

Well, we're still alive.  We enjoyed the usual morning walk (saw one deer), took one nap.  Nothing much going on here.

Hmm, here's one I forgot.  My post of June 29 got spammed last Friday by no fewer than NINE spam comments in a THREE minute period, 2:45-2:48 AM, by less than reputable insurance agents working for Fidelity and Allstate, among others.  Well, guess what?  Two more companies off the Martin "buy" list.  Too bad, so sad.

Another story I sat on was one from India that was not so funny.  It seems that perhaps resentment of the universal yet-poorly-supported government "midday meal" program may have boiled over as a bottle of tainted cooking oil was given to a school's cook by the principal.  The cook protested that it smelled and looked "dodgy" but was told to use it anyway.  Now a week later, we have two dozen children dead- some of them buried in the front yard of the school in protest- the principal arrested, and her husband (who ran the store) on the run, and a bottle of vegetable oil heavily laced with insecticide.  Speculation has run back and forth because the husband is a government official from one party and the supplier to his store is from another.  The principal surrendered yesterday.

I found another lovely story in Japan.  A set of elderly neighbors- all five between 71-80 years old- clubbed to death, one burned with his house.  Culprit apparently is another 63-y-o neighbor.  Police found a haiku written on his door:

Setting on fire
smoke gives delight
to a country fellow


Another interesting story I saw in Japan was a piece on how far downhill the China/North Korea relationship has fallen (ironically, I type this with the M*A*S*H theme playing on the TV).  Here are some selected parts:

“It’s definitely eroding,” Adam Cathcart, an expert on China-North Korea relations at Queen’s University Belfast, said of support among Chinese for Pyongyang.

At the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution in Beijing last week, visiting truck driver Pan Yude said China paid a high but worthwhile cost in defending its neighbor and ally. But his attitude hardened when asked about the North Korea of today, describing relations with Pyongyang as merely “so-so” and blaming what he sees as stubbornness out of the North.

“It can’t adapt to the trend of world historical development,” he said, standing in front of a display of tanks on the museum grounds, including U.S. Sherman and Pershing vehicles captured during the conflict.

“Up to now, its people are still going hungry and its leaders are militaristic and aggressive,” he added. “To tell the truth, if Russia and China didn’t support it, the country would have quickly ceased to exist.”
Cathcart says factors behind the changing attitudes include the passing of the war generation, North Korea’s reluctance to publicly acknowledge China’s sacrifices, and Chinese authorities giving historians and commentators a freer rein to re-examine past assumptions.

“There’s definitely a revision going on within China, whereas North Korea has really stuck to their narrative. And they have really said Kim Il Sung is the main man, it’s really about his genius,” Cathcart said, referring to the North’s founder and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un.
“And the Chinese think that’s ludicrous.”


Nice to know that the Chinese have their past sins (and annoying little geeks) to contend with, too.


And of course, also in Japan News ( and Moscow, London, Facebook, and everywhere else in the world), we see Anthony Weiner admitting to yet more texting dick pics, this time to a lady right here in Indiana!  At least when (I'm sure with them it's when and not if) New York makes him governor, they'll know what they're getting.  As will Tokyo, Moscow, London...

Speaking of London, I hear the new third-in-line to the Crown of the UK (since I read today that the Welsh, Scots, and Northern Irish are feeling left out when we say "king of England") finally got a name- George Alexander Louis. Nice of them to honor my dad, Louis "Woody"  Martin, in the name.

HRH Louis W Martin...Hey, I thought you said you had beer??!!

Ryan Braun...

I am tempted to inaugurate a new sports-character-themed award.  This time it would be the Ryan Braun Lying Snake Award...

...but probably I won't, because David Axlerod and Chris Matthews are likely more deserving.  Braun, however, might get the sports award.  The "Hebrew Hammer "accepted a 65-game suspension from Major League Baseball for using performance enhancing drugs, then lying about it.  A quick look at the case shows us last year he was handed a fifty game suspension for the same thing, but got off because some idiot at the med-lab contractor MLB uses couldn't be bothered to read "Shipping Directions".  He rejoiced, claiming to all that justice was served and that he was innocent of all charges.

Move ahead to this season.  The worm selling the stuff to ball players turned "state's evidence" to MLB in return for immunity from prosecution.  Suddenly, Braun and a host of others- unfortunately including the A's Bartolo Colon who admitted his crime and served HIS suspension- came back on the table.  On June 29th, MLB called in Braun and went over with him and his people the evidence against him.  He continued to deny everything- right up until his people told him that they weren't going to weasel out this time.  So he crawled back on his belly to MLB, hoping to get a deal that wouldn't lose him part of next season as well- he would have no doubt lost the first 100 games next year.  So yesterday he "agreed" to serve the suspension without pay the rest of this year and any postseason his team, the Brewers, might get to (find that filed under "snowball's chance").

So yet another generation of young baseball fans get taught it's all right to lie until you're caught, just like the one that saw Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, and Roger Clemens lie in front of Congress.  And for what?

Is there a difference between a PED player and a honest one( outside moral fiber)?  Let's look at last year's case, Melky Cabrera.  Melky not only did the drugs, but invented a fake website to make himself look innocent.  For his efforts, he lost a chance at a World Series trip, the end of last season, and his job with the Giants.  His statistical return?

Last year at this point, with juice, he had 11 home runs, 49 RBIs, and was hitting .356- which was 1 homer and 45 points higher than he'd ever hit in any FULL season.  This year, in Toronto, 3 HRs, 29 RBIs, and a closer-to-career average .278.  So yes, for a middle of the road player, it made a BIG difference.

But what I can't figure is a guy like McGwire, who'd had Hall Of Fame numbers BEFORE juicing.  McGwire averaged for his career a full-season average of 50 HRs, 122 RBIs, and a .263 average.  If you remove the three obvious juicing years, he still averages 44 HRs, 114 RBIs, and a .255 average.  So why bother?  It's all about the money, my friends.  He was towards the end of his career, looking to score more big dollars.  And three years of obvious juicing netted him an average of 67 HRs, 145 RBIs, and a .283 average!  Not very blatant, eh?  And then lies about it to a whole generation of young fans in front of Congress.  And THEN gets hired by the Cardinals as hitting coach!  Now, I am not accusing him of spreading his juice to his team; however, it makes you look askance at stats like the Cards' dominance with runners in scoring position, the constant stream of good new hitters they get, the seamless way Carlos Beltran stepped in for Albert Pujols ( and the way Pujols fell apart when he went to the Angels) and you cannot help but wonder.

At least Jose Canseco admitted what he did.  Did it make a difference with him?  His twin brother Ozzie was also in the major leagues (albeit for a vastly shorter time).  Jose averaged 40 HRs, 121 RBIs, and a .266 average.  Ozzie?  0 HRs, 27 RBIs, .176 average.

The you have Roger Clemens.  Refuses to admit the PEDs, refuses to admit an affair with Mindy McCreedy (and while I'm not saying that Roger's denial contributed to her suicide, he sure didn't do that poor, whacked out girl any favors).  So if you already did the deed, already made your ill-gotten gain, why lie about it?

So you can still get into the Hall of Fame.

Well guess what.  You need a 75% vote to get into the HOF.  Last year, prominent juicers McGuire, Palmeiro, Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa got an AVERAGE of 22.4 %.  Lying did you NO GOOD.  Although I'm sure Bonds, with his hatred of the media, probably enjoyed only getting his 36.2 %, the others probably scratched their heads wondering why they got shunned.  Because it's all about ME.

Did Ryan Braun need to juice?  Last year he juiced his way to 41 HRs, 112 RBIs, and a .319 average.  This year, he was on a pace for 29 HRs, 96 RBIs, and was hitting .298.  Sure there's a difference there, but where in helped his team (RBIs) it wasn't all that much.  Where it glorified HIM (HRs), it was significant.  Add to that denying it until he was iron-clad caught, and you have yet another fine example to our young fans to just go ahead, cheat and lie.


In fact, there might be just one place in sports to find integrity anymore...

 

Robin soccer!!!!

At least the bleachers were full....

____________________________________________________________________________

Anyway, a quick look at the AIHL while I'm here.  Adelaide split a pair of shootout games.  They beat the Mustangs 6-5 with Wehebe Darge getting the only shootout score;  Sunday they lost to those same 'Stangs when Pat O'Kane got the only goal in the shootout to give Melbourne's second team a 7-6 win.

In the mean time, Perth- who lost star Mike Forney just as Adelaide did the Ouellette brothers- split a pair.  They stunned Newcastle 6-2 on Saturday behind Brian Berger's hat trick; Sunday they fell to those same North Stars 3-2.  Melbourne's top squad, the Ice, had a rather rocky weekend squeezing out a 4-2 win over luckless Canberra (despite a 52-28 advantage in shots); then getting slammed 6-3 by Sydney's Ice Dogs on Sunday.  The Dogs had a two win weekend, winning 3-0 Saturday against their fellows from Sydney, the Bears.  Simon Barg had two goals in each game.

So the Ice Dogs (11-5-4) pass the North Stars (11-5-3) by 1 point into first place, 40-39.  The Ice, at 12-4-2, hang two points off the lead.  Perth, the 'Stangs, and Adelaide are all within nine of the lead.
____________________________________________________________


Here's some more assorted pics:

I think I forgot this one before...

Granddad Ground Hog tearing ass away from us.  Moments later, Scrappy stuck his head in the bush he came from, to be greeted by a whistle and a screech from a grandchild who got left behind (or maybe Grandma...).

New bridge coming along nicely.

And that was a bunny rabbit.  Excuse the focus, but as the old fisherman's joke goes, I had a "jerk" on the other end... of the leash.

All the news that's, well, maybe not fit to print.

Here at TAW, we realize that there is REAL news happening.  Chinese officials in Gansu are searching for survivors of an earthquake that had killed up to 89 per my recent visit to Xinhua.  Iraqi authorities are struggling to cope with an "al-Qaeda style" jailbreak that freed over a hundred prisoners and killed at least 20 guards.  We also realize that We here are not qualified to be YOUR news source for such things.  Then there are the things that aren't really news, but US news providers think is news.  The coming baby royal, Obama's heroic persecution prosecution of George Zimmerman, and not to mention his lovely vacation "while others are furloughed by the sequester.  Only as they rise to AH-CRAP level stupidity do they rate our attention.

In between are feel-good stories like this one:

A woman in Japan had somehow managed to get stuck in the (usually) less-than-8-inch gap between a subway car and  the platform.  After an emergency announcement, dozens of people rose up to push the 30-ton car off her leg and pull her to freedom. 

Also in-between are items like the death of "journalist"  Helen Thomas (to which we can only say, "If you can't say nothing nice about someone..."

But also somewhere in there are the stories TAW features, all-American AH-CRAP stories, such as:

An officer and a dog were investigating a vehicle in Gainesville early on Sunday when Antonio Morrison, 19, barked at the animal, police said.

Florida law makes it a crime to "harass" a police dog while the animal is "in the performance of its duties".

Morrison, who plays linebacker for the University of Florida Gators team, said the dog had barked first.

University of Florida football coach Will Muschamp said Mr Morrison would be suspended for at least two games when the season starts later this summer.

"I'm extremely disappointed in Antonio Morrison's decision making,"  Muschamp said in a statement.

It was the dog's fault!  He called me a woof... or a ruff, I'm not sure which...

Or how about this one, brought to us by the brain surgeons at MSNBC... host Melissa Harris Perry is upset with the Texas legislature.  Since they are making it a law to lay upon abortion providers in the state the onerous burden of proving that they are actually qualified to perform such a procedure, several liberal group demanding abortions be "free and for any reason"  (sure, I get my kicks getting pregnant and then vacuuming the results out like it was a dust bunny) were going to "celebrate" the law's passage.  On the tip, Capitol police searched purses and among other things, confiscated tampons that they believed were going to be thrown at the legislators.  Therefore, she went on TV with tampon earrings...

...as an example to the protestors of how to avoid the "unreasonable search-and-seizure".

But was it unreasonable?  The article by Robert Laurie goes on to say...

Back in July, women in Texas were travelling to the State Senate to "observe" the debate over the State's new abortion restrictions.  Lt. Governor David Dewhurst - who is also the Senate President - didn't want protesters lobbing junk at the lawmakers.  So police searched purses and confiscated tampons.  This may sound ridiculous, but the Washington Post reported that they also found a jar of urine, 18 jars of feces, and three jars of paint - so something was about to go down.
Either that, or liberal women just like carrying feces around with them.


As much as I want to, I don't suppose I really have to add anything beyond that.

But of course, Texas and governor Rick Perry hate women, don't they?  I wonder how well Mellissa Harris Perry would do in Dubai. 

 (Norwegian) Interior designer Marte Deborah Dalelv was on a business trip in Dubai when she says she was raped.

The 24-year-old reported the March attack to the police but found herself charged with having extramarital sex, drinking alcohol, and perjury.

Welcome to the lovely Arab world, where a woman is automatically charged with adultery if she is raped... UNLESS...

According to the Emirates Centre for Human Rights, UAE law states a rape conviction can only be secured after a confession or as the result of testimony from four adult male witnesses to the crime.


Never mind that the four witnesses would probably be involved in it.  Sure makes it hard to figure why the Muslims and Hindus have such a hard time getting along in India, home of the covered up gang rape.

Her alleged attacker (a colleague), she said, received a 13-month sentence for extra-marital sex and alcohol consumption.

And both she and the attacker were released today.

But not all TAW news is thus unpleasant- as long as you weren't there...

A woman in Manchester, England, has been given a fine after taking her horse into a McDonald's restaurant.

She was initially refused service while in the saddle in the drive-through lane of the branch in Whitefield, Greater Manchester.
She then led the animal inside, where it defecated on the floor.
Police were called to the outlet in Bury New Road on Saturday.
A statement posted on the Facebook page of Greater Manchester Police's Whitefield Division read: "The staff refused to serve the women due to company policy. The woman then took the horse into the restaurant, who ended up doing his business on the floor.


Perhaps McDonalds should stop horsing around with the drive thru rules...

Another note that fits our bill compares the posh vacations that President Obama takes with those of Vladimir Putin:

President Vladimir Putin climbed into the Sea Explorer 5 bathyscaphe on Monday off the coast of Gogland, an island in the Gulf of Finland located 180 kilometers west of St. Petersburg. Putin rode the small submersible craft 60 meters down to see the remains of the naval frigate Oleg, which sank in 1869.

Thus, while Obama practices his Robin Leach impressions, Putin is doing his best Ringo Starr:

 

I'd like to be

under the sea,

in an octopus's garden in the shade...

And of course, we also feature the latest in northern Allen County wildlife.  For example, while Scrappy and I prepare to go out the front door for a walk Saturday night...

...Ms. Thing cruises the back yard for a bite!


And today's tale finishes off with a story.  Last night when we went to bed, Scrappy and I saw a raccoon dash across the parking lot for a midnight dumpster dive.  Then, we saw two more.  Then, a fourth one flew across the lot.  Briefly, I considered throwing my shorts on to take a few shots of the diners, but decided the bed was much more comfortable.  My wisdom was proved about five minutes later when Scrappy started whining and barking again.  This time I watched one of the coons return to the woods... but Scrappy acted like something was on the neighbor's porch.  Again I thought about going out; again, I wisely decided not to.  Moments later I learned that what he saw was not on the porch, but just outside it... and it wasn't a coon, but a SKUNK that they had scared up.  I think, though, the coon got off easy, because I didn't smell the big stink.

Better him than us, I say.

Sunday Message

Perhaps the hardest pace to glean a message for yourself is in the prophets, amidst the doom, gloom, and esoteric visions of futures past and to come.  But that is what I had this week, with a string that ran from Daniel to Jonah.  And it took getting to Jonah to get a clue what God was telling me.

(Note: in case you didn't know or missed it, my current reading plan is 3 chapters a night from each successive book of the Bible.  Thus, this week, I was in Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, and Jonah.)

And what I came up with is, to understand what God was telling me, I had to face off the three elements in the first chapters of Daniel against those of Jonah.  And here's what you see: 

Daniel is about the consequences of obedience to God.  Chapter one shows the blessing Daniel and the gang received from denying themselves sinful pleasures.  Chapter 2 Involved the gang facing an impossible task ( the interpreting of Nebuchadnezzar's dream without knowing what it was) through concentrated Prayer.  And Chapter three brought us God preserving the boys through their great trial (the fiery furnace).

Unlike Daniel and his posse, Jonah was the story of someone doing God's will while trying to avoid it.  Jonah, unlike Daniel, had an attitude set against what God wanted him to do (because God wanted to save Nineveh, which would be the equivalent of sending Anne Frank to save Nazi Germany in modern terms).  In the first part of Jonah's story, we see him being disobedient by running- and as a result saving more that he would have by being obedient, because the ship's crew feared God and sacrificed to Him after they saw the storm dissipate when they threw Jonah overboard.

The second stage for Jonah, like with Daniel and co. involved intense Prayer.  But while Daniel was doing his praying in his room in beautiful downtown Babylon, Jonah found his situation in the gut of a fish at the bottom of the sea.  While both were life-and-death situations, you'd have to say Daniel at least had the more pleasant of hopeless circumstances.

And the third part of Jonah has him thrust into his "fiery furnace"- the City of Nineveh, alone in a city of enemies.  And though he also manages a great victory, the saving of Nineveh ( at least for another 140 years), his heart wasn't in it because his goal and God's weren't the same.

Difference being, when Daniel et. al. were obedient, they enjoyed - truly enjoyed- God's blessings from their works.  Jonah, who believed but had a disobedient agenda and a heavy heart, didn't enjoy the fruits of his labor.  He sat and moped over how things worked out until God used the plant and the worm (in chapter 4) to show him how stupid and petty he was being.  Lesson here, you will enjoy blessings from your work and your trial if you go into it with an obedient heart.  If you have disobedience in your life, not so much.

So how do the intervening books come in?  In Hosea, the theme revolves about us as a people being symbolized by his prostitute wife, Gomer ( and what a lovely name she had!).  Despite her cheating ways and fallen offspring, not only did he marry her once, but bought her back for a price.  Sound familiar?  It should, this is what Jesus did for the prostitute that is you and me.

Lesson:  Because of Jesus, our sinfulness does not disqualify us.

Joel talks about the disaster that Israel's disobedience, and that repentance will lead to restoration.
Pretty straightforward there.

Amos has a set of prophecies against Israel's ancient neighbors, but before you scratch your head over what they have to do with you and me, note that every one starts with one phrase:  "For three transgressions of (fill in the blank), and for four..."  That means that God gave these people every chance in the book- and then another one.  Again, our doesn't disqualify us- but God has a limit.  And a little farther on, he throws in what, in Israel's case, were the four transgressions (2:6-8).  And four us, they become four attitudes we need to check ourselves for:

- Caring about things ahead of people;
- "Perverting the way of the humble"- am I putting block in people's way through my pride;
-Talking one way but acting another;
- living as if God doesn't matter.

Now I put them this way because we are trying here to apply these to those of us who consider ourselves Christians, and I believe these are the approximate corollaries in our lives.  They don't eliminate our salvation, but put a dent in our effectiveness, and if we aren't careful, we might lose out on the enjoyment of our blessings if we keep it up.

Now, Obadiah is a one chapter tirade against Edom, because Edom- Esau's descendants- stood by and laughed as Assyria destroyed Israel ( his brother Jacob's descendants).  So what does a Christian get from a story of God's vengeance on those who wronged the Jews?  Just what Paul said in Romans 12:19 (quoting from Deuteronomy 32:35):

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

So in hopefully more simple words, the intervening chapters add to the concept of obedience blessings vs blessings with strained obedience:

Sin doesn't disqualify us;
However, repentance is necessary for obedience;
God gives us a lot of chances to get it right, but we have to check the attitude we obey in;
And don't worry about what others did/do to you (like Jonah did), God's got it handled.

Zimmerman, one last round, and other stuff

I saw three interesting articles with which I shall end my involvement in the Zimmerman-Martin case.  Unless I have to go Troppo on AG Holder at some later date, which is always possible.

The first is from that eminent philosopher, Charles Barkley.  Sir Charles does an eloquent job of explaining why he believes the jury got it right.  His take highlights the double-standards being taken by both sides here:

“I just feel bad because I don’t like when race gets out in the media ‘cuz I don’t think the media has a ‘pure heart,’ as I call it,” Barkley continued. “There are very few people who have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any shape [or] form — there are a lot of black people who are racist, too. I think sometimes when people talk about race, they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist. And I don’t like when it gets out there in the media because I don’t think the media has clean hands.”
So, what was his take on the actual evidence?

Like I said, I feel sorry that young kid got killed, but just judging by the evidence, I don’t think that guy should’ve went to jail for the rest of his life,” Barkley continued. “Mr. Zimmerman was wrong to pursue, he was racial profiling, but I think Trayvon Martin — God rest his soul — I think he did flip the switch and started beating the hell out of Mr. Zimmerman. But it was just a bad situation.”
But the worst thing, to Charles, was that justice didn't really get done.

"The main thing I feel bad for is it gives every white person and black person who’s racist a platform to vent their ignorance,” he said. “That’s the thing that bothered me the most. I watched this trail closely and I watched these people on television talking about it. A lot of these people have a hidden agenda. They want to have their racist views, whether they are white or black … Their biases definitely come out. It was a bad situation. We all lost.”
The second comes to us from an unlikely (to me) source:  Fox's Juan Williams.  In this article, he goes down through all the mistakes made by every participant that led to the verdict that was arrived at.

Star with the political pressure for a quick arrest.  Then the prosecutor fails to ask for a grand jury, which would have likely told them that a murder conviction was pie in the sky, instead of scrambling at the end to get lesser charges introduced.  The next level was the media turning it into a race thing, just to sell their agenda.  Was it a race thing?  Well, let's step away from Juan Williams for a moment and look at the third level- An article by Pam Geller in Westernjournalism.com which will make any REASONABLE person say to themselves, George Zimmerman was not motived by racist thoughts.  Many of you have heard the factoids- Peruvian mother, black family members, and shrugged it off.  But, look here:

George Zimmerman launched a campaign to help a homeless black man who was beaten up by a white kid.
George dated and took a black girl to the prom.
George Zimmerman also mentored young black males.

George Zimmerman voted and campaigned for Obama.
George Zimmerman and his black friend opened an insurance company in Florida.


All of which was reported in the London Telegraph, which was a good enough news source to get Eric Snowden exiled for letting you know Big Brother's listening (Hi, Barry!)

So back to Williams, where, after berating the media charge to make it a racist case, also shows the other side.

To make the connection between black men and crime is not evidence of racism. As Jason Riley, who is African-American, wrote in the Wall Street Journal this week there is a disturbing high rate of convictions of black men for violent crime in America. So let’s not tell lies in an attempt to claim race is not an issue. Americans, black and white, are all conscious of race, the history of racial division in our country and the painful curves it continues to throw at us all.
And let me add something I heard on the Piers Morgan clip many of us saw yesterday:  50% of murders in this country are black-on-black killings- that's 6% of the population (the convicted black men) committing half the murders in the nation.  And yet "leaders " like Anthea Butler accuse white America of "stalking young black men" rather than trying to get these young black men from killing in the first place.  And thus you have "white people"  afraid to go out at night because the police are afraid to "profile", and the NAACP are protesting against the "oppressive laws" that might make the streets safe again.

Finally, let Juan have the last say...

Again, the media, like the prosecution, and like the jury – all failed to exercise the honesty required to act wisely.

Whether the young man threw a punch or a rock it is hard to see any wisdom in allowing a killer to walk away because he feared for his safety after scaring the victim.

But one juror, identified by her jury service number as B37, said in a post-trial interview that Martin has some responsibility for his death because “when George confronted him he could have walked away.”

It is also true that “George” could have avoided the whole incident by staying in his car.
The juror, the wife of a lawyer, allowed that Zimmerman “went too far and did not use good judgment.” She also said the laws were “very confusing.” And then she concluded idly that “someone lost their life and nothing else could be done about it.”

Four of the five other jurors issued a statement disavowing B-37’s comments. They simply said “in the end we did what the law required us to do.”
And that is where we must do better.

The limits of the law are no excuse for failing to give justice to the family of a dead, unarmed teen who had his whole life ahead of him. It is no excuse for leaving another man, Zimmerman, as a target of hate for the rest of his life.
We have to demand more of our prosecutors, our media, our juries, ourselves.


_________________________________________

Anyway, here's the other stuff- pictures from our truncated, molten walks lately.

Heron flying away...

...and chillin'.

Damn, it's hot!

Remember when it was pouring?  Evidently we now need the rain...

Mama and fawn last night.

 

Moonlight over the Ponderosa...

Saw the Pope this morning...

A Swallow finally sitting still enough...

By the time they get the trail connected to Foster park, they'll have to re-connect it to itself...

Kitty lounging on the trail...

And this was interesting- two Goldfinches fighting over a lady right out in the street!

Time Machine week 77

It's July 19, 1971.  And unlike the day I type this (Thursday afternoon), when temp readings range from 92.1 at the airport to 97.7 on our back porch, it is a balmy 71 for a high with morning fog and thundershowers.    And other than a communist coup in Sudan (and why communists wanted real estate that is 30% desert and 95% unfarmable* is beyond me) and the topping off of the second tower of the World Trade Center at a second-in-the-world one-quarter-mile and 42 feet high, nothing is going on then, either.  So why go back to July 19th, 1971?  For the music, of course!

*My spell check tells me "unfarmable" isn't a word.  Or is that "ain't a word?"

Welcome to Time Machine for this week!  This time, more of the Great Fifties countdown, the return of the 45 at 45, a new feature debuts,  a popular song debuts (at least according to # of artists doing it), and Wayne Newton, too!  Where else to you get all this (and get out of the heat) for free?

All right!!! I made it on Time Machine!!  Er... what'd I do?

We are going to lead off with a new semi-permanent feature- the tops of the charts elsewhere this week!.According to WCFL, Chicago's #1 is Don't Pull Your Love; on KHJ, L.A., the top song is How Do You Mend A Broken Heart.  In Pittsburgh, KQV says the number one is Tom Clay's What The World Needs Now/Abraham, Martin, and John medley (and I told you you need to check that out!).  On the Big 8 in Detroit, CKLW, Mr. Big Stuff holds the top spot, while Minneapolis, just to be odd, has Never Ending Song Of Love at the top.

Internationally, the UK (and Ireland and Switzerland) are topped by Scottish band Middle Of The Road with the poppy Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (which is actually better than it sounds); The Aussie band Daddy Cool topped the charts Down Under with Eagle Rock, while the Kiwis next door preferred Put Your Hand In The Hand; Canada (as well as for the first week on Billboard) was It's Too Late/I Feel The Earth Move; Germany was in the midst of an 18 week run by Frenchman Danyel Gerard with Butterfly (which peaked at 78 over here); and the US Country chart was topped by When You're Hot, You're Hot.  (well-timed, eh?)

Back in Cashbox-land (where you can look at the charts for free), we had 10 debuts in the hot 100 this week... the one with a potential was the high debut at #57- CCR with Sweet Hitchhiker.  And since we've come this far already- the GFC rolls on!

55- Oh, Lonesome Me, Don Gibson, #7, 1958.  An oft-covered song, it hit #13 country  in 1961 for Johnny Cash, #11 on the UK charts for Craig Douglas in 1962, #63 country for Stonewall Jackson in 1973, #92 country for (of all people) Loggins and Messina in 1975, and #8 country in 1990 for the Kentucky Headhunters (a great tune!).

54- The Great Pretender, The Platters, #1, 1955.  There are 29 songs in this countdown on the Rolling Stone 500 greatest songs of all time.  There were 3 the first week (Sweet Little 16, Peggy Sue, Heartbreak Hotel) in week one, 4 of 'em (Good Golly Miss Molly, Young Blood, Whole Lotta Shakin', What'd I Say) in week 2, 4 more ( Rock 'N' Roll Music, Blueberry Hill, Maybellene, and Johnny B. Goode) last week and SEVEN of 'em this week- this is the first of those.

53- Along Came Jones, The Coasters, #9, 1959.  One of the 45s I played over and over as a kid, it was inspired by Gary Cooper's lampoon of himself in the 1945 movie of the same name.

52- At The Hop, Danny and the Juniors, #1, 1958. Sha Na Na did this song at Woodstock- lead guitar, 18-year-old Henry Gross (who topped the charts with Shannon much later) was the youngest performer to take the stage there.

51- Earth Angel, The Penguins, #3, 1954.  As so often happens, their first and only big hit was actually the b-side of the non-charting Hey Senorita.  #2 of the 7 RS top 500s.


Our birthday songs this week kick off with one of the biggest hits ever on the Martin chart- Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse Of The Heart turns 30.  Remember the first time you heard THAT piano lead-in?  Also turning 30 is Naked Eyes' Promises Promises.  Turning 35 are Earth Wind and Fire with Got To Get You Into My Life; REO Speedwagon's Time For Me To Fly; Little River Band's Reminiscing; and the theme song for our senior class (unofficially, mind you) Cheap Trick with Surrender.  Turning 40, Grand Funk Railroad's We're An American Band and Cher's Half-Breed.

Hitting 45, we have The Rascals' People Gotta Be Free; the Beach Boys with Do It Again; Clarence Carter's Slip Away; and a couple of music's more famous covers:  Vanilla Fudge's You Keep Me Hanging On, and Jose Feliciano's Light My Fire.  And turning fifty, Wayne Newton's Danke Schoen.  Blow out the candles...

Oh, that's all?  I thought it was something bad...

The big mover is Three Dog Night's Liar, up 21 notches to 43, while Tom Jones' Puppet Man drops a whopping 40 spots to #59.

Yeah, well you ain't heard the last of me...

And that brings us to the 45 at 45, where we feature the song at the #45 slot 45 years ago (AKA 1968). And this week continues the parade of bubblegum through this spot, with the Peppermint Trolley Company holding forth with their song Baby You Come Rollin' Through My Mind.  The PTC started out musical life as the Mark V, but name and style was changed as producers scrambled to take advantage of the bubblegum wave.  This was their biggest hit- and this was all the farther it got, peaking well down at #59 on Billboard.  Formed around the brothers Danny and Jimmy Faragher, the other big thing they accomplished was doing the theme to the Brady Bunch pilot (and sans the vocals, their music track became the first theme).  The group would walk out on their bubblegum contract in 1969, re-forming as power-pop act Bone, who managed-barely- to hit the charts with Roberta (#94).  By 1973, Bone had run its course, and the brothers began the Faragher Brothers Band, which managed to take a tune called Stay The Night up to #50 in 1979.


How about some more GFC?

50- Why Do Fools Fall In Love, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, #6, 1957.  Another top 500 song, it came about when bass vocal Sherman Garnes was given a set of old love letters by a tenant in his building to come up with songs from, and the opening line was found among them by tenor/songwriter Jim Merchant.

49- I Walk The Line, Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, #17 (#1 country), 1956. Written backstage for new wife Vivian.  (T500)

48- All Shook Up, Elvis Presley, #1, 1957.  Written at the suggestion of Shalimar Music owner Al Stanton after watching writer Otis Blackwell with a Pepsi bottle. (T500)

47- Yakety Yak, The Coasters, #1, 1957.  Writer Mike Stoller called his and co-writer Jerry Lieber's compositions "playlets"- little looks into the teenage life.

46- That'll Be The Day, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, #1, 1957.  The band came up with this song after going to the theater to watch John Wayne's The Searchers, in which the Duke says it several times. (T500)

The top 40 this week saw 7 debuts.  The first of these was an apparently popular song, because versions of it sat this week at #s 40 and 42!  That song was called The Resurrection Shuffle, and it was in the top 40 by the English trio Ashton, Gardner, and Dyke at #40, up 8 spots;  Its doppleganger by Tom Jones (remember him?) shot up 18 spots to #42.  Neither one, as it turns out, will go a lot farther.  Stephen Stills becomes the second ex-CSN&Y er to be in this week's 40 (Graham Nash is at 32 with Chicago), climbing 4 notches to #39 with Change Partners.  Another 4-spot climber is Cat Stevens at 38 with Moonshadow; entering with an 8-notch leap at #37 is Bob Dylan with Watching The River Flow.  Davy Jones makes it into the 40 by himself with Rainy Jane climbing 9 to #35.  Cymarron goes from 41 to 33 with Rings; and the Jackson Five are up 16 to #31 with Maybe Tomorrow.

One song enters the top ten, one falls out; and that be Rainy Days And Mondays (7 to 17).

One more time:  The Great Fifties Countdown!

45- Oh Boy!, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, #10, 1957.  The flip side was Not Fade Away, which was covered by the Rolling Stones in 1964 and became their first American chart hit (#48).

44- Shake Rattle And Roll, Bill Haley and his Comets, #7, 1954.  Lead guitarist Danny Cedrone died ten days after recording this song from a fall that broke his neck, down a flight of stairs- speculatively caused by a heart attack.

43- Chantilly Lace, The Big Bopper, #6, 1958.  Amazingly to me, Jerry Lee Lewis took this to #1- on the country charts- in 1972.

42- Hound Dog, Elvis Presley, #2, 1956.  Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller (the Coasters' writers) wrote this for blues act Big Mama Thornton.  They were shooting for something that come out saying, "hey, f*** off" (as BMT was a scarfaced, 350 lbs bear of a woman), and came up with Hound Dog, which at the time was the black slang equivalent of "m*f*er".  Nice, huh? (last of this week's RS T500)

41- Charlie Brown, The Coasters, #2, 1959.  The term "daddy-o" apparently came from the movie Blackboard Jungle in which Glen Ford's character, Richard Dadier, was nicknamed that by his mutinous students.

Big Mama Thornton... umm, probably won't be in next year's Beauty Contest... unless she finds out where I live...

Next week, we enter the top forty in the GFC!  This week, we move into the top ten in 1971 this week.

Jerry Reed cools off, dropping one spot back to 10 with When You're Hot, You're Hot.

Flipping him for the spot is Carly Simon with That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be.

Holding, ironically, at # 8 is 8th Day with She's Not Just Another Woman.

Leaping from 11 to #7 is Tommy James- and he's not Dragging The Line!

The Cornelius Brothers and sisters drop 3 to #6 with Treat Her Like A Lady.

James Taylor starts a run of songs moving up one, reaching #5 with You've Got A Friend.

The second of the one spot movers is Jean Knight at #4 with Mr. Big Stuff.

The final one is Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds at #3 with Don't Pull Your Love.

Holding in the runner up slot, The Raiders and Indian Reservation.

And #1 for a fourth consecutive week....

... Carole King with It's Too Late!!!!


And that wraps another hot day's cool trip down Memory Lane.  See ya next time!

The 6 PM walk, July 17th