Welcome to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame!

The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Established 1983

Anthony Kiedis: Vocals

Michael "Flea" Balzary: Bass

Chad Smith: Drums

Josh Klinghoffer: Guitar

Clock strikes upon the hour & the sun begins to fade...

A few days ago, February 11, 2012,  the night before the 2012 Grammy Awards, Grammy winning singer Whitney Houston was found dead.  As Whitney was a native of Newark, NJ, Governor Chris Christie decreed the day of her funeral, flags were to be flown at half-staff.

So, let me enlighten everyone to why Christie 

was justified in doing so:

• Only the President of the United States or the Governor of the State, or the Mayor of the District of Columbia may order the flag to be flown at half-staff to honor the death of a national or state figure. In addition to the traditional half-staff salutes, the Flag Code mentions the use of our Flag for honoring leading citizens such as Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Private citizens and non-government buildings may choose to fly their flags at half-staff to honor more local leaders. The Flag Code does not exclude any citizen, whether they belong to an organization or not, whether they are recognized locally or regionally. Examples of deceased citizens that might be honored with the lowering of the Flag to half-staff include: local religious leaders, youth leaders, honored teachers or sports coaches, local politicians, or a local hero. There need be no authorization from the government for the private sector (non-government) to use the Flag to honor any citizen.
  http://www.gettysburgflag.com/flyflaghalfmast.php

*Please NOTE: that the Flag Code does not mention that ONLY government officials or war heroes should be given a half-staff salute. In fact, it reads in another passage that the half-staff salute for EVERY fallen soldier can be construed as anti-war! IMHO, a half-staff salute should be given for every fallen soldier, then we wouldn't have distraught parents burning flags on the grill because the flag was lowered for Whitney Houston! Putting Old Glory on the barby is definitely and absolutely disrespectful, and certainly doesn't HONOR the fallen soldier son of the griller that fought and died for his country & flag!

Now, I have alluded to the reason for this blog, everyone and his brother has come out of the woodwork to decry Governor Christie for his decision, and I'm not talking about just in New Jersey, it's  a national outcry, you KNOW it's bad when Rush Limbaugh decided to defend your decision. Even across the world some of our soldiers have used social media to call Ms. Houston a "crack ho" among many other colorfully degrading insults. 

I'm going to list a few celebrities that have been honored by having a half-staff salute, you decide if they were worthy based on their bad habits, like the drinking and drug use that seems to have made her unworthy in the eyes of many.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett authorized a half-staff salute for Hall-Of-Fame Penn State football  coach for January 23, 2012. The 85 year old known affectionately as JoePa, who had been coach at Penn State for 61 years, was shockingly FIRED in November 2011. He was fired because he did not report (or chose to overlook) an incident of child abuse allegedly perpetrated by assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. If you were a parent of the boys, many now men, that were abused by Sandusky, you would be very angry with Paterno for not reporting the incidents up the chain of command to prevent more. 

Did the college football head coach with the most 

longevity deserve the half-mast salute?

Clarence Clemons (L) and Bruce Springsteen (R)

The Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, once again called for the flag at half-staff for acclaimed saxophonist Clarence Clemons who passed away after a stroke at age 69. He was born in Virginia though. Clarence had been an integral part of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band since 1972, Springsteen hails from Long Branch, New Jersey, but made it big in Asbury Park. If Christie is still around when Springsteen passes away, it's a sure bet Bruce will have flags at half staff. I cannot say anything derogatory about Clarence, as he seems to have been quite philanthropic with his E-Street earnings. And while Bruce's records wouldn't be what they are without Clarence's soulful sax, he was just part of the back-up band that got to come forward for the expected sax solo of each tune.  

So...should an awesome sax player that was born 

in another state have a half-mast flag honor given to him?

Steve Jobs, Businessman & Inventor, Co-Founder & CEO of both Apple Computers and Pixar Animation Studios, and on the Board of Directors for Walt Disney Studios was honored with a half-staff flag at the Apple corporate headquarters in the US and UK, as well as a few local government offices (which was the one place it was wrong). Despite his bad temper and ruthless business decisions, this man (along with Bill Gates) is responsible for the world as we know it. Almost everything we do in daily life now involves interaction with a computer, whether we actually use one ourselves or not.

Was the man that created the age of computers 

worthy of a half-staff honor?

February 2001, the Governor of North Carolina authorized a half-staff Flag honor for R. Dale Earnhardt Sr. after he died of a basilar skull fracture in a spectacular crash during the Daytona 500. Beloved of his NASCAR fans, #3 was known as "The Intimidator" for his uncanny ability of making other drivers back off or he spun them out. It was get out of his way, or take your choice of kissing the wall or eating the grass. He also had an unruly temper that discriminated against no one. He was married to three women, two he divorced leaving estranged children that struggled to get close to him as they grew older, Dale Jr. especially. Now, this winningly aggressive race car driver and mostly ill-tempered man entertained millions of people over his career, some even called him their hero.

Was one of the most famous race car drivers 

worthy of a half-staff honor?

Last but not least, another New Jersey native, Hoboken this time, Frank Sinatra, Ol' Blue Eyes. Frank had a long career as an actor & singer. Sinatra's career break came in 1935 and he went on to garner many awards during it's span. As an actor, he won Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here To Eternity. He was the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award, and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement award. Sinatra was lauded at the 1983 Kennedy Center Honors, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, then in 1997 was given the Congressional Gold Medal.

Sinatra was a serial womanizer, marrying four women, and divorcing three despite being a “good Catholic”. He suffered from terrible moods swings that his daughter Tina recalled “probably could have kept his demons away with a Zoloft”, suggesting he was bi-polar.

Besides his drinking, smoking, pill-popping, and womanizing, he garnered considerable attention due to his alleged professional and personal links with organized crime. The FBI gathered over 2,000 pages of information starting in the 1940's and lasted for five decades. Sinatra's left-leaning politics made him a savory target for J. Edgar Hoover.

The FBI linked him to several Mob figures such as Carlo Gambino, Sam Giancana, Lucky Luciano, and Joseph Fischetti. When the Mob shifted from the Atlantic City casinos to the Las Vegas strip, Sinatra moved right with them.

So, did the man that did it his way (even if it could be misconstrued illegal or treasonous) deserve to have the honor of a flng at half-staff for him?

Whitney Houston was a gifted singer, one of a handful to have the voice. She was one of best-selling female artists of all time, with 170 million albums sold worldwide. She won 22 American Music Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 6 Grammy Awards, and an Emmy for her performance at the 28th Grammy Awards Show, Every one of her record albums made at least gold in status, In 1988 she was awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana. In 1990 she was given the Points of Light Award by President George H. W. Bush. Plus she honored the whole country with her rendition of The Star Spangled Banner at the XXV Super Bowl in 1991. Look it up on YouTube.

If her rendition doesn't give you chills, 

then you are dead and have no soul.

(Or worse yet, you're someone who thinks 

America is the land of the Infidels.)

So, once again I ask, can a Grammy award winning singer that achieved 7 consecutive number one hit records be worthy of a half-mast honor of the Flag of the United States of America lowered for ONE day in the state of New Jersey when the duly-elected Governor thought she should be? If the examples given above were honored that way despite all their public flaws, why can't a BLACK FEMALE that was trying to be a recovering substance abuser be given the same due deference after her sudden and untimely death?

There IS no reason why she shouldn't. PERIOD.

The Governor made a choice, and IT IS WHAT IT IS! 

He should NOT have to defend his decision, and the posthumous defamation of Whitney in the form of egregiously INAPPROPRIATE comments and insults being tossed about carelessly in every headline and blog for her teenage daughter and mother and relatives and friends to read just needs to end!

For those that think that this honor should ONLY be bestowed on heros, military or civilian, I disagree. I truly wish that each and every time one of our soldiers comes back in a body bag that flag and his entire community should be in mourning just like the rest of his family and friends. But that is considered to project feelings of anti-war, quite the conundrum, isn't it?

Whitney Houston and all the other examples I gave were considered “heroes” by some portion of an adoring public. Whitney gave hope to all the African-American little girls in dreary cities like Newark, New Jersey that they too could be famous. She leaves behind a legacy of singers inspired by her, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson, Brandy, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Celine Dion, and Lady Gaga, 

just to name some of the most famous.

One last note, the website I cited above also says: It is important to note that the Flag Code is a code. It is intended to provide guidance and is NOT obligatory. It carries no civil or criminal penalties for 'misuse' of the Flag. Individuals are NOT acting illegally when using the Flag according to their OWN usage. 

ONLY on Government or public buildings is the Flag Code required to be followed. And with that said...

R.I.P. Nippy!

Whitney Elizabeth Houston, 1963-2012

Isn't February in Michigan supposed to be snowy?

This has been the weirdest winter I can remember.

There hasn't been a full week with temperatures 

under freezing since LAST (2010) winter.

February is almost gone and we have had one snowfall, 

less than 5 inches, that totally melted within 2 days.

Low lying fields and ditches have water in them.

Climate change is happening around here at least.

Something in the meteorological world is out of balance.

I hope and pray we get our act together before it's too late!

November 2013 Update:
Summer 2012 had a record number of days in the 100's!
As well as a record for days withOUT rain.

Summer 2013- It never hit 100 degrees, 90's a few, but no record.
We did, however, have record rainfall and flooding.
First snow came Nov. 11th.

Cockroaches are superior creatures..they survive genocide!

Just to inform the reader- that title is totally sarcastic except for the fact that the only thing that can exterminate their species entirely is cold. They have an exit strategy for that too though- hitch a ride with humans to warmer climes. :)

The true reason why I bring this up, is that the other day I saw someone in our Armed Forces 
(NOT my Son-In-Law) comment on the Almighty Facebook that just pulling his military issued weapon out of the holster would "make those Iraqis scatter like cockroaches" and he was not describing the enemy. He was describing the Iraqi Army and/or Iraqi civilians.

Does he realize that those people, who have had their country for the most part, invaded (and I don't care under what pretense) and torn apart by us under the guise of helping them escape a dictator? (Don't worry, I AM thankful that Saddam went the same route as Hitler.)

I have a sneaking suspicion that maybe a few of those Iraqi countrymen probably feel at least a portion of the way the Jewish, Polish, French, Belgian, and Norwegian peoples felt when Hitler decided to roll the tanks in and take over to make them part of the Third Reich where they'd be better off.

ONCE AGAIN I AM NOT COMPARING OUR GOV'T WITH THE THIRD REICH!!! 

I AM COMPARING HOW THOSE THAT WERE OCCUPIED MUST HAVE FELT!

And for one of our men in uniform bragging in a public forum that he can make citizens of another country "scatter like roaches" at the sight of his big ole macho gun that the military gave him absolutely DISGUSTS me. That's why we have had numerous incidents of inhumane treatment of pretty much every level of society in Iraq and Afghanistan from Abu Graib to the recent Marines peeing on corpses. I could perhaps understand a little bit about the enemy combatants, but the people we're supposed to be helping?? 

I mean, come on, we're already looked at as the bully on the block and the "Infidel" by quite a few around the world. Why not change your attitude as someone representing the USA (and ME, a taxpayer and voter!) and QUIT DEHUMANIZING HUMAN BEINGS just to get your macho rocks off? Some civility please!

Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Kim Jong Il, Milosevich, Hussein and all the other bloody dictator murderers were able to perpetuate their atrocities because they successfully got their people...humans....to DEHUMANIZE the humans they wanted exterminated.  The Jews were called cockroaches and worse...and 6 million later we wonder why they weren't treated as humans or helped by other humans.

The Smallest... 

Victims Of...

Hitler's Holocust

And Victims Of...

Josef Stalin's Gulag

The Evil Handiwork of Slobodan Milosevic
Mass Grave in Bosnia
They were Yugoslavian, just the wrong RELIGION, again.

Widows & Mothers of the
7,500 Muslim men & boys murdered in 1995
Srebenica, Bosnia Masscre

And Finally, The Work of Saddam Hussein...

1987, In Halabja, Iraq

50,000 Kurds Killed by Mustard and Sarin Gas
(Who are Iraqi, btw, just not the same ethnicity as Hussein) 

2,000 Entire Villages as well as their Livestock (wildlife too)
DESTROYED on a whim of Saddam.

There are many other cases in the world that are just as bad.

-2003: Darfur Region of Sudan, over a quarter Million of the Indigenous Non-Arabic Affiliated Islamist Darfur Tribe have been systematically slaughtered in terrifying village raids by the Non-Indigenous Arabic-speaking Islamists called the Janjaweed. This genocide took place solely on the ethnicity, including the systematic "War" rape of every female of child-bearing age, to "breed them out."

-1991-present: In Somalia, the al-Shabab Mujahideen, an offshoot of Hizbul Islam and deemed a terrorist organization loosely affiliated with al-Qaeda. They have actively blocked relief efforts to almost 2.5 Million people that were forced to flee when al-Shabab began killing practitioners of other sects of Islam and Christians in the country. These millions have fled across the border into neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya who do not have the resources to assist the people in refugee camps.

-1994: Rwanda (now The Democratic Republic of Congo) with the majority Hutu tribe, minority Tutsi tribe, and the 1% of the population Twa Pygmies (who were absolutely no threat to the Hutus, they just didn't like them and they were an easy target). This former Belgian colony, with it's converts to Roman Catholicism, The Anglicans, and a smattering of Protestants, had a problem from the very beginning. The Belgians decided to elevate the Tutsi Tribe to the level of aristocracy, leaving the Hutu Tribe the role of second-class citizens. However, the Belgians did one better, upon relinquishing their colony to it's independence, they encouraged the brewing Hutu rebellion into fruition by switching their allegiance from Tutsi to Hutu. The Tutsi were forced into exile and the Hutu took power. At some point those in exile demanded to be allowed back into Rwanda, by force if necessary. Long story short, the Tutsi faction forced their way back, hostilities exploded, France stuck it's nose in to help "support" the Hutu regime but made a bigger mess, President Habyarimana's plane was shot down which started the presidential guard's attempt at a Tutsi and Tutsi sympathizer massacre. In April-May-June of 1994, 937,000 people were murdered. All three Church bodies failed to recognize and condemn the genocide (sound familiar?) Women were raped repeatedly and tortured, "war rape"as it's called. Now 70% of those rape victims are HIV positive. Men weren't immune from sexual attacks either, hundreds were mutilated, their genitals being cut off and hung up as trophies.

Oh, and that Twa Pygmy Tribe, they killed EVERY LAST ONE of them they could find. 30% of their population was murdered, and 30% fled the country. Only 40% of the pre-genocide population remains, and they have been given no help in rebuilding their villages and social structures.

So why didn't we go in to help in these instances?
Simple, they don't have anything WE WANT!

So, I reiterate, YES SADDAM NEEDED TO GO!
Do I agree with how we justified this war? Not necessarily.
Do I think the Iraqi people (especially those
purported to be friendlys) have been through enough?
Absofrickenloutely!!!!
A word of caution regarding things brewing in this country, all of the above atrocities were caused by one of three things: power, religion, or lack of resources. Add a disillusioned population to the mix and you have the recipe for civil war. Don't kid yourself that it couldn't happen again, as it did in the 1860's, here.

Snow? Please? But then again...

Perhaps a few wintry scenes and white things might entice winter to come and stay more than overnight before spring's arrival. 

This year it has only snowed three times, not exceeding 2 inches for each event. The past few nights we've gotten just a dusting of wet snow that disappears the next day when the temperature flirts with 50 degrees. 

It's actually fortunate that the snow has melted, because each snowfall has been followed up with high winds a day later. If we all had wind turbines, there would be an abundance of excess electricity with all the 40 mph winds we've had. 

Add even a slight bit of snowfall to that wind and you have blizzard conditions. 

The school-aged kids would be down with that, as they have only had one day off since Thanksgiving, but that was for FOG!

I'm sure some snow days would be welcome for students and teachers alike. I really don't want a bunch of snow, I just want it to stay consistently below freezing. My floor will stay clean because there won't be muddy paws from the constant thawing! Too much snow though and it gets difficult to pick up dog poo.

My backyard, in January 2010

For Thanksgiving this year I drove to Boston to visit my daughter. I planned my trip to avoid the "Snowbelt" area of Buffalo. I certainly didn't want to drive on the Pennsylvania Turnpike with it's twists and turns if there was even a trace of precipitation. I hadn't driven much since 2009 before attempting 785 miles. Alone.

Raven, Wolf, and Hawk were along to guide the trip!

 So I prepared emergency gear, a snow shovel, the snow brush for the windshield, extra wiper fluid, kitty litter for traction, flashlight with extra batteries, gloves, winter hat, extra coat, blankets, food, water, matches, lighter, and even an emergency candle that could be used to heat water or warm hands. Boy Scout motto is 'Be Prepared" after all. Plus this was the first trip by myself since the lymphoma, and truthfully, I would have probably taken all that stuff even if I had never been ill.

Either it was the gods smiling down on me, or a twist of fate- but the entire time I was in Boston it never got below freezing! In fact, many days it was as warm as 60 degrees! I kind of chuckled at all the locals (including my kid) that were walking around bundled up as if another Nor'Easter was imminent.

In early October they had gotten a snow storm that caused damage from Maine to Vermont. In the city, there wasn't as much wet snow as areas west and north of Boston got. Because leaves were still on most of the trees due to the mild fall weather, tree limbs were going down everywhere, creating widespread outages that took days to rectify. The combination of wet leaves and wet snow exceeded the weight limit of the branches in dramatic fashion.

As I got into Massachusetts there were limbs down all over the place. I stayed overnight in Chicopee at the Motel 6, and had I not needed a handicapped accessible room, I wouldn't have had anyplace to stay. All the tree cutting crews from out-of-state were staying there too, the motel parking lot was packed. When I left in the morning and got back on the MassTurnpike every 10 ft or so, I could see little piles of sawdust where the downed trees had been.

Headstone in Granary Burying Ground.
North End of Boston where Paul Revere is buried also.

I was pleasantly surprised at all the balmy weather, the only precipitation was a bit of rain both Mondays I was there. We took full advantage of it too. Kate took me to The Museum of Fine Art, The Museum of Science, and I went to the Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University. 

Exhibit at the MFA, "Beauty as Duty: Textiles and the
Home Front in WWII Britain"

Entrance to the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston

View from Museum of Science overlooking the
Charles River and the Boston Skyline

Portion of the "Wiyohpiyata: Lakota Images of the Contested West"
at the Peabody Museum. Many sketches from the 1850-60's depicting their most
valuable ally in the wars to defend their lands from hostile takeover: the Blue Roan War Horse.

I drove up to Salem, MA for a day and explored around the unique shops and cemeteries. I would have gone to the Witch Museum, but they all closed for the season on November 1st. Guess they have to recuperate after Samhain. These are pictures from one of the oldest non-indigenous cemeteries in the United States, located a block from downtown Salem. Pretty fall day...After Thanksgiving...in New England....bet those freezing, starving Pilgrims wish they had had Global Warming!

On second thought, I guess I don't want enough snow to build one of these guys, but an inch or so with some good old fashioned 30 degree weather would be awesome!