John F. Kennedy's Beacon Extinguished Fifty-Two Years Ago

JFK in Ypsilanti. Photo courtesy of Susan Wolter-Brown

On October 20, 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy's motorcade was stopped at about 1:10 AM by Eastern Michigan University students who jammed West Cross Street in front of McKinny Student Union. Kennedy was on his way to a political rally in Ann Arbor the following day.
 
He made a two or three minute speech telling the cheering crowd of students that he stood "for the oldest party in years, but the youngest party in ideas." Because of the late hour, the soon-to-be president asked to be excused explaining he had a difficult schedule planned for the next day.

In his inaugural speech on January 20, 1960, the new president boldly stated that "a torch has been passed to a new generation." Three years later, on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 11:30 AM, an assassin's bullet cut down President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas while he was campaigning for a second term. He was pronounced dead on the operating table thirty minutes later.

At 1:00 PM, the intercom system at Allen Park High School broadcast the sound of Walter Cronkite announcing John F. Kennedy, thirty-fifth president of the United States, had been assassinated--then he paused. The principal came on and asked for a moment of silence.

I was in sophomore biology class. The shocked silence was punctuated first by whimpering and then open sobbing. This was a defining moment for an entire generation. A mourning wind swept over the nation and the world held its breath. 

After two years, ten months, two days, and sixty-nine minutes, Kennedy's torch of optimism was extinguished. But his challenge to America had been met--putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade. The technical breakthroughs from that achievement still benefit mankind.

The Morning After Obama's Win

The morning after the 2012 reelection of Barack Obama, something remarkable happened: Life went on as usual. The sun came out, and the flag on my neighbor's lawn waved in the autumn breeze, oblivious to who won this hotly contested presidential race. The system did what it was supposed to do - work. Now the challenge is to do the same for the unemployed in this country.

When  I was on a return flight to San Diego, the elderly woman next to me said with dismay, "The whole world is laughing at us. This is so embarrassing! He just doesn't look like our president."

"What's our president supposed to look like?" I gently asked. When she figured that I was an Obama supporter, you would have thought I had torn out her vocal chords. The rest of the flight was blissfully quiet.

This morning, a person I know claimed he is packing up his guns, ammo, water, food, and NetFlix subscription and moving to some remote part of Arizona. When I asked him if he was advocating a civil war, his response was, with a remarkable lack of self-awareness, "That's not a bad idea." He left me wondering how many other people feel the same way.

Now that the political attack ads and fear mongering are over, it is time for everyone to lick our wounds and reach across the aisle with a renewed sense of community and national purpose. We all claim to love this country, now is the time to prove it.

http://www.classwarfareexists.com/rachel-maddow-owns-conservatives-for-their-cognitive-dissonance/#ixzz2BgEQXzXd 

Five Guys Took A Boy Band Anthem And Created One Of The Best Romney Parodies, Hands Down

I am old enough to remember the "I like Ike" black and white television commercials of the Eisenhower political era. "I like Ike. You like Ike. Everybody likes Ike." They were done with simple line animation.Then there was the "Daisy" political commercial from the Johnson administration, used against Sen. Barry Goldwater to cast him as a war monger.

A little girl was shown pulling the petals off a daisy one by one until the last one - then a devastating scene of an exploding hydrogen bomb filling the television screen until it couldn't be contained anymore. This notorious television political ad was only shown once during the campaign, but it pulled no punches and was very effective. Today, it is considered a classic.

Basic politics hasn't changed much since Julius Caesar took twenty-three stab wounds from his colleagues in the Roman Forum on March 15th, 44 BC. But in the modern world, politicians must package and deliver their messages in a very different way. Simple butchery is no longer an accepted political practice, but the time honored "hatchet job" has been a staple in the politicians' bag of tricks since the beginning of participatory government.

During the last presidential political season, Tina Fey did a devastating parody of Sarah Palin, and Mrs. Palin was never taken seriously again by anybody. In this election year, the Republican Greek chorus sang the same tune, "Show us your birth certificate." They tried to make high drama of it during their primary season and never made it past a dull roar.

What follows might become the most entertaining political message of this presidential year, depending on what your position is. Caution! Do not watch the link below if you are offended by the view of hunks in trunks.

Five Guys Took A Boy Band Anthem And Created One Of The Best Romney Parodies, Hands Down | MoveOn.Org

In the Interest of Truth

The elusive nature of truth is a concept dependent on so many factors. Nowhere is this examined better than in the film, The Outrage (1964) with Paul Newman, based on the Japanese classic, Rashomon.

A carnal crime against a woman and the murder of her husband are examined by an Old West court in front of the smoldering jail/courthouse which the defendant has burned down trying to escape. Each eyewitness tells a surprisingly different version of the same event.

The role of motive and point-of-view are examined in trying to determine truth, and this movie dramatically illustrates why eyewitness testimony is unreliable and considered soft evidence in court. Does truth lie in the eyes of the beholder? Where else would it hide?

In addition to Paul Newman as the notorious rapist, Carrasco; the talented Claire Bloom plays the "gracious" Southern belle; the distinguished Laurence Harvey plays her husband; William Shatner plays a disillusioned young preacher, before he donned the Star Trek uniform; and Edward G. Robinson, in what may be the best performance of his career, plays a cynical card player.

In actual life, we all have our elemental certitudes that determine how we view life and react to things. In matters and issues of religion and politics, it is difficult to navigate through the dogma and posturing to know what to believe. The philosophy that "I know what I know. Don't confuse me with the facts!" seems forever emblazoned on the banner of American public discourse.

For those seekers of truth regarding political rumors, urban legends, and outrageous claims made on the internet, the two websites below offer extensive and astute research to answer the question, "Is that true or what?" Ultimately, what people decide to believe is up to them and their conscience.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp#80v7hJ3ViqsUS7ee.01

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/reference/a/new_uls.htm

How Far Seems Shangri-La Now?

Being an author is something I've wanted to do since I was in junior high school. I spent more time in the bookmobile than on the sports field. One rainy Sunday in April, I began reading James Hilton's Lost Horizon and I was hooked. It wasn't a huge novel, and I read it in one day. But it was full of wonderful ideas and strange places to an eighth grader from Dearborn Heights, Michigan.

The novel touched the Shangri-La of my heart and soul. It wasn't until I was older, an English teacher as a matter of fact, that I discovered that this simple novel, which spoke to me on a personal level at age thirteen, was a cautionary and prophetic warning about the coming of World War II, or more accurately, the continuation of World War I. If you haven't read it, do! The restored version of the Ronald Coleman movie is marvelous as well.

Almost fifty years after my first reading of Hilton's classic, I've finally authored and published my own book, Zug Island: A Detroit Riot Novel. I start a summer book tour in Detroit next week. My hope is that I can move readers the way I was moved by Hilton's words those many years ago.

What the Traffic Will Bare! Weinergate.

Now that everyone has weighed in on the Congressman Weiner controversy, I would like to add my take on the topic. What was he thinking?

The act of a grown man photographing himself in his tighty-whities is juvenile and sophomoric enough, sending it out over the internet is beyond stupid.

I am not suggesting that he has some genetic predisposition or some defect that should be understood and treated, nor do I advocate more Draconian political measures against him.

Scandals come and go. Idiocy lasts a lifetime.

Obama Got It Right!

When President Obama made the historic decision to eliminate Osama bin Laden, he did what all great leaders must do - make the tough decisions. Authorizing the taking of another's life is not an easy moral or spiritual decision to make. By doing his duty as commander-in-chief, he placed himself and his family at a greater personal risk. He displayed an inner courage that should be admired.

Despite enormous pressure against doing so, his decision to take the high ground and not release the death photos of the vanquished terrorist leader is all the more commendable. We Americans do not parade our "trophies" in a ghoulish display of mob frenzy like some other cultures do. America should be proud of our president for his good judgement. The rehabilitation of our nation's tarnished international image has begun, and it is long overdue.

Playing Out Fiction

Two major events occurred over the weekend that captured worldwide, public attention: The Royal Wedding, with its ostentatious display of wealth, grandeur, and pageantry, viewed by over two billion people, and the long awaited assassination of Osama bin Laden, with an even larger global news audience the following day. These events represent two extremes almost too difficult to comprehend at once. But then I noticed a disturbing link between the two.

The parting video of the prince and princess, pulling out of Buckingham Palace in an Aston Martin convertible was evocative of Britain's legendary secret agent, James Bond. Especially in the film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." This image, as lovely and joyous as it was, reminded me of the conclusion of that least watched of all the Bond films. If you do not know what I am referring to, watch the video. I won't give voice to it here.

On the heels of the royals' honeymoon, there was the assault on Osama bin Laden's hideout by Navy Seals. We got our man and left with his corpse. When the government revealed the game plan to the press and public the next day, it looked and sounded like the end of a typical James Bond movie replete with an elite assault team, helicopters, and a miraculous finish. It had everything but the signature Bond soundtrack. And America rejoiced.

The photo of our president and secretary of state, with the rest of the National Security Council, watching a live feed of the operation released the following day, bespeaks the violence and horror of the event. This was not Hollywood bloodshed. Osama met an Old Testament death, but he has only so many eyes and teeth. What he still has is a large following with an endless supply of vengeance.

As we Americans celebrate our triumph, we need to temper our glee. Murder is a nasty business whether justified or not. The forces of retribution are gathering, and make no mistake about it, What Goes Around, Comes Around.