LETTER FROM OUR REVOLUTION – “A Crisis of Leadership”

 

This week, our country became the laughingstock of the world when Donald Trump announced his shameful and foolhardy decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord. This administration’s commitment to bankrolling fossil fuel industry donors like the Koch brothers is unique in the world. By allowing billionaires and corporations to buy elections, they have carte blanche to force our government to deny the empirical evidence of climate change….

These climate deniers try to spin their greed using excuses like “I am not a scientist,” “the earth is made as God intended,” and other empty platitudes to deflect any accountability to their own decisions.

We want to defeat the entire corrupt edifice of profitability in pollution. From the oil,

Oil, natural gas, and coal are finite. They will run out before the end of this century. By pulling out of the Paris Agreement, Trump has already surrendered America’s position as the leader of the free world. If we continue on the course that he’s charted for the country, the free world will leave us behind. We’ll be left, scratching the dirt where the oil wells and coal mines used to be, wondering where it all went wrong….

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Rod McKuen

Rodney Marvin “Rod” McKuen (April 29, 1933 – January 29, 2015) was an American poet, singer-songwriter, and actor. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide range of recordings, which included popular music, spoken word poetry, film soundtracks and classical music. He earned two Academy Award nominations and one Pulitzer nomination for his music compositions. McKuen’s translations and adaptations of the songs of Jacques Brel were instrumental in bringing the Belgian songwriter to prominence in the English-speaking world. His poetry deals with themes of love, the natural world and spirituality. McKuen’s songs sold over 100 million recordings worldwide, and 60 million books of his poetry were sold as well, according to the Associated Press.

 source: Wikipedia

A poet that I haven’t thought about in years, for some reason I woke up this morning with the following song running through my head.  This man was very popular when I was in high school and I was in “love” with him during that period too, along with almost every other song writer lyricist I listened to at the time.  He had a certain flair and the songs by Brel were haunting.  ENJOY the two below.

Seasons In The Sun is the song running through my head but when I finally placed it, I remembered the second one too. As I said haunting!

Serenity

God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and friends to post my bail when I finally snap.

~~dru~~

Source: https://bluebirdofbitterness.com/2017/04/20/its-a-dogs-life-5/

Muhammad Ali

Salute to a Butterfly

Muhammad Ali born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.  January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century. From early in his career, Ali was known as an inspiring, controversial, and polarizing figure both inside and outside the ring. 

…..The Trials of Muhammad Ali, a documentary directed by Bill Siegel that focuses on Ali’s refusal of the draft during the Vietnam War, opened in Manhattan on August 23, 2013.  A made-for-TV movie called Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight, also in 2013, dramatized the same aspect of Ali’s life.  Source: Wikipedia

He Was Banned From Boxing for Three Years during his prime

Following his arrest in 1967 for draft evasion, Ali was banned from boxing in the United States for three years by the New York State Athletic Commission and the World Boxing Association. During his time away from the ring, Ali spoke to colleges about his opposition to the Vietnam War.

Fast forward to 1970, when Atlanta, Georgia, had no state athletic commission and issued Ali a boxing license. A month later, Judge R. Mansfield of United States District Court ruled that Ali’s rights were violated by barring him from fighting. Judge Mansfield also noted that many other people who were convicted of crimes still had a license to fight in New York, according to the New York Times. His boxing license was then ordered to be reinstated by the New York Supreme Court…   Source: Heavy.com/sports

Throughout his 25 year career, he amassed 56 wins and only lost five times – and attributed some of his victories to getting inside opponents’ heads with his unparalleled trash talk.  

“As widely known for his quick skills and moves inside the ring, the man formerly named Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was also known for the dozens of inspiring, sometimes hilarious quotes he said throughout his life.”  ‘Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee, your hands can’t hit, what your eyes can’t see.’   Source: DailyMail