Mary Travers R.I.P.

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Mary Travers of Peter Paul & Mary has passed away after her battle with leukemia.

Please visit the PP&M website for tributes by her band mates Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey.

Rolling Stone Magazine's tribute

I will miss her.

Daryl Dave

One day in the summer of 1976, about a month after arriving in Sacramento, I decided to go and check out a local bar. It was called The Zoo, so of course it caught my attention.

As I approached the door the sound of laughter and a juke box flowed from the door.
Upon entering I found that indeed the name was fitting. The crowd ranged from rice farmers to motorcycle gang members, college preppy folks, sports fans and even a Go-Go dancer on a small stage. (It eventually became known that she was a transvestite).

I began frequenting the place and made a number of friends there. At one point, before I had found a job, feeling I was overstaying my welcome at my cousin's house, I lived in my van in the parking lot. I paid off my bar tab by working there, cleaning etc. during the day, before it opened.

One of the people I met there was Dave - Daryl Dave. (more on the Daryl part later) Dave worked doing construction site cleanup and his girlfriend of the time worked at the bar. One weekend Dave invited me to his house for a party. There I met his circle of friends and was soon taken into the fold. Before long a room became available at a house were several of the group lived, now having a job, I moved into what became a major party house. Anything was an excuse for a party and weekends called for a keg or two. You could always tell when the garbage truck got to our house. Every stop down the street yielded thumps when the cans were dumped into the truck. At our house it was just the clinking and clattering of beer bottles and Southern Comfort bottles.

Eventually it boiled down to a group of about a dozen friends spread between three houses with a party going on at any given time at one of them. One day we were sitting around, totally hung over, and Dave made a comment about what a bunch of derelicts we were. After that we amended our names with the surname Daryl, hence Daryl Dave. The moniker didn't work so well with the women of the group so they became Hosetta, a slight modification of Hoser from the Second City TV characters Bob & Doug McKenzie.

One of the more memorable moments I have of Daryl Dave was the Stinkin' Lincoln!
A mid '60s Lincoln Continental. A huge beast of a car. Suicide doors, spare tire in the trunk lid, kazillion horsepower engine! Dave had so many tickets and overdue registrations on it that they totaled more than the value of the car. Not wanting to just haul it to a junk yard he entered it in the demolition derby at a local county fair.

So we had a party and took out all the glass with a sledge hammer, tore out the interior except the driver's seat, replaced the fuel tank with a little 3 gallon tank, welded the doors and hood shut and other sundry things to prep the car.

The derby is held in the center of the oval track, a track with steeply banked turns at the ends. The pit for the derby was at one end of the track, beyond the banked turn.

Dave did pretty well during the first round. He had been hit a few times and was getting up the nerve to start ramming the other cars. After the first round horn sounded all but one car left the ring. The Stinkin' Lincoln drove off, wobbling a little in the rear.

After a short period the cars came back into the ring and lined up for the start, but no Stinkin' Lincoln! The second round started and we were all bummed out that he hadn't made it back in, when suddenly...

Over the top of the embankment, came the Stinkin' Lincoln at about 25 mph BACKWARDS!
Airborne over the track, it landed with a big cloud of dust in the derby ring. Then with the pedal still to the metal Dave drove right up on top of an old Thunderbird. Stuck there, he sat burning his tires off on the T-bird's roof in a big cloud of smoke until knocked off by another car. Dave and the Stinkin' Lincoln didn't win that night, but he sure had a great time. So did we!

As time went by, people moved away and or apart. Most of the people matured, got steady jobs, started families. A few just couldn't break away from the alcohol. It kept its grip, dragging down their lives, ruining their dreams.

Unfortunately Daryl Dave was one of the latter. I last saw him about five years ago and his health was suffering already at that time. He had a hard life, several broken relationships, minor run ins with the law and failing health.

I received a call last night from a mutual friend who informed me that Daryl Dave had passed away Super Bowl Sunday, just before the game. Initially it was thought he had a heart attack, but the official cause was cirrhosis of the liver.

This weekend the old crew will be gathering to spread his ashes and celebrate his fifty three years on this earth.

May you rest in peace my friend.

Good-Bye

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Forty Years Gone

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Birthday Boy 79 Years Later

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated at a political rally in Rawalpindi.

The Sun reports:

FORMER Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a gun and bomb attack.

At least 20 people were killed when the bomber struck after opposition leader Mrs Bhutto addressed a political rally, witnesses said.

It has been reported that Mrs Bhutto was shot in the neck and the chest before the bomber blew himself up.

Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto’s party who was at Rawalpindi General hospital, said Mrs Bhutto died at 6.16pm Pakistani time (1.16pm GMT)

Babar Awan, Bhutto’s lawyer, said: “The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred.”

A witness at the scene of the attack said he heard two shots moments before the blast.

“As party leaders, including Bhutto, started coming out a man tried to go close to them and then he fired some shots and blew himself up,” said a police officer, at the scene.

More Here

The Raw Story is currently working on a number of related articles Here

From NBC News:


Benazir Bhutto's last interview with NBC News - shortly after her return to Pakistan and after an earlier assassination attempt:

Time to Start Over? Did Someone Say "Bring on the Asteroid"?

In Memoriam

Prayers were offered for a nuclear-free world at a ceremony marking the 62nd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II, held Monday at the Peace Memorial Park in the city.

"Here in the 21st century, the time has come when problems can actually be solved through the power of the people," Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba declared.

Akiba said he would call for the elimination of nuclear weapons, as it is the will of humanity, at a general meeting of the United Cities and Local Governments, an international organization of municipalities, to be held in South Korea in October.

LINK

DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!

A Day of Thanks to Those Who Gave the Ultimate Sacrifice for Their Country

by BB2

Tuesday Topic

by Bluebear2
Today is the fifth Tuesday in the Million Blogs for Peace endeavor to stop the war.

In the past week we have lost a great man. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was perhaps my favorite author. His works were so fitting for the time, as I was coming of age in the 60's.

In October, 2005 Kurt was interviewed on the PBS show "Now" and read a letter to George W. Bush:

"I am an elder in this the greatest Democracy in the history of the world. I will be 83 in November. I am a member of what has been called the Greatest Generation. I am a combat infantry veteran with a Purple Heart and a Battle Star and I now want to put my President on notice and I'm talking about IMPEACHMENT! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
If he commits oral sex in the oval office, and I don't care with whom, that will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
OUT HE GOES!
There. I've thrown down the gauntlet! If that be treason, make the most of it!"

The moderator then asked what he meant by the oral sex item. Kurt explained that it seemed to be the only thing left that would cause an impeachment. (This comment was not specific to Bush, but rather to politicians in general)

He also went on to say we have a 2 party system. The winners and the losers. The winners are made of two groups. The Republicans and the Democrats. The losers are the rest of us.

In this past week we have also had a tragic incident at Virginia Tech which has taken over the media's attention. Bush has raced off to the scene to use it as another of his backdrops to try and gain political points. Much the same way he has been using our military personnel.

At the same time, the scandals: Gonzales getting caught lying about his actions; Rice facing a subpoena; Rove being exposed for obstruction of justice; several years worth of government e-mails deleted; Cheney facing articles of impeachment, all are receiving no notice.

Therefore it is only fitting that this weeks Tuesday Topic is based on a quote of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and a pitcher of warm spit.

Fifth Tuesday Topic
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
When asked about the anti-war movement during Vietnam and at the time, during 2003, Kurt Vonnegut (who passed away last week) said the following:
"When it became obvious what a dumb and cruel and spiritually and financially and militarily ruinous mistake our war in Vietnam was, every artist worth a damn in this country, every serious writer, painter, stand-up comedian, musician, actor and actress, you name it, came out against the thing. We formed what might be described as a laser beam of protest, with everybody aimed in the same direction, focused and intense. This weapon proved to have the power of a banana-cream pie three feet in diameter when dropped from a stepladder five-feet high.

And so it is with anti-war protests in the present day. Then as now, TV did not like anti-war protesters, nor any other sort of protesters, unless they rioted. Now, as then, on account of TV, the right of citizens to peaceably assemble, and petition their government for a redress of grievances, 'ain't worth a pitcher of warm spit,' as the saying goes."
What do you think of this quotation?
How do you think the modern anti-war movement can rise above the value of a pitcher of warm spit?

Mocha

by Bluebear2

While fighting hard to take CONTROL over KAOS we all must step back at times and take a break to maintain our sanity, or what little of it that remains.

We need to:








listen to the roar of falling water














or the silence of a mountain top.














Sit and watch a sunset


















or a setting moon.


















Go for a cool morning walk














or swim in a cold mountain lake.













Enjoy the beauty of a flower,











or the laughter of a child.

Ponder the profound love between a child and her pet!

MOCHA

Mocha came into our home about 4 years ago. It was on one of those weekend trips to the feed store that my daughter spotted the guinea pig in the window.

She brought it home and instantly they fell in love. Mocha was treated to full reign of my daughters room. She rode on my daughters shoulder everywhere and sat in her lap on the swings at the playground.

She wanted nothing to do with another guinea pig when we felt she needed a buddy, but would cry when my daughter left the room.

I also enjoyed her company as she would sit on my desk while I was typing. She would add to my commenting at Bradblog, but I never quite learned her language, although she would say such profound things as zdqefr4 and /;lklouyt5.

It always amazed me how such a small animal could give so much trust and yearning for a human being 100 times her size. And how much love my daughter could give to this little animal.

If only us older humans could all do the same.

Mocha died last night. She had been ill for a couple of days. Our house is a little more empty now, but the lessons she has taught will remain.

Rest in peace Mocha, you were one remarkable pig.


all photos BB2 except Mocha - by daughter (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Thanks Steve For Everything You've Done

In memory of Steve Irwin, a great protector of the wild environment in Australia.

A hyper, fun to watch guy who always seemed to be full of excitement while bringing us knowledge and appreciation of wildlife.

Thanks, Steve, for bringing many hours of learning and entertainment to my children.

I am saddened that you are gone, you will be greatly missed!