did you know?...part 2

in 1960, Inejiro Asanuma, leader of the neutralist socialist party was assisinated by 17-year-old Otoya Yamaguchi. Inejiro's party was bitterly opposed to the security treaty with the United States. Otoya later hanged himself in his jail cell. notice the ninja like quickness of this assasination. you dont even see what happens but at the very end of the video they slow it way down.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4KROpdUkrM&feature=related

did you know?...part 1

Did you know that recently deceased DEMOCRATIC senator Robert Byrd was a member of the Ku Klux Klan when he was a young man? During his time in the KKK he was given the titles of Kleagle (recruiter) and Exalted Cyclops. During WWII he penned the following letter to segregationist and DEMOCRATIC Senator Theodore Bilbo:

“ I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side... Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds. ”
— Robert C. Byrd, in a letter to DEMOCRATIC Senator Theodore Bilbo, 1944,

In 1946 or 1947 he wrote a letter to a Grand Wizard stating:

"The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia and in every state in the nation."

Byrd defeated REPUBLICAN incumbent W. Chapman Revercomb for the United States Senate in 1958, a campaign in which Revercomb's record SUPPORTING CIVIL RIGHTS became an issue which played in Byrd's favor.

Byrd joined with other Southern and border state DEMOCRATS to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1964, personally filibustering the bill for 14 hours.


Of course, later in life he noted that joining the KKK was "the greatest mistake I ever made" and that he regretted making the filibuster.

more info...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd

j.k. leopold entry (June 1934)

From my J.K. Leopold diary...

The other day I visited father for his birthday. We planned to play boche' ball and whilst I was retrieving the equipment from his closet, he hovered like a mother hen, nitpicking the trivial. "dont take the balls out of the bag!", "careful with that!", "don't touch that, put it back." he whined. He reminded me of his bitter sister.

It is an irritible heart in him that i posess as well. Only mine is directed at him.

Last Thursday, he met my wife and I for lunch at the local cafe'. I was excited for another chance. another chance to connect with this kind man and yes there is a definite kindness to him. A meekness and gentleness I don't posess.

I tried so hard to connect with him, but to no avail. His talk was always self-focused. When I talked to him, his eyes and attention were fixated on his food. I thought as I talked to him, "He would look exactly the same eating that food, if no one was talking to him." As my wife tried to make small talk, he couldnt hide his boredom, looking around the room, ignoring most of what she said.

Perhaps what stings the most is it all highlights to me that he seems not to know how short life is. He has doubtless a few short good years ahead of him. I want to cry. I want to tell him to live! live! I want him to connect to others. I want him to connect to me.

I talked to him about his dream of flying in a hot air balloon. He talked of doing it one day, not realizing that the day may be here and is probably long gone. I know I know that I shall grieve for him terribly when he passes, because I grieve for him terribly right now.

don't you hate it...

when you visit someone and their crazy dog jumps all over you?

musical enclaves

i don't tend to like a lot of Christian music. we'll this is partly true. i almost always like the sentiment but i find the music itself is often lacking for me. much of the music is praise and worship like. this is good of course, but its kind of like watching an interview with an athlete who won a race. theyre happy and they won and they thank their coach and all that. thats good. the person has arrived. they won. the struggle is over.

but for me thats it. the race is over. i want to hear about the struggle. i want to watch the race. some Christian music goes there and does it well and i am moved by this struggle. i can relate to the struggle and it holds my interest.

one of my favorite Christian tunes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHpuTGGRCbY

"C.S. Lewis song" by Brooke Fraser

the power of dum-dum.

i cuss when i drive. not like benign cussing but more like the full on, "get your a$$ out there mo*@*-f*#&er!! what the f#$k?! type of cussing.

its become habit-forming and tends to serve two purposes. first, it lets off steam and second it amuses me. the problem is it is wrong. you know, sinful. it taints my already too tainted soul.

i read once, by a famous author i think, that instead of calling people legitimate names like "a$$hole", he would instead call them made-up names like "fliberty birch". while clever in its own right, i'm afraid this approach requires verbal creativity i lack. also i think it would ultimately leave me unsatisfied. deep down i really know im not calling them a real name.

so, since i have a problem with vehement cussing while driving, i decided to instead just call people "dum-dum" when they do things i dont like. it is a real put-down but a really benign and childish one. the results have been fantastic. to begin with it amuses me. i laugh at myself when i do it. "out of the way dum dum!". and more importantly, i have begun to see the juvenile nature behind my original cussing in the first place. calling names & putting people down. childish.

re-conditioning of panic symptomatology sought

over the past 4 years i have been conditioned to a type of panic.

when's the next paper going to be due?
when's my next presentation?
when's my next group project?
when's do i see my next client?
when do i meet with my supervisor?
when is my proposal...my defense?

now that i'm done with academics, i dont know what to do with myself?
maybe i should play with my self. (in a mischievous voice)

boy speaking to brother about imaginitive game wherein they pretend they are other people. this play required nothing but the imagination. no toys. thereby it was termed playing with one self.

boy 1: "hey i know what! lets go play with our-selves!"

boy 2: "yes that would be splendid! let us go to our room straight-away and do just that!"

dad: (listening in the distance) "play with yourselves?!?"

the days fly by and it feels like i hardly get anything done. the grass is up to my knees, the wife keeps nagging me about it but i just dont care.i just dont feel the sense of urgency i used to. i even have time to post to this silly blog. if that doesnt make my point i dont know what will.