THE OLD HOME PLACE

Every year the Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp hosts a Men's Retreat, and one of the best parts is the music.  We sing everything from a capella hymns to bluegrass to roots to rock and roll.  There are so many songs that deserve attention, but here is one that I particularly enjoyed this year since we had guitars, mandolins, banjo, and bass.

BARRACUDA

Barracuda - the fish, the car, the song, the ride, the gun, the hockey team, the airplane, the bicycles, the swim wear, and I am sure there are more......

I have only seen these at an aquarium

The Hurst Hemi Under Glass circa 1965.  I saw this in Indianapolis at the Nationals.

Note the rear bumper rockers that allowed all four wheels to get off of the track!

A great song by Heart

I cannot find a picture of the Barracuda ride, but it was a very popular attraction at the Elkhart County Fair back in the day - rode around fast in wavy circles with the music blasting.

Barracuda guns - don't own any 😆

The San Jose Barracuda - obviously the AHL farm team of the Sharks!!

Lots of different Barracuda airplanes

Lots of Barracuda bikes

 

Barracuda swim gear and swim wear

TRUMP VERSUS NORDSTROM

KAKISTOCRACY

kak·is·toc·ra·cies. Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens. Origin of kakistocracy. Greek kakistos, worst, superlative of kakos, bad; see caco– + –cracy.

This is a new word for me, to be added to other -cracies such as the diametric meritocracy, and unacceptable -cracies such as plutocracy and theocracy.  Most troubling about the current US kakistocracy is its fundamental practice of passing off lies as alternative facts.  Indeed, such alternative facts can lead to completely misguided policies that unfortunately resonate with a certain portion of the population.  The list of such prevarications is too long to even summarize here, and grows daily.  However, I would like to examine the executive order on banning certain immigrants.

The President's pretense for the EO is to "make America safe."  Although I realize that many Trump supporters are immune to facts, let's just have a look at some data.  First, let's review the number of terrorist killings in the US since the 9/11 attacks - in the fifteen years after 9/11, jihadists have killed 94 people inside the United States, right wing extremists have killed 50 and left wing extremists, 5. 

Next, here are data that summarize the foreign born terrorists by country of origin, total number of terrorists and total number of deaths from 1975 to 2015.  Note that to date, in 2017, not a single Syrian has killed anyone in the US via a terrorist attack.  The nations on the President's banned list have produced zero terrorist killings in the last decade or so.  Even Obama critic-in-chief Charles Krauthammer believes that the EO immigration ban is "stupid." 

Terrorists

Murders

Saudi Arabia

19

2,369

United Arab Emirates

2

314

Egypt

11

162

Lebanon

4

159

Kuwait

2

6

Cuba

11

3

Kyrgyzstan

2

3

Pakistan

14

3

Palestine

5

2

Armenia

6

1

Croatia

9

1

Taiwan

1

1

Trinidad and Tobago

2

1

Afghanistan

3

0

Algeria

4

0

Australia

1

0

Bangladesh

2

0

Bosnia

1

0

Dominican Republic

1

0

Ethiopia

1

0

France

1

0

Ghana

1

0

Guyana

2

0

Haiti

3

0

India

2

0

Iran

6

0

Iraq

2

0

Japan

1

0

Jordan

4

0

Kazakhstan

1

0

Kosovo

2

0

Libya

0

0

Macedonia

3

0

Mexico

1

0

Morocco

3

0

Nigeria

1

0

Serbia

2

0

Somalia

2

0

South Korea

1

0

Sudan

6

0

Syria

0

0

Turkey

1

0

United Kingdom

3

0

Uzbekistan

3

0

Vietnam

1

0

Yemen

1

0

And if it's the safety of Americans that is a Presidential priority, here are some interesting data of one's probability of succumbing to a terrorist attack versus other ways of buying the farm:

And here are the actual US mortality numbers for 2014: 

So, given the data, what would a rational proposal to "keep Americans safe" look like? Since suicide is the 10th leading cause of American deaths, and homicides are right up there as well, it would seem worthwhile to implement policies that would lower such deaths.  This of course would require a serious discussion about controlling the possession of guns, and we all know that that won't happen in the near future.  Indeed, this administration wants to, among other things, loosen any requirements for gun purchases by the mentally ill, and lower the restrictions on silencers and imported weapons.  That should really help solidify these data!!!

 

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND - ALL VERSES

Some folks believe that Lady Gaga's Super Bowl half-time show included a veiled political statement in her singing a bit of Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land.  I did not quite follow that, thinking like most people, that it is a feel-good, kumbya camp fire song.  Then I read more about the two missing verses that are nearly always left out of recordings, and of Guthrie's penning the song in a fierce rebuttal to the anthem of his day, America the Beautiful.  Here are all six verses, and you can likely figure out which two are usually deleted:

1940 Lyrics with Edits

This land is your land, this land is my land

From the California to the Staten New York Island,

From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,

God blessed America for me.

[This land was made for you and me.]

As I went walking that ribbon of highway

And saw above me that endless skyway,

And saw below me the golden valley, I said:

God blessed America for me.

[This land was made for you and me.]

I roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts,

And all around me, a voice was sounding:

God blessed America for me.

[This land was made for you and me.]

Was a high wall there that tried to stop me

A sign was painted said: Private Property,

But on the back side it didn't say nothing —

God blessed America for me.

[This land was made for you and me.]

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling

In wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling;

The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting:

God blessed America for me.

[This land was made for you and me.]

One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple

By the Relief Office I saw my people —

As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if

God blessed America for me.

[This land was made for you and me.]

 

 

 

THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN - PATRIOTS WIN AGAIN

After the New England comeback to beat Atlanta, this song curiously came to mind - 😁