From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
A Landmarks Achievement
A bit of good news that came out at the end of National Parks Week: we got ourselves four new historic landmarks that are "recognized as places that possess exceptional value and quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States." They are:
The Adlai E. Stevenson II Farm in Mettawa, Illinois (Link)
Home of the twice-nominated Democratic candidate for the presidency and Ambassador to the United Nations. As U.N. Ambassador during the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Adlai Stevenson, Stevenson played a major role in Cold War politics during the mid-20th century. The farm was Stevenson’s home for most of his adult life.
1956 Grand Canyon TWA-United Airlines Aviation Accident Site, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona (Link)
On June 30, 1956, a Trans World Airlines Super Constellation L-1049 and a United Airlines DC-7 collided in uncongested airspace 21,000 feet over the Grand Canyon in Arizona, killing all 128 people onboard the two flights. The tragedy spurred an unprecedented effort to modernize and increase safety in America’s postwar airways, culminating in the establishment of the modern Federal Aviation Administration.
The Detroit Industry Murals in Michigan (Link)
Between July 1932 and March 1933, Diego Rivera, a premier leader in the 1920s Mexican Mural Movement, executed the Detroit Industry mural cycle, considered the United States’ finest, modern monumental artwork devoted to industry. It depicts the City of Detroit’s manufacturing base and labor force on all four walls of the Detroit Institute of Art's Garden Court. Considered by many scholars to be Rivera’s greatest extant work in the United States.
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George Nakashima Woodworker Complex in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (Link)
Internationally-renowned woodworker George Nakashima is recognized as one of America’s most eminent furniture designer craftsmen. Nakashima’s work expresses a worldview that is based upon a unique set of circumstances, including instruction from Issei carpenter Gentaro Hikogawa while both were confined at the Minidoka Relocation Center, one of 10 internment camps established for Japanese Americans during World War II.
Said Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell: “These four new national historic landmarks are as diverse as our American heritage, telling stories of triumph and tragedy, of dedicated public service and artistic beauty." Said Republicans: "Drill there, drill now!!!"
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Note: Feeling hopeful and optimistic lately? Don’t worry---Congress is back in session this week so things'll get back to normal right quicklike.
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11 days!!!
By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Kentucky Derby:
4
Days 'til the 38th
Glennville Sweet Onion Festival in Georgia:
11
North Dakota and South Dakota's rank nationally in terms of real income growth from 2011-2012:
#1, #50
Maine's rank:
#49
(Source:
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis)
Amount fetched at auction for
a letter written by Esther Hart aboard the
Titanic an hour before it scraped an iceberg and
sank:
$200,000
Percent chance that the ukulele was prevented from becoming the official instrument of Hawaii because of those meddling steel guitar bullies and their LIES:
100%
(Source:
The Portland Press Herald with BiPM embellishment)
Age that ABBA's
Dancing Queen---who was "only 17" when the song came out in 1976---would be today:
55
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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:
I think the next POTUS should give away heavy arms and ammo instead of cell phones.
---Commenter Dagtious at the Fox Nation site
All together now: 1…2…3…
Classy!
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Good deed
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CHEERS the Kenyan globetrotter. President Obama wraps up his Asia trip today, which given the time difference means he arrived back at the White House six weeks ago. Yesterday during a press availability in the Philippines he was essentially accused of weakness by Fox News ankle biter Ed Henry. That prompted Obama to deliver a long and detailed soliloquy on why the "bomb here, bomb now" neocons are full of crap:
Obama greets U.S. Embassy family
members in Manila. Clearly, a distant
and aloof President with no people skills..
For some reason many who were proponents of what I consider to be a disastrous decision to go into Iraq haven’t really learned the lesson of the last decade, and they keep on just playing the same note over and over again. Why? I don’t know. But my job as Commander-in-Chief is to look at what is it that is going to advance our security interests over the long term, to keep our military in reserve for where we absolutely need it. …
And if you look at the results of what we’ve done over the last five years, it is fair to say that our alliances are stronger, our partnerships are stronger, and in the Asia Pacific region, just to take one example, we are much better positioned to work with the peoples here on a whole range of issues of mutual interest.
And that may not always be sexy. That may not always attract a lot of attention, and it doesn’t make for good argument on Sunday morning shows. But it avoids errors. You hit singles, you hit doubles; every once in a while we may be able to hit a home run. But we steadily advance the interests of the American people and our partnership with folks around the world.
Moments later Benigno Aquino walked across the stage with his microphone and gave it to Obama to drop.
CHEERS to a swift and proportional response. I swear to god, April 2014 is going to go down in history as Loudmouth Racist Month. Coming mere days on the heels of Cliven Bundy's little "slave your way to happiness and success in the cotton picking sector," L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling got caught telling his girlfriend not to hang out with black friends at his team's games. I believe the team lost all its sponsors within, like 36 hours. Since Sterling is coming off as an antebellum-era cartoon, I figure the Taiwanese Animators would be the go-to team for the best analysis of the public reaction:
And there's still 40 hours left in the month. Still plenty of time for some other slug to come crawling out of the ooze.
JEERS to a mighty wind. The arrival of spring means it's twister season, and this year is no exception. Dozens killed and injured down south…tons of damage. And I got to thinking: wouldn’t it be nice if governors and other politicians talked and acted all the time like they usually do during natural disasters? To paraphrase what I've been hearing the last few days:
Mayflower, Arkansas twister
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"You've been kicked in the teeth and we're going to take care of you. We're going to pool our collective resources and do what it takes to see that you get food and water and medical care and shelter and clothing and the essentials to help you get back on your feet. We can only accomplish this through teamwork, government resources and a strong social safety net. And I promise you that, together, through redistribution of assets, we will rebuild our infrastructure so it is better than ever."
Compassionate socialism. What a concept.
CHEERS to exactly the right word. 162 years ago, Roget's Thesaurus was first published. And for that I am truly grateful; thankful; affording pleasure or comfort; fulfilled; appreciative; obliged; down with that; sweet on it; fist bump-ready; engorged with the sweet nectar of gratification in a small cabin in Saskatchewan where the only sound is the bugling of the elk. Roget was lonely.
During the event many popes
were found in many pizzas.
CHEERS and
JEERS to holy hijinx. There were so many popes and so many Poles in St. Peter's Square on Sunday that there was hardly room for anyone else. But despite the sea of humanity, two popes were
successfully made saints: John XXIII (the "hippie libtard") and John Paul II (the "Polish pedophile enabler who destroyed the Soviet Union"). In attendance to watch Francis do his thing was PINO (pope in name only) Benedict XVI. From what I understand, there have to be documented miracles before a pope can be elevated to sainthood. John XXIII is credited with cauterizing a nun's severe bleeding, and John Paul II allegedly cured a woman of her Parkinson's disease from the great beyond. I'm guessing that Francis will be sainted eventually for pulling off the biggest pope miracle of all: making billionaires squirm.
JEERS to Nazi Nuptials. Adolf and Eva got hitched in der Bunker 69 years ago today. Instead of a ring der Fuhrer presented his bride with an iron Cross. It pretty much went downhill after that.
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Five years ago in C&J: April 29, 2009
CHEERS to a good start. President Obama will give a primetime news conference tonight to tout his achievements and assess the challenges facing him for the next 3¾ years. Federal law requires every American to have a "take" on his first 100 days in office, so here's mine: I thought the first day was incredible. The second day was okay, but face it...after the first day we were all draggin' butt. Things kicked into high gear on Day 3 when Republicans called preemptively for Obama's impeachment and their poll numbers dropped to 3 percent. Fast forward fast forward fast forward...Day 26 was memorable not so much for content, but for tone. Day 42 was humid. Please...let's not relive Day 56. (Or was it 55? I've blotted it out.) I'll have to get back to you on the rest because I'm a slow reader, but this
White House slide show is boffo. Overall opinion: if the president was a blood type, he'd be O-Positive.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to irony. I find it amusing that a video game in which the central character spends half of its (read: you, the player's) time trying to escape from a dark pit and get lifted to safety was itself lifted to safety from a dark pit over the weekend. Under the watchful lens of a documentary filmmaker, the long-lost 1982 Atari "E.T." game cartridges were raised from their cemented-over grave in a New Mexico landfill, where they'd been unceremoniously dumped thirty-one years ago after becoming the "Heaven's Gate," the New Coke, the Edsel (take your pick) of the video game world. As a video game junkie during the awesome Atari years, I spent about five minutes playing that thing before switching back to Missile Command Pac-Man and Space Invaders. It did suck, as this demonstration shows:
And now that the missing cartridges, caked with equal parts decomposing garbage and dripping nostalgia, have been recovered, CNN will now send a crew down into the pit to look for Malaysia Flight 370, but not before George W. Bush sends a team in to look for Saddam's WMDs. They gotta be here somewhere! Hehhehheh…
Make your Tuesday count…backwards from 100 until it falls asleep. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
“I absolutely would save Bill in Portland Maine if he were drowning.”
President Obama
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