"If you voted for Obama because......."

It has been a while since I have published a purely political piece making disparaging comments about the head of the Obama Junta.  The SECDEF wants to cut us to a pre WWII military force, I could almost accept it if I knew that the so called savings would be used against the debt, but Obama and crew would use the money to fund more entitlements to keep them in power.

  Ramirez is my favorite political cartoonist over at Townhall, he uses vibrant colors to help tell a story, he puts in more detail to make a better cartoon.

 Now into the main part of my post:

Armed Forces get out the vote drive?

 I have been busier than a 1 legged man in a butt kicking contest..........

 I got this email from my Dad whom is a retired Soldier, he had forwarded this to me.  I figured that I would post this on the blog to get some more dissemination since I know a few veterans that read my blog.  I don't know how successful this will be.  Truth be told, I don't know the political leanings of the Armed forces anymore.  I don't know how many of the troops still view Obama and his junta with favorable emotions.  How many view him as still the messiah.    If people wouldn't mind responding to this and give me their opinion, I would appreciate this.  If it is true, then perhaps the word can be spread some more.

If you are not interested in this message, simply delete it. If you are not a veteran, send this to those that you know who are, or to those who may know veterans.

The 2014 United States elections will be held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014. During this midterm election year, all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 33 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be contested in this election. Get out and VOTE!

A movement has been started by our armed forces to get out the vote in 2014. They are organizing themselves, but this can be done by all of us. The President, the Commander in Chief, has made the Rules of Engagement (ROE) so difficult, that our troops are often killed before they can even get permission to fight. Nothing has been done to stop our troops from being murdered by the Afghanis they are training, either.

Now, the President wants the US to sign on to the UNs International Criminal Court (ICC), which would allow the UN's ICC to arrest and try US troops for War Crimes, without the legal protections guaranteed under US Law, and from which there is no appeal.

The President, with his Democratic control of the Senate, has nearly all the power. If the Non-Establishment Republicans, and Conservatives, can take back the Senate in 2014, our troops can once again be protected from unnecessary danger. Please consider this, and send it on to your mailing lists.

Interestingly enough, when GWB was president you heard about the military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan almost daily. With Obama in the White House, the mainstream media has been strangely quiet. ---

More than 1,000 American soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan in the last 27 months. This is more than the combined total of the nine years before. During the last month, over 50 additional NATO and US servicemen have been murdered, inside jobs by those who are hired to be a force for good in Afghanistan.

The commander in chief is AWOL. Not a peep, although he ordered the White House flag flown at half-staff for the Sikhs that were killed. There is a deep disgust, a fury, growing in the ranks of the military against the indifferent incompetence of this president. It has taken on a dangerous tone. No one knows what to do about him, but the anger runs deep as the deaths continue with no strategic end in sight to the idiocy of this war. Obama has had 5 years to end this futile insanity, during which time he has vacationed, golfed, campaigned, and generally ignored the plight of our men and women in uniform.

But, there is now a movement afoot in the armed services to launch a massive get out the vote drive against this president's lackeys in the senate and the house, especially John Boehner and Mitch McConnell.

Not just current active duty types, but the National Guard, Reserves, the retired, and all other prior service members. This is no small special interest group, but many millions of veterans who can have an enormous impact on the outcome of the November election if they all respond.

The one million military retirees in Florida alone could mean an overwhelming victory in that state if they all show up at the polls. It might not keep another one hundred U.S. troops from dying between now and November, but a turn out to vote by the military against this heart breaking lack of leadership can make a powerful statement that hastens a change to the indifference of this shallow little man who just lets our soldiers die.

For those who have fought for it, freedom has a taste the protected will never know. 

"Monday Music" Ray Stevens "The Streak..."

   I decided to go with Ray Stevens " The Streak",  I first heard of Ray Stevens when I was home on leave in 1987,  The first time I heard this song, I laughed my a$$ off, it was so hilarious.    He was really able to tell a story with this song.

     In 1973, Stevens had a top 40 country hit with the title track of his album, "Nashville," and increased his exposure on television by performing on a variety of prime-time programs of the era. In 1974, Stevens recorded perhaps his most famous hit, "The Streak," which poked fun at the early-1970s fad of running nude in public, known as "streaking." It became number one in both the UK and the US and No. 3 on the country chart.
      "The Streak" is a popular country/novelty song written, produced, and sung by Ray Stevens. It was released in March 1974 as the lead single to his album Boogity Boogity. "The Streak" capitalized on the then popular craze of streaking.

One of Stevens' most successful recordings, "The Streak" was his second number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the USA, spending three weeks at the top in May 1974 and reached #3 on the Billboard Country singles chart. A major international hit it also reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart, spending a single week at the top of the chart in June 1974. In total it sold over 5 million copies internationally and ranked on Billboard magazine's Top hits of 1974 at #8.

     The song's story is a series of three "news flashes" featuring the "Action News Reporter" (Stevens) on the scenes of reported events about indecent exposure: at the supermarket, the gas station, and the basketball playoffs. The reporter interviews a man (also Stevens) who responds with his views of what happened. The man begins with the phrase "Yeah, I did." The responses contain several double entendres, and the man tries to warn his wife, Ethel, not to look ("Don't look, Ethel!"), but is always too late. After the third interview, the man sees the streaker again, but to his horror the streaker is joined by his wife, and the man changes his tune: "Ethel, you shameless hussy!", as well as "You get your clothes on", and "Say it ain't so, Ethel".

    I also enjoyed the "Mississippi Squirrel Revival"  He Thinks He's Ray Stevens was Ray Stevens' twenty-first studio album and his first for MCA Records, released in 1984. The front of the album cover shows Stevens spoofing French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

The track "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" is the only Top 40 single from this album, reaching No. 20 on Hot Country Singles (now Hot Country Songs) in early 1985. Stevens uses comic storytelling to frame what occurs when a young adolescent boy catches a squirrel (while visiting his grandmother inPascagoula, Mississippi), brings it into church, where several self-righteous members – all with sinful secrets to hide – are prominent members ... and the squirrel breaks loose from a box the boy has kept it in. As the squirrel wreaks havoc, several members admit to their fellow congregation members their faults, and by song's end they all make a vow to change.

"Furthermore" is a re-recording and partial rewrite of Stevens' 1962 single of the same name. "The Monkees (Theme From)" is a cover of the theme song to The Monkees but sung by Ray in broad German dialects under the guise of two fictional singers, Wolfgang and Fritzy. This album also marked the debut of "It's Me Again, Margaret," a chart single about an obscene phone caller.

A re-release on CD on August 15, 1992 (MCAD-20688), titled Mississippi Squirrel Revival, featured this album's first eight tracks in a different order.

The "Sefie" heard around the world.......

By now y'all have seen the "Selfie" posted by the PFC whom wouldn't salute the flag.   Here is some more information on it.
     
A soldier who hid in her car to avoid saluting the flag — and then flaunted it on Instagram — is the latest service member to come under attack via social media and be accused of dishonoring her service.
Pfc. Tariqka Sheffey, whose Instagram handle is “sheffeynation,” posted a selfie with a caption that reads:
“This is me laying back in my car hiding so I don’t have to salute the 1700 flag, KEEP ALL YOUR ‘THATS SO DISRESPECTFUL/HOWRUDE/ETC.’ COMMENTS TO YOURSELF cuz, right now, IDGAFFFF.”
The image was distributed via Facebook and also sent to Army Times. Angry service members, Gold Star mothers and spouses have called for the soldier’s removal from service.
“Any soldier who refuses to salute the flag is in the military for the wrong reason, and should be removed by dishonorable discharge with loss of all benefits,” one Facebook commenter said. “If they won’t salute it, they damn sure won’t fight for it.”
Sheffey is a member of the 59th Quartermaster Company, 43rd Sustainment Brigade, at Fort Carson, Colo., post spokesman Dee McNutt confirmed Tuesday.

This article came from The Army Times

I spent a lot of time on Thursday night reading on this and then reading on the many comments posted, most were the "Dishonorable Discharge" comments and boot her out.  A few people advocated lesser punishment.  I finally posted this on the Army Times Comments:

Have her chain of command handle it.  Her Colonel on down will have some imaginative ways for attitude correction,  she has brought her unit and her command into it, and people take that stuff seriously.  Before anybody piles on me, I am a Gulf War veteran so I have some background on this.  She is a young private, and privates can and do dumb things.  Let her chain of command deal with it.  I have a few times made a run for the doorway, not the brightest thing I have done and in my "older" years I have a more appreciation than I did back then.  Could I go back in time and would I serve, Yes I would.  My 6 years of service, 5 of it overseas have taught me much and to have a real appreciation for being an American.  What she did was stupid, her posting and bragging about it compounded the error in judgment.  Have her chain of command deal with it.  Article 15 for with suspension or reduction of rank and some forfeiture of pay and some hard duty or some variation of the same.  Dishonorable Discharge will mark her as a felon for the rest of her life, kinda extreme for dodging the flag.  Now if she was involved in seditious activity I can see some of the other punishments applying.  What she did I find personally "tacky" and showing a lack of moral fiber, but rising to the level of a BCD...Nope don't see it.    Again let her chain of command handle it.


     There have been other incidents lately of soldiers running afoul with social media.  From the incident involving a Wisconsin Honors Team being investigated for posing in front of a flag draped casket that was empty to another incident involving an airman pretending to french kiss the POW/MIA emblem has sparked outrage.   What is the cause of all of this...is it the era o self gratification when we have the President doing it at a funeral for Nelson Mandela?

What is with this stuff...?  Is it a need for instant fame where social decorum is thrown out the window for instant gratification?   Is it something that is endemic for our society, the immediate search for fame?
     I don't know....Perhaps I am an older person and something I flat out wouldn't do.  The Spousal unit calls me "Mr Manners" because I am soo polite in public especially from my speech pattern which has been harkens to "Old Southern" as I was told one time.   I honestly believes that manners is what separates us from the primates...that and food utensils.
      It seems like everybody is in a rush to throw out what is "acceptable" in society.  I used to have a book written by Robert Heinlein that used phrases from his long living character called "Lazarus Long" one of the phrases was "Manners are the lubricant of social interaction."   Pretty much self explanatory.  He also was the person that had the comment that a "Well armed society is a polite society, you may have to pay with your lack of manners with your life."
     I wonder if all this stuff is a new belief that tomorrow may never come so live for the now.  This is the attitude of a lot of the urban denizens because they truly believe that tomorrow may never get here, so it is that fatalism that drives a lot of what they do.   I am trying to reach for a reason for all of this but  maybe I am too old and have lived too long to understand what drives all of this.  Is it the breakdown of a moral code in society?    I don't know.

        *Fixed grammer error*

WHat ever happened to those fuel tanks we dropped over Vietnam?

I got this email from my Dad and it had a bunch of pics on what the Vietnamese did with the drop-able fuel tanks that our fighters dropped all over that countryside,   I have heard of the local people making creative uses of the stuff that is discarded by U.S. Forces.

 In case you were wondering what happened to all those fuel tanks our aircraft jettisoned over Southeast Asia ……

Why is Chuck Hagel SECDEF?

I saw bits and pieces of this while I was at work.  This was mentioned on Old NFO's Blog, BRM and Murphy's law and many others, the cuts are designed to bring us down to the 1940 level of the service.  They are cutting manpower and benefits to the military.  They are making military service very unattractive to the American people and raising doubts on the viability of the modern volunteer force.  if there were going to return the savings back to the treasury, I can almost accept it, but it will be used to buy more votes from the electorate thereby guaranteeing the democrats a majority in congress and the presidency keeping them in power.  Remember to a democrat, loyalty to party is paramount, all other considerations are secondary.  I keep wondering if this is part of Obama's plan to "lessen" the United States, remember he was raised to view us as "imperialist" and that we caused all the worlds problems.

Back to my original question...Why is Chuck Hagel SecDef?    Was he vetted by congress or did the squishy RINO's roll over for Obama?

you ask? WHY is a member of a "left-wing peace" movement the SecDef?

EXCERPT:  "Washington (AFP) - The Pentagon plans to scale back the US Army by more than an eighth to its lowest level since before World War II, signaling a shift after more than a decade of ground wars. Saying it was time to "reset" for a new era, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recommended shrinking American forces from 520,000 active duty troops to between 440,000 and 450,000.

WHY?

EXCERPT:  "March 27, 2009: Ploughshares Fund President Joseph Cirincione announced today that Senator Chuck Hagel has joined  the foundation’s Board of Directors. “Senator Hagel is revered by colleagues on both sides of the aisle and around the world,” said Cirincione.  “He has served his country in Vietnam, in the Senate, and now as a champion of global engagement and a new direction in American security policy."

EXCERPT: "April 23, 2009: The Ploughshares Fund welcomes former Sen. Chuck Hagel to the Board of Directors and Jeff Skoll to the Board of Advisors.  Skoll is founding president of eBay, as well as founder of the newly-launched Skoll Urgent Threats Fund.  Sen. Hagel (R-NE) served in the U.S. Senate from 1996 to 2008, and currently serves as chairman of the Atlantic Council of the United States. “Senator Hagel is revered by colleagues on both sides of the aisle and around the world,” said Ploughshares President Joe Cirincione.  “He has served his country in Vietnam, in the Senate, and now as a champion of global engagement and a new direction in American security policy."  Senator Hagel is also a strong supporter of Global Zero, a Ploughshares-funded initiative to eliminate nuclear weapons globally."

WHO IS PLOUGHSHARES FUND? (They are a friend of Code Pink and many other leftist groups.)(http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7156)

The Ploughshares Fund was established in 1981 by the San Francisco-based philanthropist, artist and activist Sally Lilienthal (1919-2006), who had formerly served on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California during the 1960s and 70s, and had co-founded the Northern California Committee of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in 1971. From its inception, the Ploughshares Fund's purpose was to support the nuclear-freeze movement, a Soviet-sponsored initiative that sought to further solidify the nuclear and military superiority which the USSR had gained during the post-Vietnam War era. Moreover, Ploughshares adamantly opposed NATO’s decision to place medium-range missiles in Europe, a decision that was made in response to an aggressive Soviet military buildup and to the USSR's then-recent deployment of SS-20 Missiles in Eastern Europe.
Also during the Cold War, Ploughshares claimed that U.S. militarism—particularly that of the Reagan administration—was far likelier to spark a nuclear holocaust than anything the Soviet Union might do. Identifying U.S. belligerence and aggression as the chief source of tensions between America and the USSR, Ploughshares pressured the United States but not the Soviets to initiate disarmament measures. To advance this agenda, Ploughshares pooled donations from a number of wealthy contributors and charitable foundations (including the Rockefeller and Stern Foundations) to bankroll and almost singlehandedly create a left-wing “peace” movement that denounced American defense policies and featured the progressive icon Edward Kennedy as one of its spokesmen.
Early in its history, Ploughshares awarded a grant to fund the efforts of scientists (who were affiliated with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Soviet Academy of Scientists) seeking to prove that it would be possible for the U.S. and the Soviet Union to both comply with the terms of a nuclear test ban treaty—and that therefore neither side should be reluctant to sign such a pact.
Ploughshares was an original and consistent funder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which was formed in 1992.
Today Ploughshares describes itself as “a public grantmaking foundation that supports initiatives to prevent the spread and use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and other weapons of war, and to prevent conflicts that could lead to the use of weapons of mass destruction.” It also opposes America's development of a missile defense system.
A self-defined “venture funder,” Ploughshares specializes in “giving start-up funding to promising new endeavors, and then helping to leverage more substantial support from other sources.” The organization's grantmaking strategy is to “proactively select grantees and knit them together into a collaborative network” that strives to “build comprehensive campaigns aimed at winning key policy victories.” After such groundwork has been laid, the Ploughshares network “can unlock a more ambitious strategic agenda.” Specifically, Ploughshares gives grants that are designed to do three major things:
* Promote the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons: “Building a consensus among the world’s leaders creates a global norm against nuclear weapons and increases the momentum toward zero. Along the way, concrete steps to limit and reduce current arsenals must be realized as well.”
* Prevent the Emergence of New Nuclear States: “We focus on the two most significant threats to the global nonproliferation regime – Iran and North Korea. We believe that ... solutions are possible through effective diplomacy and engagement …”
* Build Regional Peace and Security: “South Asia represents perhaps the most dangerous region on earth given the long-standing conflict between India and Pakistan and the fact that both nations possess substantial nuclear arsenals. Our investments support fact-finding missions, on-the-ground analysis, high-level dialogue, confidence-building measures, policy advocacy and media outreach to advance the transformation of conflicts in South and Southwest Asia.”
Professing to be “the largest grantmaking foundation in the U.S. focusing exclusively on peace and security issues,” Ploughshares from 1981 to 2011 awarded many hundreds of grants whose aggregate value exceeded $60 million.”
Among the organizations that have received grants from Ploughshares over the years are the Agape Foundation, the American Friends Service Committee, Americans for Peace Now, The American Prospect, the Arms Control Association, the Aspen Institute, the Berghof Institute for Conflict Studies, the Brookings Institution, the Center for American Progress, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Christic Institute, Church Women United, Citizen Action, the Connect US Fund, the Constitution Project, the Council for a Livable World, the Economic Policy Institute, Environmental Defense, Environmental Media Services, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, the Fourth Freedom Forum, Friends of the Earth, Global Green USA, Greenpeace USA, Human Rights Watch, the Independent Media Institute, the Institute for America's Future, the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies, the Institute for Policy Studies, the International Crisis Group, J Street, the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Nation Institute, the National Priorities Project, National Public Radio, the National Security Archive, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Netroots Nation, the New America Foundation, the Nonviolent Peaceforce, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Peace Action, Physicians for Human Rights, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the WashPIRG Foundation, the Proteus Fund, Public Citizen, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, the Sierra Club, TechRocks, the Tides Foundation, True Majority, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the United Nations Association of USA, Win Without War, Women's Action for New Directions, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
To view a list of additional noteworthy grantees of the Ploughshares Fund, click here.
In addition, Ploughshares is the parent organization of, and a major funder of, the Peace and Security Funders Group. The latter operates as a “special project” of Ploughshares.
Individual recipients of Ploughshares grants include such notables as Robert Edgar and Jonathan Schell.
Ploughshares identifies itself as a partner of such groups as Code Pink, Demos, the Institute for Policy Studies, the National Priorities Project, United for Peace & Justice, and the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
Ploughshares' worldview regarding military and nuclear issues is closely aligned with that of the Democratic Party. During the Iraq War, for instance, Ploughshares joined congressional Democrats in branding the American invasion a strategic blunder and an unjustified act of aggression.
In an effort to attract new supporters to its cause, Ploughshares in 2007 hired Fenton Communications to create and administer the “Peace Primary,” an online contest where Ploughshares grantees developed their own “peace platforms” on a wide range of topics such as the Iraq War and the genocide in Darfur. A special panel, chaired by actor Martin Sheen, selected 12 finalists. The public was then invited to vote online for the ultimate winner; participants donated money along with their votes for the organizations they deemed deserving of the $100,000 grand prize. All told, the Peace Primary raised more than $327,000, with TrueMajority taking first place.
When the Obama Administration in September 2009 canceled U.S. plans for the deployment of a missile defense shield in Central Europe—a decision that pleased Moscow but angered America's allies in Eastern Europe—Ploughshares boasted that its influence had “informed the decision” by the Administration.
In 2010 Ploughshares led a successful campaign by more than fifty non-governmental organizations to persuade the Senate to approve the New START Treaty (a nuclear arms reduction pact) between the United States and Russia.
Ploughshares advocates a policy of containment regarding Iran's nuclear program, and seeks to discredit the notion that using American military power to derail that program would be either prudent or practical. Toward that end, the organization in 2010 gave $150,000 to National Public Radio to fund “increased coverage of U.S. nuclear policy issues and the proliferation risks from North Korea and Iran.” Coinciding with that grant was the publication of numerous NPR articles and reports that largely echoed Ploughshares’ policy recommendations. One NPR piece, written by Stephen Walt, asserted that the United States was “too secure,” and praised the New START Treaty (which required the U.S., but not Russia, to cut its nuclear forces to levels that were within the treaty limits). In November 2010, just days after the Walt piece had been published, NPR correspondent Peter Kenyon delivered an on-air report calling for the U.S. to negotiate with Iran and asserting that “[m]any analysts believe there’s more time for diplomacy than had previously been thought.” In February 2011, Ploughshares gave NPR an additional $150,000 to cover “Iran, U.S. nuclear weapons policy, and nonproliferation issues.”
Of a piece with Ploughshares' Iran policy is the organization's support for the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), the Iranian regime’s principal lobbyist in the United States. A few facts about NIAC:

• NIAC was established in 2002 by Trita Parsi and Siamak Namazi (a member of the Iranian regime’s inner circle and a major figure in that country's oil industry), to act as a counter-balance to the Jewish lobby AIPAC.
• NIAC has a strong relationship with the Barack Obama administration, as indicated by Andrew C. McCarthy's report in National Review: "[NIAC's] top official, Trita Parsi, visits the White House, consults with Valerie Jarrett, briefs Secretary of State [Hillary] Clinton, lectures the CIA, and so on."
• NIAC's advisory board features University of Michigan professor Juan Cole.
• Utilizing the services of public-relations specialist David Fenton and his firm, Fenton Communications, NIAC seeks to convince the American public that U.S. sanctions punishing Iran for its suspected nuclear ambitions would be “counterproductive,” and that the use of military action against Tehran would be a grave mistake.

In November 2011, Ploughshares gave NIAC $125,000 “to shape the debate among policymakers and in the media on credible, non-military approaches to resolving the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program.”

Similarly, in 2011 Ploughshares gave the Center for American Progress (CAP) at least $150,000 “to hire two researchers for an expanded initiative on Iran aimed at countering support for military action.” In October 2011, CAP policy analyst Matthew Duss produced a report that praised the Obama Administration for pursuing a diplomatic approach to Iran’s nuclear program. Moreover, CAP's blog, Think Progress, regularly condemned what it characterized as neoconservative war mongering against Iran.

In November 2011, Ploughshares gave $25,000 to J Street “to support congressional advocacy and education against the use of a military resolution to the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program.” Two months later, J Street released a web video and policy campaign that counseled against the use of military force against Iran.
The Ploughshares Fund is supported by annual contributions from approximately 2,000 individuals and a small number of foundations. Among its benefactors are the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Compton Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Minneapolis Foundation, George Soros’s Open Society Institute, the Prospect Hill Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Scherman Foundation, the Turner Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
To view a list of additional noteworthy supporters of the Ploughshares Fund, click here.
Since 2008, the president of the Ploughshares Fund has been Joseph Cirincione, author of the 2007 book Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons and a former senior vice president at the Center for American Progress. A vocal opponent of the Iraq War, Cirincione in 2004 co-authored a paper that not only dismissed the Bush Administration’s case for war as “dubious,” but also asserted that the United States had violated international law by attacking Iraq. In 2007 Cirincione charged, falsely, that Bush Administration officials had “repeatedly misled the press” and manipulated intelligence reports in order to justify the U.S. invasion—an allegation that was echoed by Democratic politicians. That same year, Cirincione angrily rejected news reports claiming that Syria was building a nuclear reactor with assistance from North Korea. By Cirincione's reckoning, such stories were nothing more than propaganda disseminated by the U.S. and Israel. (Intelligence officials later produced video evidence definitively establishing the Syrian-North Korean collaboration.) In 2008 Cirincione served as an advisor on nuclear policy to presidential candidate Barack Obama.
The executive director of the Ploughshares Fund is Naila Bolus, who also serves as co-chair of the Peace and Security Funders Group. Bolus is a former co-director of the environmentalist and anti-war group 20/20 Vision, and she co-founded the Women Legislators' Lobby, whose goal is to “persuade Congress to redirect excessive military spending toward unmet human and environmental needs.”
Notable advisors to the Ploughshares Fund include Hal Harvey, president and CEO of the ClimateWorks Foundation; Steven Kirsch, chairman of the Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation; and Lawrence J. Korb, senior fellow with the Center for American Progress. Key members of the Ploughshares board of directors include the film actor Michael Douglas (a member since 2004) and former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel.

NOTE:
[1] Paul Hollander, Political Pilgrims: Western Intellectuals in Search of the Good Society (Transaction Publishers, 1981).
(Information on grantees and monetary amounts courtesy of The Foundation Center, GuideStar, ActivistCash, the Capital Research Center and undue influence

http://www.ploughshares.org/blog/2009-04-23/chuck-hagel-jeff-skoll-join http://www.ploughshares.org/chuck-hagel http://www.ploughshares.org/sites/default/files/resources/PF%20ANNUAL%20REPORT%202013.Final_.pdf (CHECK THEIR DONOR LIST AND GRANTS! ALL HARDCORE LEFTISTS AND ANTI-WAR/ANTI-USA GROUPS)

Monday Music "Paradise by a dashboard light"

This is a continuation of my Monday Music.  I usually decide on the way into work or on the way home from work which song I will use.  I have a large collection of songs on my phone that I play through the car radio.  I was at work and walked into the leads office and this song was playing through the leads IPAD and I decided I would use this song.  I do like Meat Loaf a.k.a. Marvin Lee Aday. and he has a wide range of musical talent, but he is best known for rock ballads.  I went to a concert back in 1994 when I was dating the spousal unit and I had commented that "MeatLoaf" was coming to Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta.  This was in support of his "Bat Out of hell II Back into Hell" album.  I had wanted to go but we were as poor as Church mice(They had more money then we did actually). She had gotten me a card and asked me to open it and I did, and 2 tickets to Meatloaf fell out.  They were the "lawn seats"  The cheapest ones you can get.  I was very happy and touched that she was able to get them.  Well we went to the concert and Meat Loaf threw a hell of a show.  At the end of it, he stood in front of the fans and told them "Thank you for supporting me all these years even through the bad times and I really appreciated it."   Meatloaf is a class act.
    Well anyway I decided to roll with "Paradise in a dashboard Light".  Even now we would sing exerpts of this song to each other, especially about the stanza "The end of time to hurry up and arrive"  it is done tongue in cheek.
     "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" is a song written by Jim Steinman. It was first released in 1977 on the album Bat Out of Hell, with vocals by the American musician Meat Loaf alongside Ellen Foley. It is most notable for its unique structure and length, and has become a classic rock radio staple.
     
"Paradise by the Dashboard Light" is one of the longest songs to be released uncut on one side of a 45 RPM record. The only difference is the song fades out almost immediately after the final line is sung. In some countries a shorter 5:32 edit was released. The largest change is the complete removal of the "baseball play-by-play" section.
According to Meat Loaf on VH1 Storytellers, the original length of the track was to be 27 minutes.
       

The song is divided into three parts:

Part I. Paradise

The song opens with the characters reminiscing about days as a young high school couple on a date. They are parking by a lake and having fun, experiencing "paradise by the dashboard light", and the boy insists they're "gonna go all the way tonight."

Baseball broadcast

His pushing the matter is mirrored by New York Yankees announcer Phil Rizzuto broadcasting a portion of a baseball game that serves as a metaphor for his attempts to achieve his goal, accompanied by funk instrumentation.
Rizzuto's baseball play-by-play call was recorded in 1976 at The Hit Factory in New York City by producer Todd Rundgren, Meat Loaf and Steinman. Rizzuto publicly maintained he was unaware that his contribution would be equated with sex in the finished song, but Meat Loaf asserts that Rizzuto only feigned ignorance to stifle some criticism from a priest and was fully aware of the context of what he was recording.
In a nod to the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry, some radio stations in Boston created a version where Rizzuto's part was substituted with Red Sox announcer Dick Stockton describing the baseball play.

Part II. Let Me Sleep on It

Just as the boy is about to "steal home base", the girl bursts out, telling him to "Stop right there!" She refuses to go any further unless the boy first promises to love her forever and marry her. Reluctant to make such a long-term commitment, the boy repeatedly asks her to continue on for the time being and promises to give his answer in the morning. However, as she is not giving in that easily, so that he finally cracks and gives his promise: "I started swearing to my God and on my mother's grave/That I would love you to the end of time".

Part III. Praying for the End of Time

Back in the present, the characters can no longer stand each others presence. However, the male character cannot possibly break his vow and hence is now praying for the end of time to relieve him from his obligation. The song fades out on the situation, juxtaposing his gloomy "It was long ago, it was far away, it was so much better than it is today!" with her joyous "It never felt so good, it never felt so right, we're glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife."

Although Ellen Foley is recorded on the album, another woman, Karla DeVito, was used for the music video and for live performances. This would also happen for Meat Loaf's 1993 hit "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)", where Dana Patrick mimed to Lorraine Crosby's vocals.
In the original video as released to TV and in 35mm prints, the male/female "Hot Summer Night" prologue from "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth" was spoken live by Jim Steinman and Karla DeVito before the song performance. On the Hits Out of Hell music video compilation, the prologue was removed and spliced in front of the video for "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth," ostensibly to properly replicate the Bat Out of Hell album, and the video for "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" goes right into the performance. The 35mm version of "Paradise" is used by some theaters as a short subject presentation that is shown before The Rocky Horror Picture Show during midnight screenings.
Additionally, an altered version of the song was used in a 2008 AT&T commercial for the Go-Phone, in which a father and mother (Meat Loaf and singer Tiffany) argue over buying their son a phone.

The single had modest success in the United States, peaking at number 39 in the Billboard Hot 100. However, the song is very well known and is a classic rock staple. In the United Kingdom, it did not chart at all. However, in the Netherlands, the single became Meat Loaf's biggest all-time hit, reaching number one at the end of 1978. "Paradise" became a hit again in 1988. In various all time charts, such as the Radio 2 Top 2000 or Radio Veronica's All Time Top 1000, it consistently charts inside the top ten.
This song is featured as downloadable content for the Rock Band series.