Bad music surrounds us

For probably a confluence of reasons, popular music has become crap for nearly twenty years. I don't accept this as just an older person's opinion, or a relativist's. It is just so.

Some things may be coincidental, other things accumulative. This situation was noticeable just after the time new vinyl records stopped being generally manufactured. Rap, which wishes to be called "hip hop" had become public by 1980, it has taken a sizable portion of the charts. It is crap, but not sufficient in itself to be responsible. It is an influencing factor.

There are a larger number of female pop stars, more so than before. Mariah Carey can sing, i can't think of one lyric. We have singers without material. Many are not singers. They perform as dancers. There had always been lighter fluff, but the degree and frequency of posing has increased.

Business concerns are guilty [they always are]. Radio has been tighter in format, and more consolidated. This precludes exposure of talent. There are good singers, and groups but they are outside the more popular genres. Listen to college radio, find the good programs. Perhaps there are niches of programming available on satellite or internet music [i have not investigated].

In my memory, the last artist and album before the fall, was consummated, was Billy Joel and River of Dreams in the summer of 1993. Established artists still came out with good stuff, but they were not charting. After that time, Sheryl Crow was an exception as a new artist. Groups like Gin Blossoms, and the Bare Naked Ladies were formed just before this time. People like Conor Oberst, Kasey Chambers are not considered popular artists, they are worth listening, and that is why we have college radio.

Few have broke out to the attention they merit. There is Norah Jones. Jane Monheit is a wonderful jazz singer, jazz does not chart; neither does folk, nor classical. In the last few years, Coldplay has had one super smash with Viva la Vida. Amy Winehouse has a great voice, but is really a mess. Rehab was a great song, and ironic as all get out. She obviously needed 'rehab'.

Hillbilly music has been slickered up. Thank God, for Willie and Emmylou still performing and recording, and they are not played on "country radio". The college folk programmes around Cleveland, for example, all love Emmylou. The one fellow on WJCU always starts his Sunday night show with her. There is good stuff but you have to LOOK and listen.

MTV introduced a lot of fun videos to watch in the 1980s, it helped promote some New Wave music. Its first video was meant to be ironic, Video killed the radio star. Beyond the 80s, they played a lot more crap (especially rap, 'boy bands', heavy metal [young angry men screaming to loud, distorted instruments while dressed terribly]), and further on very little 'music' of any kind. There were disturbing introductions: white rappers [Vanilla Ice], frauds [Milli Vanilli] around 1990 that pointed towards greater dreck. And it is not just dreck in music quality, it is degrading and noxiously toxic to society.

Did the internet kill the video star? No, with the use of You Tube, one can see and hear these again. One can also hear older music, some with photos attached by an anonymous editor and enthusiast. Some are a video of the record playing on a turntable. In these cases, the earlier music file sharing system was a better vehicle. The pictures were not necessary, the music was. This was stopped by the record company lawyers.

A great failure has been lyrics. Popular music business is not interested in good lyrics. Poetry and tunefulness is not a concern of theirs. The people that bring us the product betray us.

Technology has become more important than talent. Besides the compact disc, there are other formats and delivery systems. There is 'autotune' and special wizardly effects that diminishes the need for talent. The rise of television talent shows, and their performers attempts to fill a niche. With a Paul Potts, Susan Boyle, and Jennifer Hudson, on occasion a real good singer is found; other times you get 'popular' artists that fit the crap niche. It could be there is a large audience for crap.

Arabic revolutions, evolutions?

There has been a change of government in Tunisia and Egypt, and a promised one in Yemen. There is a civil war with international involvement in Libya. Gadafi [choose your spelling] has been a madman immediately recognisable from a great distance for quite some time. He is intractable and recalcitrant, Mubarak knew the gig was over, but not before a bizarre camel and horse charge into the crowds. There is a situation in Syria that is quite bloody, with a violent suppression of crowds by the government. Some syrians may object to hereditary president for life. There has been protests, minor and major, in practically every arab speaking country. Some countries have responded with a shuffling of ministers, and change of laws. Thousands have been killed, the lion's share in Libya. The movement is dynamic and flowing.

Is 2011 to be as 1989 was in eastern europe? There is much difference. The european fall of communism was peaceful. It went from one country to another, each with different periods of incubation. The arab world has had no real democracy since the fall of colonialism and empire. These spontaneous revolts began in mid-December after Mohamed Bouazizi, a young tunisian street vendor, set fire to himself to protest police corruption and brutality.

The ruling class in these countries are non-democratic, corrupt and inordinately wealthy. Power, money and corruption are part of the same soup and the populace is dissatisfied and angered that prospects were worse than better.

Of course, this is a fraction of the gore that was Iraq because of gwbjr, cheney et alia. Iraq if it had not changed in the interim, would be in this current turmoil, but without the hundred(s) of thousands dead, and the US would have been a better place with fewer problems.

Two other area questions are Iran and Israel/Palestine. Iran has stifled revolt over the last few years. It has a population only smaller than Egypt's, and is always interested in its neighbor Iraq. Iran could be a first world country. Israel is happy with itself, paranoid and aggressive towards everyone and is continually annexing Palestinian land.

Historically, this is a time of dramatic change in north Africa and southwest Asia. The first few chapters have been written. The others are still unformed in the inkwell.

Breaking news—American born in America

"We do not have time for this kind of silliness."
"We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers." — Barack Obama

Well, the president, Barack Obama, was on the television a few minutes ago. He was sick of the "sideshow" of the willful idiots, including the blowhard narcissist Trump, whom waste the country's attention on the fiction of his foreign birth. He has been upset about it, and thought it would die from its obvious stupidity. He was wrong. Idiocy has remarkable endurance, and here it is augmented by racism.

The president, unlike the interloper he succeeded, is a serious man. There are too many real issues that are neglected, while this asinine "distraction" refuses to go away.

He's wrong. These people will not relent. Fifty years ago they would have insisted that he was born with a tail. The fantasies and lies will not stop. It is a campaign of black propaganda, meant to derail and ultimately defeat democratic government.

There are liars and idiots that call Obama a socialist, or communist [they do not know, nor wish to know, or would be able to understand the difference]. Of course Obama has faults. Governing as a 'liberal' is not one of them. He is governing as a moderate Republican.

Of course this is also a background to the 2012 election. The Republicans have a slew of prospective candidates, virtually all demented dwarfs, it seems only Romney is not also an employee of Murdoch's Faux News.

I suppose Bruce would not mind Obama's campaign to use the song, Born in the U.S.A. Better Barack than Ronnie.

A Boy in Ohio

...But now a freeway covers the field
Where I used to be so happy...

Soon I was grown and I had to leave
And I've been all over the country
But I don't believe I've had more fun
Than when I was a boy in Ohio

Phil Ochs was a folksinger, who wrote and sang topical songs until he ended his life in 1976. He spent part of his boyhood in Columbus, Ohio and went on to the university and wrote for the school paper. He was what one called a 'leftist'. He sang against american military involvement in southeast asia, racial bigotry and human callousness. Such people existed then.

He also penned one most wistful tune and song, "A Boy in Ohio". It is not the only poignant song of Ohio. "Banks of the Ohio" and in a Livingston Taylor song [done by Linda Ronstadt] "In My Reply" ...He said "Will I see my Ohio?" The Pretenders [Cuyahoga Falls] had the song "My City Was Gone". Chrissie Hynde sang, "The farms of Ohio had been replaced by shopping malls." Gruesomely sad was Neil Young with CSNY "Ohio", "Soldiers are gunning us down ... Four dead in Ohio."

Ochs gets very specific, "I rode my bike down Alum Creek Drive". He also sings "Buckeye sun", that noun [there an adjective] is not used much beyond the school nickname. Phil throws in 3.2 beer, which is still available in five states further west at the grocers and quicky marts. It was in existence then and available for purchase by eighteen year olds in Ohio, it is now replaced with 'light beer' for a different demographic, a product for people whom do not really like beer.

Other than Jonathan Edwards singing about "Athens County", there is much nostalgic sweetness but little present happiness. Another song from Athens was JD Jewell's, "Millfield Train Wreck". He reminds us the houses are too close to the tracks, "but this is Appalachia ain't no way to move them back".

Drew Carey had the very short version of the novelty "Moon over Parma" as his television theme, years before it was sung by Robert McGuire on the Big Chuck and Little John Show. Then later Carey had "Cleveland Rocks", which is a novelty, feel good, rock anthem with less substance than the McGuire song.

Easter in northeast Cleveland

St. Mary of the Assumption, Collinwood (Cle.), O.
We have a very late Easter this year. It was good that the Latin church shared the same day with the Orthodox. Often we have had snow on the day. This year Holy Saturday was in the 70s Fahrenheit. For the Paschal vigil, Easter fire is made outside the church to bring lighted candles into the church. The wind was sporadic, once started the fire blew flames. It shewed that polyester suits are impractical. People in the neighborhood, outside the church, continued to make extraneous noise taking no notice of the service.
Easter morning was drizzly and quiet. The Casimiri that gathered to pray in the street saw rain 'color' the statue of St. Michael in a second shade of grey. The parish [St. Casimir] is continuing, the week before they had a successful, fundraising dinner to send a parishioner, and his mother, to the old country for medical treatment. They also discussed the next week's May crowning, John Paul's beatification and the Polish Constitution Parade, that, they are marching in next Sunday on Fleet.

anticipation of the Resurrection

To-day is Holy Saturday. The troubling hours after the first day of the Crucifixion, and before the surprise of Resurrection. The first Christians, the personal comrades of Jesus were shaken and did not know the morrow's outcome. We in reliving the year in Liturgy and Sacred Calendar do.

It is a troubling time for the Faith and the Church [at home and abroad]. Many of us are dispirited and despairing. We have the promise of great joy to come.

Some people to-day and to-morrow visit and decorate the graves of loved ones. Spring bulbs are often in bloom. It is opportunity for remembrance and respect.

It is traditional amongst the several Slavonic nations, and their several churches to have a basket of food blessed at church. It has spread to other people by proximity and diffusion. It is a custom still permitted and observed in some American churches. It is so popular that in many parishes it is done several times during the day. People spread out with their children and baskets, and with people whom generally do not come to a Catholic church, and pews are filled.

Saint Barbara's is under appeal from suppression. It is another parish in Old Brooklyn, Cleveland near St. Leo's. The church, as every Polish church, was kept up. It did have a few leaky spots, perhaps the scaffold [to the left of the doors] is to patch the roof. Barbara's had healthy enough financial reserves when it was open to more than cover any repair cost, but while open each parish had to beg the bishop permission to repair anything above a certain nominal value. Lennon holds the purse and draws and tighten strings at will.
Now, Saint Leo had some financial shortcomings. It has bought, from the bishop, seven windows from the suppressed nearby Blessed Sacrament, which had money in the bank. It has also ransomed items from Old Brooklyn's Corpus Christi and Euclid's Saint Christine's. The Blessed Sacrament window, supra, replaces a severe and modernistic tabernacle that had been on the east transept wall. The ransomed items are visually more appealing and conducive for Christian worship than those they replaced.

Republican speak: class warfare = objection to economic inequality

In academics in the study of marxist theory, the concept of class conflict comes up. Sometimes the term become 'class warfare'. Recently, the teabagger and media provocateur and fraud Andrew Breitbart repeatedly used the term. He was in Madison Wisconsin to introduce the half term ex-governor of Alaska. He was booed and razzed, and could not deal with it, while he was spinning fiction about contemporary national politics.

His was a minority view there that day, and now clearly a minority view in the state there. He insisted it was the "silent majority". He was representing the teabaggers. He told the people, they had "no right to lecture" and to "Go to Hell." He repeated the phrases, as he did this one, "class warfare is not american".

Interestingly, on broadcast television (at least) it has not made much an appearance. Palin was drowned out by cowbells and yellin', while she came to praise Governor Walker. The people of Wisconsin were not in the mood to hear out of state allies of the Koch brothers. The teabaggers of the so called Tea Party are being cast through the door under the sink into a plastic garbage bag in a plastic trash can.

She gave the same sort of speech she usually gives, but the greater crowd did not fawn upon her. She maybe a darling of the wackos, but any appeal to the center is gone. The chant of the people became "Go Home". Her supporters were there for Tax Day and enjoyed her coming. Political lives and seasons are getting short. This movement had a great victory for the Republican party, a few months ago. It took America back to the party of bushjrcheney and the usurpation. It had deceived and successfully created an amnesic fugue and stupor in the populace, but being based on banalities and bourgeois bullshit disguised in faux-patriotism it is disintegrating.

Well, back to "class warfare", what Walker, the Kochs and all the Republicans that wish to end America and bring in a revival of dickensian capitalism married to Ayn Rand's rank rubbish, that is class warfare. When people oppose this tyranny of the dollar's masters is when the Chicken Littles of the Republican party lie out "class warfare". In fact, if one were to chart the term's appearance in letters to the editor, and such; one would find it a co-ordinated campaign. It is a shibboleth of the Republicans.

America had class warfare instigated one hundred and fifty years ago. The plantation South, its combination of feudal lords and slave owners wished to secure and retain their power and 'aristocracy'; so they waged a War of Secession. The South has continued to believe in low taxes, and low wages. The current president being a 'man of color' does not enhance his popularity in either southern or teabagger circles.

Two years ago these "spontaneous[sic]" anti tax revolts began. Those Wisconsin cowbells were their death knell.

Is it a protestant, or a catholic God you don't believe in?

"Is it a protestant, or a catholic God you don't believe in?", is the last line of a narrative joke, with several set-ups. It was often situated in occupied Ireland, where all questions were ancillary to this main one. The fellow queried, in the joke, has somehow referred to himself as an atheist, perhaps, even, lecturing upon it.

Religion, while it is several things, is cultural. A person of a particular faith tradition understands the milieu of that faith, and can contrast it with others. Some atheists often come from similar environments.

Although, the US is a protestant country, certain protestantisms are more bizarre to the atheist or sceptic than catholicism, even purposely misrepresented catholicism. The impromptu seizures that accompany pentecostalism has few admirers outside of co-religionists. Hellfire and brimstone baptistry is not warming to outsiders. Mormonism so easily deconstructed as an19th century american fraud is easily laughed off.

Atheism can be defined as godless, or as anti-God. Atheism has its militant versions. It can also be a sincere absence. God is missing in the understanding. His Presence does not register as existing. Ethics can still be there, so 'godless' is not, always, an accurate term of contempt. Rationality of a creatorless universe needs to be considered. So, the absence of God is a question. And it is, often, a psychologically troubled one. In a simple form it is a mistaking of the created as a God substitute. Similar to nature worshipping paganism where the created is worshipped as the Creator.

Some people come to unbelief by the scandals of hypocrisy of supposed believers. In this these unbelievers show a respect for God, that the hypocrites do not. This sincerity of unbelief is different from the angry, mean spirited atheist that revels in attack. Atheism is not of one strand.

the new poll tax

Republicans resurrect failed ideas, intellectually and morally dead arguments. It is part of 'their thing'. They do not do this for the joy of the process, but to achieve a goal, any means to an end. They campaign against government and will do anything to achieve control of government.

A constitutional amendment* ended the poll tax. The poll tax was a voter suppression tactic. At the time it was used to decrease the number of negro voters. In school, when the Constitution was taught, it was presumed and presented that the former practice was unjust and now is obsolete and defunct. But no bad idea ever dies amongst Republicans.

November 2010 the United States and its citizenry suffered a defeat at the polls. Republicans won state after state, sometimes by minority plurality. How tight and thin the 'mandates' were do not matter.

The Republicans have had the press repeat their mantra that the country is 'center-right'. That may be true, but only because the Republicans are fascists and peg the one pole, skewing the results. The electorate is in thirds. The Democrats do not have a comparable extreme, and it certainly is not their definition. Bernie Sanders is a Socialist, and a fine senator. He sits with the Democrats. There are practically no candidates that can succeed as socialists. Communism has died since 1989-1993 in the western world, and in the US it was a false bogeyman; yet the wacko 'right' still yelps about their influence. The Democrats have a democratic wing, and a moderate wing. The moderate wing could have run as Republicans in an earlier generation. Obama, as he is now, is one of them.

The new poll tax is voter identification laws. In 2008 Indiana and its Secretary of State (now freshman congressman) Todd Rokita enforced and promoted its law. Rokita made a public statement, that he regretted, complaining of black people voting 9 to 1 for Democrats. This is why the law was created—to reduce the number of black (and other groups of probable Democratic voters) voters. The Supreme Court upheld Indiana's Republican government. Justice John Paul Stevens, in his opinion, acknowledged there never was a documented case in Indiana of the problem that the law was meant to correct. John Boehner praised the decision.

Republicans bathe in hypocrisy. They 'say' they are against taxes and regulations. They are damn for taxes and regulations that screw people who vote Democratic. A new, unjust and unnecessary bureaucracy is to be created, state by state to reduce voting. Some of these laws will enlarge state driving bureaus, which are proverbial in the dislike of people. Does one need to be able to drive in order to vote? One will have to pay for these cards/papers. Voting had been free.

___________________

*Amendment XXIV (1964), and also U.S. Supreme Court in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966) which pointed out poll taxes violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Postscriptum: 23 April 2011. Further evidence of this Republican plank is the statement of the Minnesota Speaker of the House, Kurt Zellers. He is not the first state Republican [fascist] to make such statements, and he won't be the last. He apparently ignores the federal Constitution that maintains that voting is a right, for Republicans it is a privilege not to be bestowed to all.

An Epistle from Richard

I have read a very interesting letter signed by Richard Lennon. It is addressed to [presumably] a member of St. James. It is a glimpse into a disturbed mind. The letter uses false threats, and virtually yells.

Read it once, then come back to it and read it again, in order to see the audacity of the imperious gall the man evokes when angered by someone he deems as beneath him. The letter to Mr. Miller is not a singularity. There must exist several others.

Lennon says [here writes] a lot quickly, that is not his standard tack. He asserts in no uncertain terms that he is not to be questioned. What angers Richie-boy the most is the audacity and insolence of a peon "to insist that I am accountable to you". Saint James no longer exists, and the man is not registered in another Roman-rite parish, so he neither can inquire about St. James nor complain to Rome about Richie-boy. Said peon is not permitted to write to Rome, if he does he will be punished; nor is he permitted to attend Byzantine services. Lennon has created new edicts beyond Canon law, and certainly beyond the Gospels.

Lennon has an undeniable arrogant meanness about him. He does not want this publicly displayed. He can be flustered and he knows it. Yet, he can not stand to be challenged, he will lash out when irked enough, otherwise he is content to ignore. It is only remarkable that more people have not realised this.

WE as a diocese ought to petition for his immediate removal. Unfortunately, he has us scattered and divided, and those not effected don't care.
__________________
Postscriptum: On the evening of Wednesday, 13 April, the photoscan of the letter, and all comment on it was removed from the website. By now, several people have seen it; some well outside of Cleveland. ...
Postscriptum II: the letter is back on line:
http://transferbishoplennon.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=131404512

Scattered Seeds at O.L. Fatima

Father Daniel Begin speaking on an homily on the anointing of David, and the blind man given sight by Jesus at the pool of Siloe. I am called John.
Holy Trinity was a German parish on Woodland Avenue in Cleveland. Holy Trinity merged with Saint Edward, and became an African-American parish. It was the last parish closed (2004) before lennonism. Holy Trinity had three large bells cast in Cincinnati in 1881. Bells are baptised. In German (auf Deutsch man sagt) one says, „Ich heiße Johannes“ (I am called [my name is] John). [ß = ss] The other two bells are named Petrus and Ave Maria (Peter and Hail Mary). The word was cast 'heisze' once, and 'heise' twice. I enjoy finding humour. St. Agnes had suffered a great fire, and the parish merged into the tiny Our Lady of Fatima in 1980. The Tabernacle came from Agnes'. It has four scenes: prophet Moses and the gathering of manna, priest and king Melchisedec, supper at Emmaus, and the Crucifixion. There are some framed photographs from Agnes', and a pew. The parish is St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima, people refer to the parish as Our Lady of Fatima. It is across the street from the former League Park, where Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run.

OL Fatima has a small sanctuary, but has a community center that hosts many events, including some that the press calls 'townhalls'. The parish seems to be a collecting center of castoffs. But, as to-day's Gospel spoke, the blind beggar was cast off from respectable society and Jesus healed him, but the Pharisees were more 'blind' (and deaf) and were not healed.

To-day the parishioners of Epiphany and Saint Cecilia met again for Mass and fellowship as Scattered Seeds. It was their eleventh rendez-vous since suppression. They were more than two hundred, plus people from the hosting parish, and friends. They want to continue to meet on the First Sundays at 6 p.m. for Mass.

For a Eucharistic Feast (Mass), only a table is needed, perhaps two candles if available, and of course—the Divine Species. Any Catholic should be at home at any Catholic church in the world, he should have membership in a perpetual parish. These Catholics had their parishes taken away. They both shared a common pastor for a generation. He and they became a family. Father Daniel Begin feels compelled to keep his commitment to his people. There are some young people in the parish, but many are 'middle-aged' and beyond. How long will they cohere? Can this gypsy band of Christians survive?

St. Cecilia and Epiphany had once considered merging with other pre-dominately African American parishes (Catherine's, Timothy's, Henry's). Some other parishes fought their suppressions with appeals to Rome. Some parishes are meeting in the street. Father Begin and his parishioners formed 'Scattered Seeds' in order to stay together. And perhaps, it was the wisest choice. Most parishes that were closed, had their communities broken, scattered, and not healed. Those who have resisted lennonism may not be saved by Rome; and even if they are, it may be hard to come back again, and their path may be sabotaged from the chancery. Here in some measure these people have maintained themselves as a parish community.

Jesus and his apostles were the first vagabond and itinerant Christians. It is not novel territory these folk navigate. They make arrangements, and continue some pastoral work; a little charitable giving, some bringing of the Eucharist to shut-ins.

Their next Divine Repast is at St. Colman's. Colman's (and their pastor, Robert Begin) has also made a monthly home for the parishioners of St. Emeric's, and with a Magyar language Liturgy. Saint Colman is ending its probationary review trial to show whether it is "vibrant". Vibrant has no definition. Saint Colman is certainly welcoming.

Kasich and the Cop

An urban cop's job is not easy to do well. Universal statements praising or condemning police do not do justice to all police. People are fortunate if they never have dealt with police. So much trouble is possible. People do not want to be part of tragedy, or crime, or a traffic incident or ticket. Also, a policeman (and his family) suffers psychological stress. It is not good to be around someone stressed with a gun.

We have seen in the US a militarisation of the police. The universal black of SWAT teams, and the boot camp haircuts dresses a cop into fierce mode. A conversation with a policeman is not often a normal dialogue.

Police do bond as a group. In union solidarity, only the AMA coheres so tightly. Now, in Cleveland, we have seen McNea, Beck and now Steve Loomis argue the cop's case. The cop is always right.

What was interesting, is that recently, in a television interview Loomis confessed for voting for Kasich, and that many cops were 'conservative'. No big surprise. Many people did not put Obama stickers on their cars, or some other sticky placards in cautious prudence of a possible traffic stop. Loomis now regrets that vote.

Kasich won with a plurality of the vote, not a majority as the Republicans swept the executive positions. They also have the state judiciary and State House. Strickland lost in a fair count. It was apparent what sort of governor Kasich would be. He was an obnoxious congressman that always served the moneyed interests, and he became a part of the moneyed interests when he left Congress. He has been telegraphing his ambitiousness for years. It was apparent under the Clinton presidency that he was ambitious.

As Loomis mentioned it is not unusual for cops to vote Republican. Republican candidates put uniformed sheriffs, patrolman, police chiefs in commercials. Kasich, is cocky, and he complained about police giving him a ticket once. It is not often, that a Republican criticises a cop. Kasich insisted the cop was an "idiot" — not a good public relations statement.

Cops are the hired dogs of the establishment. They are sent and released to break up demonstrations — world-wide. Kasich's rabid anti-worker stance, also includes being anti-police worker. Police may not like every union. They damn well like theirs. So what do we have? Kasich will win in the short run. The long run is doubtful. There is no legal way to remove this Ohio governor. There is no recall as there is in Wisconsin. Taft, the last Republican Ohio governor, pleaded as governor 'no contest' [which meant guilty, but I am a Republican in a Republican controlled state and admit to nothing] to misdemeanors in office. He was only publicly embarrassed. Will cops and other well paid union members realise that having a 'western' living standard is not possible if they vote Republican? Any union members voting for oppressors of the working class really are idiots. John Kasich enjoys laughing.

November elections fooled people

Outside of a part of Wisconsin, few people would know of first term congressman Sean Duffy. He had been on MTV and ESPN. Well, in a town hall meeting on Tuesday (29 March) he engaged in a conversation with an attendee. The attendee made the point that Duffy's new salary is three times (plus) the median household income of the area. Would Duffy reduce his salary? Duffy was not so enthusiastic. It is to be remembered that the State House Republicans think union workers have too much pay and benefits. Republicans are upset that Democrats are using Duffy as a self-pitying hypocrite. The United States is a strange country. The Republicans believe the poor are too rich, and the rich are too poor.

Yesterday, in Florida they had a Special Olympics torch run. Rick Scott is the new governor of Florida. When he owned hospitals, he was fined $600+ million for fraud and pled guilty to 14 felonies. He participated. Also, yesterday, it was announced he would invoke emergency powers to cut the state's agency for the disabled.