The Portal to Boomeranger World

On the Road Again Pt 2--Boomer Nostalgia on the Radio

Boomer nostalgia is all over Broadway:   Boomer Broadway
in renewed Beatlemania:   Beatlemania

in Collectibles:
USA Today,  Boomer Auctions

and what is filling the airways is Boomer Oldies radio shows playing 60s, 70s and 80s tunes.

Today cruising west on Rt 80/90 to Toledo where we will turn north to Michigan. We are passing in and out of radio range and changing the stations as we go along. Town after town has a 60s, 70s, 80s station.

We pass the turn off to Kent State while listening to The Animals singing their rendition of "House of the Rising Sun"--which was the ruin of many a young man... 

Who were the National Guard members, probably not too much older than the students they gunned down? Were they ruined by their actions? Kent State

Gordon Lightfoot is coming to Cleveland and Roseanne will be playing Vegas soon...all this is looking back is fun and a distration from engaging in the more difficult tasks ahead  posed by the coming elections...Elections- Huff Post

On the Road Again--Across NJ, Pa, Ohio...

I was prepared for gas sticker shock--since NJ has some of the nation's lowest gas prices, plus we get great at the pump service. But zowie, I did not imagine that diesel prices would be almost $4.90. I pity the truckers...

Well, I guess I am one of the whiners Phil Gramm is whining about.

What do I have to complain about? I have a roof over my head, my health, no "mental recession", a great daughter, lots of wonderful friends..so what if my taxes jumped  7.4% this year after almost 5% last...who cares? Right?  Phil Gramm certainly doesn't! His banking and energy deregulation policies set us up for the Enron debacle and the sub prime mortgage bailout. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.  Cute, huh?

On a brighter note--I was reminded again why "America the Beautiful" is such an apt song...NJ and PA especially around the Delaware Water Gap are so lovely.

Dinner in a diner near Heritage, PA.The local shopper available for my dining pleasure reading was called The Senior Shopper.

One article advised how to dispose of expired prescription drugs--DEFINITELY DO NOT FLUSH THEM DOWN THE TOILET. That is one reason our water supply is contaminated. But the article also advised mixing crushed outdated pills with an inert substance like kitty litter, sealing in a coffee can and tossing in the garbage--YIKES..where does the doc writing the article think the can will end up? It's going in a land fill to leak into the water system. There must be a better way...

Phil Donahue and Co-direct Body of War:Why Does This All Seem so Familiar and Heart Breaking?

A few years ago my brother and I went through a hundred and fifty years and more of family papers deciding what we would keep and what to donate to the Ranson-Hunter Family Archive at the Carolina Room in the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library.

We came across our Grandmother Ellen's Gold Star mother documents, her passport, the itinerary, official letters from the War Department, letters to and from her daughters (our mother and aunt), letters from her sons (our uncles) and her husband, our grandfather, WJ.

A little diary with her comments on the other Gold Star Mothers, her medal. Her oldest son, Oliver, had been killed and she was going to visit his grave--in France, at Verdun, among the first Gold Star mothers to travel to visit their dead sons. That was at the end of WWI.

The story told Sunday night on Bill Moyers Journal by film makers Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro in their new documentary, "Body of War" had uncanny and unnerving similarities. Weeping mothers terrified for their sons and daughters. Parents and families grateful that their child had come back at all in whatever condition. Grief. Anger. But it had many differences as well. And one key one is that this war was initiated by us/US and on a lie.

My grandmother was proud of her son. She believed his war was the war to end all wars and that his sacrifice meant something good and lasting.

I think she would be marching in the streets today. She knew first hand the ravages of war, being born at the end of the Civil War and growing up in the devastated south. Her father had been wounded in that war and her husband's father had been killed in it. Good you might say--they fought on the wrong side. Few had any choice as to which side they fought--where you lived did the trick.

Perhaps it is the legacy of the Civil War that made such rabid rabble-rousers of most of my aunts and uncles, a family trait I have proudly inherited.

Donahue's and Spiro's film tells the truth about this obscene and wrong war.  And nearly a hundred years after my grandmother's, more and more Gold Stars are being handed out to the Moms of America. That always seemed a little sick--getting a gold star for birthing cannon fodder--maybe a Black Star would be more appropriate.

Money on Monday: Understanding Your Worth

 

This  post comes to you via a forwarded email from a friend--it is no doubt making the rounds of the internet, and seemed very apt for my Money on Monday post. Clearly there are others out there who feel the same as I do and it is good to hear that.

One Flaw In Women

Women have strengths that amaze men.
 They bear hardships and they carry burdens,
but they hold happiness, love and joy.
They smile when they want to scream.
They sing when they want to cry.
They cry when they are happy
and laugh when they are nervous.
They fight for what they believe in.
They stand up to injustice.
They don't take 'no' for an answer
when they believe there is a better solution.
They go without so their family can have.
They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
They love unconditionally.
They cry when their children excel
and cheer when their friends get awards.
They are happy when they hear about
a birth or a wedding.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They grieve at the loss of a family member,
yet they are strong when they
think there is no strength left.
They know that a hug and a kiss
can heal a broken heart.
Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you
to show how much they care about you.
The heart of a woman is what
makes the world keep turning.
They bring joy, hope and love.
They have compassion and ideas.
They give moral support to their
family and friends.
Women have vital things to say
and everything to give.
HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN,
IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.

Ingrid Betancourt, Three Americans and Eleven Other Columbian Hostages Rescued: Now That Is a 4th of July to Celebrate

Ingrid Betancourt, 46, former Columbian presidential candidate, was rescued two days ago in a bloodless and cunning Columbian government operation along with eleven others (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080704/ts_afp/colombiarebelshostages). Betancourt, is the mother of two who were 13 and 16 when she was captured in 2002 just ten days after meeting with FARC leaders and others. At that meeting she had called for no more kidnappings and for a peaceful, negotiated settlement. That was 6 years ago. She had reportedly tried escaping three times and was a source of strength and morale for other hostages held chained by the neck sometimes for years.

Now that is the kind of heartful courage and leadership we can all admire. But here we are taking popularity polls as to how much we "like" the potential First Ladies Obama and McCain and arguing over whether they are too strong and how they dress. Gag me with a spoon!  www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/07/02/2008-07-02_first_wives_likability_polls_end_up_pole-2.html. We have come a long way, I hope, in our attitudes and practicises about race, but when it comes to leadership, power and women, baby, the country has a long was to go.

I was watching the Big Idea tonight (http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838512/) and saw a segment on LinkedIn the social networking site that claims to be redefining power as connective networking. It is doing that through its networked internet means. But the term and process of networking was invented 30 some years ago by feminist Scotty Welch. She wrote a book of the same name. Her idea was to identify the type of social relating that she observed women doing when they helped each other and call it networking.

So women of America, on this 4th of July, it is time we exercised our power to connect with each other and demand that the country take us seriously--remember we are the majority of the population and the majority of the voters.