On the crest of the Obama wave of joy that we are on the verge of greatness as a country again, I learn of the terrible news that Jon Anderson, the lead singer for the best progressive rock band ever is stricken with acute respiratory failure and must cancel the planned 40th anniversary tour.

Yes and Anderson in particular has been a part of my spiritual life ever since hearing albums called Fragile and Close to the Edge when I was in high school. Sure, his voice is described as that of an elf from the planet Zolton, an angel, or of some flake with no visible reaction to getting kicked in the crotch but you can’t deny that the man made the sound of Yes and that no one can sing like him. And I would ask you all to keep this man in your prayers and your thoughts.

So, I finally get around to seeing Keith Olbermann's Special Comment and I include a link to it amidst the news here at Rottinghaus Manor to my Ancient Friends who are atheistic conservatives (I'm a religious progressive), who should just eat it up.
Sure enough, I got a response. Here it is abridged of personal stuff:

Subject: Re: They used to until they disappeared...

Sigh.  I think I saw something like 17% of Americans really believe that Iran has no nuclear weapon ambitions.  I think anyone who thinks they are not trying to make WMD's, are complete morons.  Like, Keith, for instance, who didn't question the NIE report at all.  You realize, that for the NIE to work their magic, they need information from the Iranian Government.  Oh, that should be trustworthy!! More than the evil Bush! Please. All those lefties chase anything that makes Bush look bad like 10 year old soccer players chasing a ball. And to finish the metaphor, the ball NEVER goes in the goal.

My response after the fold:  

So, a couple of buddies I’ve been friends with for nearly thirty years responded to my forwarding (with a few borrowed observations) of the RNC Logo of the blue, dead elephant. Funny stuff that logo and I wanted to hear what they had to say as they are somewhat red in their outlook on life. One, whom I’ll call Ric, thought I had hit the nail on the head. The other, whom I’ll call, Barry responded with his usual vacuous talking point prattle but without his perennial reference to Midnight Basketball. I smiled because all his points seem to indicate he should really vote Bush. So, I responded; line by line.
So after the jump, just for giggles, is the relevant paragraph and my response.

A diary by someone calling himself Packer Fan had sparked a boatload of comments and while most comments reflected the belief the diary was Trollish, I thought it sparked a hell of a conversation so I had recommended it. Alas, I was the only one to do so.
Further comments revealed some folks had troll rated all of Packer Fan’s comment into oblivion. Now, that strikes me as injurious to the democratic process but the TU’s out there are TUs for a reason so I can let that go the way of the diary; slowly sliding off the list. I did, however pick up some great recipes on the way down (mmmm, cobbler, uhuhhhuhhhuhh... thanks Dave1042). Still, the diary begat a conversation in my head about why I am the way I am about abortion.

"Mr. G?" asked Jeremy*, "Are we at war?"
"Well, we would be if something like that actually happened." I replied after his friend breathlessly told me they bombed the Pentagon. They being Al Qaida but we didn’t know that. Kids were filing into the classroom and the buzz was different today. There was more talk of explosions and fires and Jeremy told me he saw it on the TV in his previous class. I looked across the hall and saw a picture of what looked like a big building with a lot of smoke billowing out. I turned on the TV in my classroom and there it was. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were both on fire! No, wait; this was film footage of a few minutes before as one of them collapsed. The reporter switched over to the smoky ruins of the Pentagon. I switched channels and saw universal coverage; people running and sirens and dust and smoke and confusion and disbelief. I watched as a dense cloud of creamy gray smoke and debris rained down upon the street completely engulfing a man who had tripped and fallen to his hands and knees. Someone has to help him he’s – oh my God! In the back of my head I could feel them. I turned and faced my students and every one of them was looking at me. Everyone asking me without so much as a word for something, anything.

I live in a small community SE of Columbus. The Dispatch is a paper I don't read - not because it is owned by a conservative family (the Wolfe family)or because the coverage is of a conservative bent. It is because I get most of what the paper can give me thru the internet. Reading newspapers is sooo 20th century.
I was on the internet looking at my standard must-look sites when Crooks and Liars showed me an editorial cartoon printed in the paper that a lot of central Ohioans still read. The cartoon enraged me! The cartoon was straight out of Nazi Germany and I was appauled that such a thing could still be printed nowadays. I mean I love editorial cartoons a lot! Even the ones on the other side can be clever and funny. Sure, most can be cheap shots at our side as is the case for some of our cartoons against their side but I would never imagine something this evil could be accepted.

you ready? here it is:  

I wrote this in 1995 while driving with my brother to the dedication ceremony of my dad's headstone in St. Louis. He died several years ago, peacefully, surrounded by his family. It was Memorial Day Weekend when we got together again to say good bye. My dad was a marine and he defended his country in WWII. He went into electronics after the war and settled down with my mom and had me and my three brothers.
My father died the day after Christmas. We buried him just before 1996. My mom died six years later on their aniversary. My wife's Aunt Rita passed away last month.

I buried a cat today. His name was Bingo and he was @17 years old. He died during the night, quietly. He liked to box your ears. He was ravenous for chicken and cheese. He sprayed a lot! once he was hosing down a bush when both his back legs went in the air! One time our neighbors had a truck load of groceries and Bingo jumped up into the bed pulled out a big dinner roast and pulled it out of the truck bed and pulled it under the house. Yesturday, he couldn't walk very well.

There has been so much death. And, well, I wanted to post this sooner but Bingo needed us.

40 years ago those words began a series on tv that would remain on the air for two seasons, get cancelled, and then, due to people power, was renewed for a third. Yep! Star Trek was a progenitor of the movement that gave us Ned Lamont and the "dust up" over Path to 9-11. I've watched Trek ever since I was a boy. I played Star Trek at recess with Mike Dowlass. He was always Mr. Spock and I was always Captain Kirk. When they showed the episode "Arena" with the Gorn and it turned around to face the camera I was terrified. I remember running out of the room cowering in my brother's room until the commecial break was over. The next day Mike and I would act out scenes and I would practice the explosion tumble in order to impress Stacy Natway; my little Yeoman Rand...