Let me start by saying I grew up with this album.

As early as I can remember, we traveled in either the Saab or the Dodge Van. This was pre-minvan. This was 1973-79.

Anyway, dad liked playing Wagner and Country. Especially Merle Haggard's "Okie from Miskogkie."

He was not an Okie who moved to Bakersfield during the Dust Bowl, but a Military Brat from the midwest who moved here after having one too many miserable winters in the midwest.

Besides, during the 50s and 60s, SF was about as pleasurable on all accounts as you could imagine.

Anyway - nuff about my dad.

Let's talk about my mom....

She grew up in Flint, MI. Second and final daughter of a seamstress and an auto worker of Polish/Jewish decent. Catholic, however.

Equal Rights for women seemed unattainable.

She was a Stewardess (now called "Flight Attendant" for a major airline.

You could not ask for a more prone-to-sexual harassment job.

The TV show Pan Am barely scratches the surface in her opinion.

Anyway, rebelling against dad became a spectator sport.

This is where Burt Bacharach comes in.

Remember what I said about dad and Wagner/Militant Country (even if Merle was pulling a Colbert.)

Anyway, this was her protest against dad's Wagner and Wingnuttery during the 70s.

And I liked it. Damn, if Burt Bacharach wasn't catchy shit!

This was the soundtrack of the grey Dodge van in the mid-to-late seventies.

I don't mean necessarily politically, but one who holds deep feelings of anti-authority.

One who believes authority and respect should be earned and not simply given

One who detests authority of all forms, and sees it as the ultimate corrupter?

One who feels that more work gets done in a communal fashion, than in a hierarchical one...

Because that's me

If we could only be like that

I am not like that - I am lukewarm, when it comes to action, at best

But I would bet most of you are too, in your own ways

Pete Seeger showed up and showed US our better selves

He taught us how to play banjo and sing, at the least

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Let's let 2012 be a year when we allow the best of ourselves to thrive

Let's let 2012 be the year when we, the people, take charge

Seeger is getting old

Soon he won't be with us

If you can't die for something, you must live for something

This is the spirit of Steinbeck, Hemingway, and of course Pete Seeger

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The Paris Commune and the Second Spanish Republic had two things in common. The first, was the fact that they sought the opinion of everyone. Anarchism, Socialism, Communism, Social Democracy, and Republicanism all were encouraged, invited and made the decisions.

The idea is that the workers should make decisions about their conditions.

We could all learn, and succeed with that.

Yes, these attempts were quelled, but we will always want this.

A fair deal.

We just want a fair deal, that is all.

And if we band together, we can get it.

One of my favorite movies.

Maude is Emma Goldman, transported to the 70s. Mikhail Bakunin without the beard.

Examples:

Maude: [gesturing to a sick tree growing through a sidewalk] Harold, we have *got* to do something about this life.
Harold: What?
Maude: We'll transplant it. To the forest.
Harold: You can't do that.
Maude: Why not?
Harold: This is public property.
Maude: Well, *exactly*.

Harold: You hop in any car you want and just drive off?
Maude: Well, not any car - I like to keep a variety. I'm always looking for the new experience.
Harold: [smiling] Maybe.
Harold: [more seriously] Nevertheless, I think you're upsetting people. I don't know if that's right.
Maude: Well, if some people get upset because they feel they have a hold on some things, I'm merely acting as a gentle reminder: here today, gone tomorrow, so don't get attached to things *now.* With *that* in mind, I'm not against collecting stuff.

Maude: [to a motorcycle officer] *Don't* get officious. You're not yourself when you're officious - That is the curse of a government job.

Maude: You know, at one time, I used to break into pet shops to liberate the canaries. But I decided that was an idea way before its time. Zoos are full, prisons are overflowing... oh my, how the world still *dearly* loves a *cage.*

Maude: Harold, *everyone* has the right to make an ass out of themselves. You just can't let the world judge you too much.

Maude: Vice, Virtue. It's best not to be too moral. You cheat yourself out of too much *life.* Aim above morality. If you apply that to life, then you're bound to live life fully.



Harold is who we are.

Maude is what we all wish we could be.







If you haven't seen this flick, do not pass go, do not collect $200, go right out and see it.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6bseuc3iRNw/TaH6qWvl78I/AAAAAAAAABw/yxj1i3rywhw/s1600/Harold+and+Maude+1971.jpg

Unlike most pundits today, the man had a spine. I remember during the buildup to the Iraq war, he was out cheering the invasion, talking it up. I disagreed then, and still do now, and I think he didn't think that one through however - I remember him on Real Time with Bill Maher. When he stated his support for the war, the crowd started booing. He turns to the audience, drink in hand and cigarette in mouth and loudly tells them all to "fuck off" while flipping them the bird.

That is the kind of spine I'd like to see in our party today. Fuck compromise, there is no compromise with the cryptofascists in the GOP today.

I'd like, for once, when some idiot from WingNut Daily asks Obama a really dumb question in a press conference, for him to throw a cup of coffee at the nutter, and tell them to fuck off.

I would like once, when a war hero like Max Cleland or John Kerry gets besmirched by the cryptofascists, for them to stand up, and give them the bird. And if they keep squawking, for them to sucker punch the bastard, and sucker punch them HARD.

Being nice only counts in Kindergarten and PreSchool.

I want the Democrats to grow some spines, and take notes from Christopher Hitchens.

sigh