such a juncture

 

left:  Richard Nixon

right:  Anthony Hopkins portraying him in the 1995 Oliver Stone film, Nixon

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer...

You Tube video:

Dominic West reads "The Second Coming" by WB Yeats |

        uploader / channel:  RTE - IRELAND'S NATIONAL PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA

(West is the actor who portrayed Prince Charles in The Crown's Season 5.  I really like that he took time to read this poem to us.)

------------------------------ another video on You Tube:

Nixon (1995) HQ  "Do you ever think of death, Dick?"

        uploader / channel:  1accon

NIXON

I never thought Jack was ready for the presidency.  But I would never, never consider ...

(then)

His death was awful, an awful thing for this country.

(then)

Do you ever think of death, Mr. Helms?

HELMS

Flowers are continual reminders of our mortality.  Do you appreciate flowers?

NIXON

No.  They make me sick.  They smell like death ... I had two brothers die young.  But let me tell you, there are worse things than death.  There is such a thing as evil.

HELMS

You must be familiar with my favorite poem by Yeats?  "The Second Coming"?

NIXON

No.

HELMS

Black Irishman.  Very moving.  

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre / The falcon cannot hear the falconer / 

Things fall apart, the center cannot hold / 

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world / And everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned / The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity" ... 

But it ends so beautifully ominous - "What rough beast, its hour come round at last / Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?" ... Yes, this country stands at such a juncture.

_____________________________

        The Nixon video is about 10 minutes long - there's a scene leading up to the poem.  If you just want the poem, start it at 9:23.

There's a Sopranos episode where Dr. Melfi quotes a couple of lines from the poem.  It's Episode 10 of Season 5 (title:  "Cold Cuts").

        Tony is telling her something, during his therapy session, and she attempts to show him she understands, saying with intense interest:

JENNIFER MELFI

"The center cannot hold.

The falcon cannot hear the falconer."

TONY SOPRANO

What the fuck are you talkin' about ?!

        LOL.

 ---------------------- That's the episode where she tells him, "Depression is rage turned inward."

-30-

darkness drops

 

"The Second Coming"

      by William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, 

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere 

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming!  Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight:  somewhere in sands of the desert

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again; but now I know 

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?

-30-

music in the air

 

In the documentary film Muscle Shoals (2013) they touch on the idea that music comes out of the the soil, the river, landscape -- like, certain places have an energy for art.

        Recently I started listening to Taylor Swift's songs, and I was thinking, Maybe her music comes out of the clouds.

♪ ♪♫

State the obvious, I didn't get my perfect fantasy

I realize you love yourself more than you could ever love me

So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy

That's fine, you won't mind if I say

By the way

I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive

You're a redneck heartbreak who's really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

As far as I'm concerned, you're just another picture to burn

There's no time for tears

I'm just sitting here planning my revenge 

There's nothing stopping me

From going out with all of your best friends

And if you come around saying sorry to me

My daddy's gonna show you how sorry you'll be

'Cause I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive

You're a redneck heartbreak who's really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

As far as I'm concerned, you're just another picture to burn

And if you're missing me, you'd better keep it to yourself

'Cause coming back around here would be bad for your health

'Cause I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive

You're a redneck heartbreak who's really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

In case you haven't heard, I really, really hate that

Stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive

You're a redneck heartbreak who's really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

As far as I'm concerned, you're just another picture to burn

Burn, burn, burn, baby, burn

Just another picture to burn

Baby, burn

-30-

where is Golda Meier when you need her?

 

a painting of Jerusalem

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me."

- Martin Niemöller

_____________________________

Now, a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine.

The suspect is still at large.

______________________________

Ukraine.

_________________________

Israel.

----------------------------------

Myanmar.

_______________________

I'm learning that 

dread 

can be in your awareness and you can still function.

_______________________

One article referred to Maine Senator Susan Collins saying she was "very concerned" (she always says that) about the murders in Lewiston.

        A commenter pointed out, "When everything is concerning, nothing is."

__________________________

When the Hamas thing burst out recently I listened to Ari Melber speak about the situation, and then I read some comments.

Several comments said the conflict is complicated, and complex for "outsiders" to understand.

Then I came across some comments that said the exact opposite! - They said the conflict and history behind it are not complicated, or complex.

------------------------------------------

Can't "brain" anymore...

________________________________

a Gaza Painting

-30-

the "mere anarchy" that Yeats warned us about

 

"Trump now has the speakership of the House in his full control.  This feels really ominous."

------ (reader comment from SLATE)

________________________

two other comments:

~  For all the "a vote for Biden puts KAMALA a heartbeat away from the Presidency", this fucking guy is now 2 people from the Presidency.  Kamala was DA of San Fran, AG as well as Senator of California, the biggest state in the country, and this guy is....... a gay-hating, religious extremist, election denying, traitorous nobody congressman from Louisiana.

~  among his many heinous positions he also wants to criminalize gay sex so there's that.  Also, my stocks are way down today.  Even Wall Street is like WTF.

______________________________

[excerpt from Wikipedia article]

Before 1933, male homosexual acts were illegal in Germany under Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code.  The law was not consistently enforced, however, and a thriving gay culture existed in major German cities.

        After the Nazi takeover in 1933, the first homosexual movement's infrastructure of clubs, organizations, and publications was shut down.  After the Röhm purge in 1934, persecuting homosexuals became a priority of the Nazi police state.

____________________________

"I stand for all those who feel that the government no longer understands the individual and no longer respects individual rights."

~ Harvey Milk

______________________________

-30-

not tonight

 

[from CBS News]

Washington - House Majority Whip Tom Emmer has dropped out of the Republican race for speaker, the third speaker-designee to drop out in less than three weeks since hardline Republicans ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the position.

Emmer's decision to drop out of the race a mere four hours after Republicans elected him as their nominee sends House Republicans back again to try to find a new nominee after three weeks without a permanent speaker.

House Republicans are holding another candidate forum Tuesday evening and gave the next round of candidates until 5:30 p.m. to declare their bids for the speakership.

Emmer won an election Tuesday against a large field of eight Republicans.  Rep. Mike Johnson came in second place after several rounds of voting.  Johnson tried to rally holdouts around Emmer without much success.

Former President Donald Trump opposed Emmer shortly after he won the nomination.  Trump posted on Truth Social, "Voting for a Globalist RINO like Tom Emmer would be a tragic mistake!"  He said Emmer was "out of touch with Republican voters" and "never respected the Power of a Trump Endorsement."

The Minnesota Republican needed to persuade the far-right members of the conference to vote for him on the floor.  A roll-call vote in the conference indicated that there were over 20 who opposed Emmer, far more than the four Republicans he could afford to lose on the House floor.

Without a speaker-designee, no votes are foreseeable on Tuesday, and the House remains more or less paralyzed.  Without a speaker, it can't pass legislation, such as funding for Ukraine and Israel.

Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Patrick McHenry is in charge, but insists his role is limited to overseeing the election of a new speaker.  An effort to potentially expand McHenry's power shriveled last week.

by Melissa Quinn, Kathryn Watson, Nikole Killion, Caroline Linton

House will not vote on speaker tonight

A vote on the next House speaker won't happen Tuesday night, according to the Democratic Whip's office.

"Members are advised that House Republicans are planning to adjourn and votes are no longer expected in the House today," a notice from House Minority Whip Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts said.

House Republicans are expected to vote within their conference for a new speaker nominee this evening.

by Caitlin Yilek

--------------------------------------

____________________

Odd phraseology in Donald Trump's social media typing:  Emmer "never respected the Power of a Trump Endorsement."  It reminds me of a running joke, or running reference, in The Sopranos - Uncle June will say, "Yeah, well, Tony never had the makings of a varsity athlete," and Tony will get aggravated.

The two comments echo each other and have a similar rhythm and emphasis, and dismissive tone.

"Tony never had the makings of a varsity athlete."

"Emmer never respected the Power of a Trump Endorsement."

_________________________

        In Mr. Trump's tweet (except if it isn't on Twitter, then it isn't a Tweet, I guess) - social media typing - the word "power" has no reason to be capitalized, and the same goes for the word "endorsement."

        To be correct, it should read "never respected the power of a Trump endorsement."

-------------- 'social media typing'

(Ross Geller:  "Stop typing!  Stop typing!")

-30-

stories that come from the soil

 

There's an actor who, sometimes when I come across him in a TV-movie on You Tube, I Google him to see when he passed on, but he didn't - he's still alive!

I don't know why I think that.  Somehow memories got mixed in my mind and I imagine that he has died, but he has not.  (I don't type his name here, don't want to create any "bad vibes.")

It's just weird.  I think maybe what happened was, he had a series in the '90s and it got taken off the air after only one season, or half a season, & my memory mistakenly turned it into - the actor died, when really it was only the show that did not continue on.

________________________________

Reading the book Writing Tools, by Roy Peter Clark - he quotes a passage from Dakota, by Kathleen Norris:

------------------- Like many who have written about Dakota, I'm invigorated by the harsh beauty of the land and feel a need to tell the stories that come from its soil. ... ----------------

        The stories come from the soil - ?

This reminded me of the 2013 Greg Camalier film, Muscle Shoals.  In this documentary, music producer Rick Hall and some of the other interviewees touch on the idea that music exists in the area of the Muscle Shoals studio - Sheffield, Alabama, and Florence.  Like the music is there - in the water, and the trees, and the air.

        I wasn't sure I understood the idea, but I liked hearing them talk about it.

"Muscle Shoals Singing Waters"

painting by Meryl Goudey

-30-

plea deals in the Peach State

 

[from today's New York Times]

Another Plea Deal in Georgia Election Case Could Increase Peril for Trump

The agreement by the lawyer Kenneth Chesebro to cooperate in the case gives prosecutors a witness who was deeply involved in the scheme to create so-called fake electors.

written by Alan Feuer and Maggie Haberman

Just before Christmas 2020, as President Donald J. Trump was running out of options to stave off losing the election, Kenneth Chesebro wrote an email to a group of other lawyers who were thinking of filing a last-ditch lawsuit to reverse Mr. Trump's defeat.

The odds of winning the suit did not look good, Mr. Chesebro wrote, pegging them at only "1 percent."  But even though their efforts were unlikely to prevail in court, Mr. Chesebro suggested that Mr. Trump continue to push his baseless claims of fraud.

"The relevant analysis," Mr. Chesebro argued, according to emails reviewed by The New York Times, "is political."

On Friday, Mr. Chesebro pleaded guilty to a single felony count of conspiring to file false documents in Georgia and agreed to cooperate with the local prosecutors who have charged Mr. Trump and 17 others in a sprawling racketeering indictment accusing them of tampering with the election in the state.

Word of his cooperation deal came one day after Sidney Powell, another lawyer who sought to help Mr. Trump remain in power, reached a similar arrangement with the authorities.  Last month, an Atlanta bail bondsman with a minor role in the alleged conspiracy also agreed to plead guilty.

"The three folks who've pled guilty so far have all apparently avoided jail time and I think that's an unmistakable signal to other defendants deciding whether or not they want to plead guilty and cooperate," said Chuck Rosenberg, a former U.S. attorney and senior F.B.I. official.

But Mr. Chesebro's deal could present a more serious threat to Mr. Trump than the others given that he pleaded guilty to a conspiracy count that involved both the former president and some of his closest allies. ...

_____________________________

5 reader comments

The Gryphon

Seattle

"Wearing a red MAGA hat, Mr. Chesebro can be seen joining Mr. Jones's group outside the Capitol shortly before 2 p.m. that day, according to the photographs and video reviewed by The Times.  

The visual evidence shows he stayed with Mr. Jones, Mr. Alexander and others - including Owen Shroyer, one of Mr. Jones's top aides - for about an hour and a half, often filming Mr. Jones on his cellphone as the group walked around the Capitol and went partway up the stairs outside the east front of the building."--NY Times, Aug. 18, 2023.

        That he encouraged Trump's lies - that's bad enough - but that Chesebro marched alongside Alex Jones to the Capitol on January 6th shows his complete depravity.  Frankly, instead of a plea bargain, I would rather see him locked up, but if he helps put the Orange One in jail, the plea will be worth it.

Adam Stoler

Bronx Urban Warrior

any of these criminals pleading guilty to attempting to subvert our democracy should have as an automatic contingency of their plea deal or sentence:  the loss of their law license (state by state)

Start with Georgia and send that disbarment out in national law journals.

Time for these no good grifters to lose their ability to earn a living by their illegal perversions of the law they've sworn to uphold.

Bill

Nebraska

I'm hoping that as a convicted felon Chesebro will lose his law license.  That needs to happen.

CFXK

New Hampshire

I am not an attorney, but I assume there are rules and protocols regarding both the extent and the limits of collaboration and coordination between state and federal prosecutors pursuing complementary or related cases against the same defendants.

As these parallel prosecutions of Mr. Trump move forward, it would be helpful if the NYTimes could produce and publish an article exploring these questions - since these questions will be very much in play over the next year.

Ex-pat Steve

San Ramon, Costa Rica

I agree that an op-ed or article on the extent that federal and state trials covering the same acts can cooperate would be beneficial.  I am not a lawyer either but it seems to me that any evidence that is presented in a state court trial can be presented as evidence in a subsequent federal trial if it is germane.

-30-

(does Tchaikovsky know about this?)

 

Maya Angelou

(April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014)

a poem written by Maya Angelou:

A Conceit

Give me your hand

Make room for me

to lead and follow

you

beyond this rage of poetry.

Let others have

the privacy of

touching words

and love of loss

of love.

For me

Give me your hand.

________________________________________

a song (poem) by Chuck Berry

"Roll Over Beethoven"

Well I'mma write a little letter

I'm gonna mail it to my local DJ

Yeah, it's a jumpin' little record

I want my jockey to play

Roll over Beethoven,

An' I gotta hear it again today

You know my temperature's risin'

The jukebox blowin' a fuse

My heart's beatin' rhythm

And my soul keep a-singin' the blues

Roll over Beethoven

Tell Tchaikovsky the news

I got the rockin' pneumonia

I need a shot of rhythm and blues

I caught the rollin' arthritis

Sittin' down at a rhythm revue

Roll over Beethoven

They're rockin' in two by two

Well, if you feel and like it

Go get your lover, then reel and rock it

Roll it over then move on up just

A trifle further and reel and rock with

One another

Roll over Beethoven

Dig these rhythm and blues

_______________________________

Chuck Berry

(October 18, 1926 - March 18, 2017)

-30-

The Philadelphia Story

 

The Philadelphia Story is a fantastic classic film starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and James Stewart, written by Donald Ogden Stewart, and directed by George Cukor.

There's a part toward the end where the Hepburn character, Tracy Lord, has arrived at a new level of understanding in her life, and her heart, and she's happy, and she sighs exuberantly, "Oh - the time to make up your mind about people is - never!"

        She's saying, always give people a chance to come around to being their best selves and having their own clear, honest, and magnanimous understanding - like, don't be too hard on people.

It's a sweet sentiment, easy to have in happy circumstances, yet the poet Maya Angelou advised us, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

        In other words, don't keep on forgiving someone and being magnanimous and generous, and then they just end up harming you again.

        And again and again....

Chuck Berry put it like this:  "Don't let the same dog bite you twice."

____________________________

George Cukor     (July 7, 1899 - January 24, 1983)

-30-

I am a nice dream

 

The final episode of The Sopranos is titled, "Made In America."

Made in America

is an anagram

for

I am a nice dream.

(from online Dictionary) - anagram:

a word, phrase, or name formed by rearranging the letters of another, such as cinema, formed from iceman.

other anagrams:

race        care

part        trap

heart        earth

knee        keen

Why do we need to know this?

I don't know.

I have neither an answer nor an anagram.

How did I learn about the Sopranos "Made in America" one?  From a podcast called "Talking Sopranos."  (The Internet says we can view this podcast on Max or on Hulu, but I have been listening to it on You Tube.)

It's hosted by Michael Imperioli (who played Christopher Moltisanti on the show) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby Baccalieri).  I think they started the podcast during the initial covid lockdown.

They have people on and interview them - actors from the show, and also David Chase, the show's creator, and Martin Bruestle, a native of Bemidji, Minnesota, who was in charge of music on The Sopranos.

        The music in that show is perfect in every instance, imo.  Every song is exactly what I would have chosen.

When Mr. Imperioli and Mr. Schirripa don't have a guest on, they will have a Sopranos script and go through it.  I don't know if they started with the script for the pilot and then trawled through every script in the six seasons, or if they just did some of them.

They interviewed an actor named David Proval, who portrayed Richie Aprile - a very sinister character!  He has this death stare - when Tony tells him he may not sell cocaine along his garbage route because it would attract the feds, Richie looks at him with that stare, not saying a word, and Tony blurts out, "Don't gimme the Manson lamps!"

Listening to his Talking Sopranos conversation was interesting - he learned about acting when he was a little child - his grandmother would take him to the Yiddish Theater.

-30-

endless summers

 

"If you were a kid in the '70s, you lived in the golden age, endless summers, cars, cruising the beach, backyard parties, roller skating, a new rock classic was released almost every month, people talked to each other, it was epic."

        The above Comment was found under a You Tube video of the song "Sister Golden Hair" - play it and enjoy!

♫♫ ♪ ♪

Well, I tried to make it Sunday, but I got so damn depressed

That I set my sights on Monday and I got myself undressed

I ain't ready for the altar but I do agree there's times

When a woman sure can be a friend of mine

Well, I keep on thinkin' 'bout you

Sister Golden Hair surprise

And I just can't live without you

Can't you see it in my eyes?

I've been one poor correspondent

And I've been too, too hard to find

But it doesn't mean you ain't been on my mind

Will you meet me in the middle?

Will you meet me in the air?

Will you love me just a little?

Just enough to show you care?

Well, I tried to fake it

I don't mind sayin', I just can't make it

Well, I keep on thinkin' 'bout you

Sister Golden Hair surprise

And I just can't live without you

Can't you see it in my eyes?

Now I've been one poor correspondent

And I've been too, too hard to find

But it doesn't mean you ain't been on my mind

Will you meet me in the middle?

Will you meet me in the air?

Will you love me just a little?

Just enough to show you care?

Well, I tried to fake it

I don't mind sayin', I just can't make it...

     [chorus fades out]

________________________________

{written by Gerry Beckley}

-30-

meet me in the air

 

I was thinking about how some people continue working until they die.  And other people retire from the work they have been doing, and proceed to do other things - things that they have presumably been looking forward to having time for.

After one of U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell's recent episodes, comments included:

~  Why do they wanna die in Congress?

~  He should have been fishing the past 20 years.

Jackie Kennedy Onassis was working in New York City as a book editor when she was diagnosed with cancer.  One of "her" authors said he wasn't aware she was sick, he received a fax from her with notes about his manuscript and then several weeks later he heard she had died--he was like, "What?!"

She would not have needed to keep working for financial reasons -- she continued because she liked doing it, and wanted to help bring out the book.

        Actress Nancy Marchand portrayed Tony Soprano's mother in the first two Sopranos seasons, 1999 and 2000, and then passed on in the year 2000.

        In a Season 3 episode, the character Bobby Baccalieri Sr. is very sick and aware that he is approaching his own death when Tony assigns him to carry out a hit.

        Several other characters anxiously question Tony's decision - 'he's an old man, why are you makin' him do this?'  But Mr. Baccalieri wants to do the job.  He says "it will be good to feel useful again, for a change."

        One character asks him, "What if things don't go your way?"

        "If they don't - they don't," is his stoic answer.

It's unbelievable, but yet believable at the same time - watching him suffering with a persistent cough, shortness of breath, carrying an inhaler with him....and he goes to the home of the man he is supposed to kill - a modest 1960s-type house - with steps, a small front porch, the outer storm door.

        He is a 71-year-old man, wearing regular daytime New Jersey mobster-crew clothes.  "Packing" two items - a revolver, and the inhaler.

After the murder we see him driving away, through busy traffic, blood on his face from the struggle.  Police cars with sirens wailing pass by him going the opposite direction, probably to the scene of the crime he just committed.

        He coughs and coughs, has trouble breathing, takes out his inhaler, drops it, curses, tries to fish the inhaler up off the floor of the car, while driving....

He is suffering, and at the same time he feels exhilarated.  The car radio starts pouring out the song "Sister Golden Hair" all over the jubilant, bloody, ill "wise guy."

        In an EXTERIOR shot, we see the car take a half-a-U-turn across lanes of traffic. ...

Unbelievable.

And seems very real.

♪ ♫♫

...Will you meet me in the middle?

Will you meet me in the air?...

-30-

playin' soft while Bobby sang the blues

 

Above is a painting of a scene in Port Arthur, Texas, which is the home town of rock-and-roll singer Janis Joplin.

I had a misty memory in my mind that I was in 5th grade in Rootstown, Ohio, when I heard that Janis Joplin had died.  But when I see the date, I realize I was in 6th grade.  Close.  And the memory includes a little small grocery story -- a convenience store, maybe -- called Lawson's (I think).  It was within walking distance of our house on State Route 44.  

I went there sometimes, to buy comic books or a peppermint patty, or the ubiquitous and ongoing "milk-and-bread" for my mother.

Maybe I saw the Janis Joplin headline on a magazine or newspaper.

I remember my dad mentioned her passing, as well.

On You Tube I've seen a Janis interview on The Dick Cavett Show -- I would guess that's where my father would have seen her - or he could have read about her in TIME or Newsweek magazine.  

I was left with the impression that you should never take drugs because if you did, you might die.  

At that time I did not know her music, but I knew her name.

She was 27 years old when she passed, same age as Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix.

Janis Joplin       January 19, 1943 - October 4, 1970

Jim Morrison (The Doors)       December 8, 1943 - July 3, 1971

Jimi Hendrix        November 27, 1942 - September 18, 1970.

Some people call it "The 27 Club" -- musicians who died at that age. Others are

Brian Jones (founder of The Rolling Stones)

Kurt Cobain  (Nirvana)

Amy Winehouse

...and there are more - if you Google it.

I don't really like the expression "27 Club" - it seems disrespectful, but maybe people don't mean it that way.

        I like to just appreciate the music they brought to us.  Amazing artistic spirits.

------------------------------------

On You Tube, type in

Me and Bobby McGee, Janis Joplin

and play / enjoy.

-30-

"the righteousness of peace" ♫

 

photo from the 1960 film Inherit The Wind

left:  Gene Kelly    right:  Spencer Tracy    next to Tracy:  Dick York (who played the original Darrin on Bewitched!)

The movie is about the Scopes trial -- which really happened, believe it or not.  (Some of today's youth might possibly respond like Christopher Moltisanti in The Sopranos when someone tells him the Cuban Missile Crisis actually happened -- "That was real?!  I saw the movie, I thought it was bullshit.")

They had a trial of a teacher who taught evolution in the public school.  It was in 1925, in Tennessee.

I saw the movie on TV when I was in 6th or 7th grade -- I asked my dad why they argue over this -- he said it was silly, they didn't need to argue, that God could create people any way He wanted to -- through evolution, or whatever.  

        I thought he must know, since he was a minister.  

There are people who just love to argue about this subject -- it's crazy.  On the Internet this week, after the kidnapped child in New York state was found (unharmed) people were writing in Comments saying "Thank God" and "God heard our prayers" etc.  

        And then a few other Comments would appear:  "What, the same God who allowed her to get kidnapped in the first place?"

LOL.

The thing is, when these arguments get going on the Internet, at first the pro-religion people seem the most dogmatic, and then as it goes on, the anti-religion people, who started out sounding factual, get wound up and become just as dogmatic as the extremists who are screaming that they are "Christians"!!!!! -- as if it's a magic word -- at people who never asked them....

Even I had to type a comment to the Washington Post, answering another reader comment that said he didn't require religion because he relies on science for his information -- I told him,  "God and science are not in competition.  We don't have to pick one or the other.  Both can exist."

________________________________

On You Tube, type in

put your hands up and pray

uploader / channel:  The chosen one

and Play!

It's a good song.

-30-