IMAGINE...

(Click on any image to ENLARGE IT)

IMAGINE THERE'S NO JOHN LENNON...

Before December 8, 1980, John Lennon, with his wife and son, could often be seen walking along the sidewalks of the neighborhood around "The Dakota" where they lived.

 

On December 8, Mark David Chapman stood lurking outside John Lennon's home.

 

A chubby self-absorbed misfit with wire-rimmed glasses stood patiently in the dark outside the apartment house carrying a copy of J.D. Sallinger's "The Catcher In the Rye," and a five-shot Charter Arms .38-caliber revolver.

 

Lennon, just two months past his 40th birthday, returned from a midtown Manhattan recording studio at 10:50 p.m with his wife Yoko Ono. The limousine stopped at the ornate 72nd Street gate. John and Yoko emerged. Chapman's voice, the same one that had begged the ex-Beatle for an autograph hours earlier, rang out: "Mr. Lennon!"

 

The handgun was leveled at the rock world's foremost pacifist. Four bullets pierced their famous target. The voice of a generation was reduced to a final gasp: "I'm shot."

 

The doorman screamed, "Do you know what you just did?"

 

"I just shot John Lennon," Chapman replied softly.

 

Yoko and Sean never came out to stroll the sidewalks again.

 

You're welcome to cherish thoughts of John Lennon, even your sappy sentiments - but OH PLEASE - don't project them onto John Lennon. Mark David Chapman, the chubby dork who pumped four slugs into him, did that, 25 years ago today - remember?

 

IMAGINE
Writen by: John Lennon

 

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

 

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

 

Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

 

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
© Bag productions inc.

PEACE.

THE WAR ON DRUGS - A CRIMINALLY INSANE IDEA!

 

The War On Drugs (WAD) has spun off more corruption among officials and cops in the US and in all the countries from Afghanistan to Colombia to Mexico to Peru, and on and on, than Al Capone could ever have DREAMED of. In a free country, where citizens are treated as grown-ups, where drugs are treated as commercial products, there will be no street dealers, no gangs, no thugs, no shoot-outs over turf.

 

It's also true that most of the "straw purchasers" of firearms that proliferate across our mean streets are connected to the illicit drug trade. When drugs are sold in drugstores - gun violence will be reduced demonstrably - and it just might be safer to walk through more neighborhoods.

IT'S A NATIONAL DISGRACE!

 

40,000,000 working poor people have no healthcare coverage. EVERY advanced, civilized nation provides healthcare to their entire populations. Only in the upside-down, bass-ackwards cyrpto-capitalist United States are people who work - and their children - left to shift for themselves in good times or bad.

 

In 5 years most lower and middle-income workers will have no healthcare coverage unless they move with their companies to Canada. Cheeses, I never expected to be living in a country with a declining standard of living!

 

THE BURNING QUESTION that CONFOUNDS every preacher:
"Why do bad things happen to good people?"

 

The answers in religion are all insufficient:
"God never gives us more than we can handle."

 

"Sometimes the Lord tests our faith."

 

Mother Teresa - who NEVER administered any meds for pain -  used to tell the sick who were crying out in pain: "Jesus gives you pain because he loves you."

She also blamed abortion for all the wars in the world.

 

It's NOT all about us.

Look at a colony of ants. They're all workin' their little booties off and questioning nothing. Why does the mean fat kid stomp on an anthill and kill many but others escape? Why does the weird little nerd position the magnifying glass on this black ant and those two brown ants while the others seem to escape his notice? Is he God? Nope, he's just another insignificant part of nature that may help some and may really F@#&K the others UP!

 

WE HAVE 2 YULE TREES 
We put up a large tree with Victorian ornaments, popcorn and berry garlands and ribbons to celebrate another year around the sun. It's in The Library which, in addition to books and magazines, houses a kid's corner with collectible toys from our childhoods and a couple of bookshelves devoted to religious and paranormal kitsch (holy water bottles, a statue of St. Claire, character figures from Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", a bust of Vampirella, a palm-reader's guide, a booklet on reading head-bumps, a Magic 8-Ball and a Barbie witch doll. (That Magic 8-Ball has never been wrong! I kept asking if Al Gore would be elected and it kept saying, "Cannot say for sure at this time." It was still sayin' that the day of the Bush Inaugural in 2001!)

This year Da Pagan Baby stuck a small white tree with blue lights and miniature blue ornaments next to the breakfast nook.

Year-round we keep a miniature silver tree decorated with miniature Coca-Cola-related ornaments in a corner of our dining room, which is decked out as a pharmacy-soda grill from bygone years. The walls are filled with old advertising signs (and reproductions). Shelves are stocked with old patent remedy bottles and packages, mortar & pestle sets, etc. We have a hutch that is setup like an apothecary cabinet, complete with stained and leaded glass inserts and Latin pharmaceutical terms on brass plates on the drawers.

We even keep a 4-ft. tree in the guest bedroom hung with Pierrot and Harlequin clown ornaments. We call it the "clown room" because that's where Da Pagan Baby keeps her large assortment of Pierrot and Harlequin clown dolls. Guests have to "sleep with the clowns".

Da Rev even has a tiny ceramic lighted tree to add to the festivities in his studio - where the computer, the musical instruments, the '50s memorabilia, the 300-disk CD player, the pin-ups and the "hot", posed Barbies may be found.

We live in Metro Fairborn at the corner of Kitsch & Whimsey.

"Life's a bitsch in a home without kitsch!" [Da Rev]

 

THE DECEMBER DILEMMA (USA) From the Brights Net

A month with various holidays in close proximity carries potential to heighten discord in any community, and school activities are often a fount of dispute in December. The antidote to such conflict involves schools' (1) abiding by the standard of legal neutrality in programs (no privileging of any religion over others, or of religion over nonreligion), (2) pursuing sound curriculum, and (3) clearly upholding a fundamental commitment to civic pluralism.

Parents and Teachers:

Cognizance of what is "okay or not okay" in tax-supported schools with respect to religious celebrations and school programs and activities can be helpful. For a general summary written for teachers regarding matters that fall within classrooms, follow the URL below. Then click on the topic "Holidays" in the left border. You may also be interested in clicking on "Subject Areas" regarding holiday music. The website is designed for professional educators, but parents will find useful information as well. See pertinent material at: Teaching About Religion

Good fortune. COMMENT! Please spread the meme. Don't smoke in bed...