Monday Music "America" by Neil Diamond

This song came out in the early 80's and it was part of my mind of feeling proud again of the United States, the eternal optimism of President Reagan was catching after the malaise of the Carter Years.  At least to my (at the time) young age.  I still now believe that assessment.  When my stepmom asked me " what albums do you want for Christmas'? I told her "Men at work and the album "The Jazz Singer by Neil Diamond"  She commented that she heard of Neil Diamond who is a good singer and she was surprised by that one and who the hell was men at work?     Funny now how things turn out.    The movie wasn't that good....wasn't the worst I have seen...the worst movie I ever saw was "Young Einstein" with Yahoo serious......Now that movie sucked....it was soo bad, I walked to the cashier at the AAFES theater where I was stationed and asked for my $1 back.  I had low expectations for movies...especially at AAFES theaters in remote locations...but even I have my standards...

     "America" (also known as "They're Coming to America" or "Coming to America") is the name of a patriotic song written and originally recorded by Neil Diamond, released in 1980 as part of The Jazz Singer soundtrack album. The song was a hit single in the United States in 1981, reaching number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Diamond's sixth number one on the Adult Contemporary chart Billboard also rated it as the #62 pop single overall for 1981. Although the single version was a studio recording, it sounds live because of crowd overdubs in the song.

The Jazz Singer is an album by Neil Diamond from 1980, which served as the soundtrack album to the 1980 remake of the film The Jazz Singer. The soundtrack was released in November 1980 originally on Capitol Records, instead of his then-usual Columbia Records, because the film was produced by EMI Films, owned by the parent company of the label for which the soundtrack was released. The soundtrack was re-released in February 1996 on Columbia Records in the US and Sony elsewhere.

The film's reviews were negative, won Diamond the first Razzie for Worst Actor at the 1st Golden Raspberry Awards, and bombed at the box office. However, its soundtrack was a huge success and became Neil Diamond's biggest selling album in the United States, selling over 5 million copies there and reaching #3 on the pop albums chart. Three of the songs from the album became Top 10 pop singles, with "Love on the Rocks," "Hello Again" and "America" reaching #2, #6, and #8 respectively.

The song's theme is a positive interpretation of the history of immigration to the United States, both during the early 1900s and today. Combining Diamond's typically powerful melody, dynamic arrangement, and bombastic vocal, it ends with an interpolation of the traditional patriotic song "My Country, 'Tis of Thee". In Diamond's concerts, the song is a very popular number both home and abroad, with a large United States flag often displayed from the rafters on cue to the lyric, "Every time that flag's unfurled / They're coming to America."

The song has been used in a number of contexts, including as a theme song for Michael Dukakis's 1988 presidential campaign and in promotion of the 1996 Olympics. Diamond also sang it at the centennial rededication of the Statue of Liberty.

Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Diamond modified the lyrics to "America" slightly during live performances. Instead of "They're comin' to America," towards the end, it became "Stand up for America."

Despite the song's patriotic message, it was included on a memorandum listing songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel Communications following the September 11 attacks.

It was the second song played on WHTZ New York.

    

Friday Trip and other stuff,

a couple of things happened here,  This happened on Thursday afternoon in my subdivision.  

My 2010 Focus rolled 100,000 miles.  I happen to look down and saw this.  I immediately stopped and grabbed my camera.  I remembered when I was younger, cars didn't "do" 100,000 miles on the average.

     On a different note, I went to my mom up in Tenn to pick up my son from "Camp Grandma"./  He has had a busy several weeks, from summer camp with the Boy SCouts, to going to San Francisco to going to camp grandma,  School starts up week after next.  But on the way up there I stopped at my favorite knife store Smokey Mountain Knife Works in Sevierville Tenn .  Apparently they sell firearms now also.  I picked up some ammo, a few boxes of 5.56 along with some  politically incorrect bumper stickers for my tool box at work and a "Secret Squirrel" patch for my riding vest.   It was a quick trip but I am glad to be home.  

"Bet she wishes she didn't ask that......" I found it!

Remember my posting yesterday that I spent 2 days surfing youtube trying to find this video, and I had used various "bengazi " phrases in the youtube search.   Well I was half asleep and I had a thought occur to me.  I went and typed in "bet she wishes she didn't ask that......"  and Voila.....there it was.

       

  Reading it is one thing....Listening to it is another.   Bridgette Gabriel did a marvelous job in this.  I always wanted to answer this when people made comments about "moderate muslims"   where are they?  They don't criticize the extremist, because they secretly support the extremist's goal or they are scared and that makes them cowards.  A mark of an honorable person is to stand up for their belief, no matter the cost.  Anything else is moral cowardice.

    Here is what she said:
    Published on Jun 20, 2014

Brigitte Gabriel gives a damn good answer and holds nothing back...
"We are here to discuss how four Americans died and what our government is doing," Gabriel said, stating that the purpose of the panel was to discuss Benghazi...
"We were not here to bash Muslims," she continued, "you were the one who brought up the issues about 'most Muslims.' Not us. And since you brought it up, allow me to elaborate with my answer."

Brigitte Gabriel, a Lebanese Christian by birth, launched into a speech: "There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world today. Of course not all of them are radicals! The majority of them are peaceful people. The radicals are estimated to be between 15 to 25 percent, according to all intelligence services around the world. That leaves 75 percent of them peaceful people. But when you look at 15 to 25 percent of the world's Muslim population, you're looking at 180 million to 300 million people dedicated to the destruction of Western civilization. That is as big [as] the United States. So why should we worry about the radical 15 to 25 percent? Because it is the radicals that kill. Because it is the radicals that behead and massacre. When you look throughout history, when you look at all the lessons of history, most Germans were peaceful. Yet, the Nazis drove the agenda and, as a result, 60 million people died. Almost 14 million in concentration camps; 6 million were Jews. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. When you look at Russia, most Russians were peaceful as well. Yet, the Russians were able to kill 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. When you look at China, for example, most Chinese were peaceful as well. Yet, the Chinese were able to kill 70 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. When you look at Japan prior to World War II, most Japanese were peaceful as well. Yet, Japan was able to butcher its way across the Southeast Asia, killing 12 million people, mostly killed with bayonets and shovels. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. On Sept. 11 in the United States, we had 2.3 million Arab Muslims living in the United States. It took 19 hijackers, 19 radicals, to bring America down to its knees, destroy the World Trade Center, attack the Pentagon and kill almost 3,000 Americans that day. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. So for all our powers of reason and for us talking about moderate and peaceful Muslims, I'm glad you're here. But where are the others speaking out?

Gabriel received a standing ovation as the crowd rose to its feet.

"And since you're the only Muslim representative in here, you took the limelight, and instead of speaking about why our government —" she paused for a moment.

"And I assume — are you an American?" she asked in a tone that was not meant to question the student's motives.

Ahmed answered yes.

"So as an American citizen, you sat in this room and instead of standing up and saying a question or asking something about our four Americans that died and what our government is doing to correct the problem, you stood there to make a point about 'peaceful' moderate Muslims," Gabriel continued.

"I wish you brought 10 with you to question about how we can hold our government responsible.

It is time we take political correctness and throw it in the garbage where it belongs."

The crowd again erupted in applause!
Update on Saba Ahmed, the Muslim lady who asked the question;
You'll Never Believe Where Saba Ahmed Showed Up

On Monday, June 16, the Washington DC press got a glimpse of Saba Ahmed, and were all too eager to provide her the platform she craves. Conservatives in the Pacific Northwest are quite familiar with her tactics to distort and twist conservative messages, but she's found new fertile ground as she's relocated. Given the headlines she's generated, it's instructive to take a look back at her actions over the years.

"Yes I was banned from the Oregon Tea Party and Washington County Republicans earlier this year because of my Islamic beliefs, but I have to believe there is room for learning. I have to try and make a place for myself even if I'm unwelcomed. I know several tea party republicans hate me because they somehow blame me for 9/11. But I know once we talk to each other, get to know one another, we can all heal together. Inshallah!"

"Ahmed, who was recently diagnosed with a mental disorder..."
http://www.oregonlive.com/beaverton/i...

Various Obama scandals and other musings....

I was wanting to post something else, but I am having a hell of a time finding a video to back up the posting that I wanted to rant on......Go Figure.   I had seen it on my infrequent forays into Facebook and was  unable to locate it.  It had something to do about a college symposium about Bengazi and some bright college student came up and made some comment about us profiling muslims and there were many millions of moderate muslims out there and it was offensive.  Well the lady who was on the panel about Bengazi, I think she is from that part of the world, immediately had a field day with this over eager college student.  It touched on something that I had ideas on for a long time and she articulated it much better than I could have.  But I digress....So as I continue to try to find it, I will post something from GOC, it is a list of Obama scandals...that if this person was a white GOPer., the press would have been screaming for his head on a pike.....but since it is the "annointed" one....the crickets are deafening.  I did add a few others to it that it didn't mention.  Everybody else can chime in and add any that I might have missed.

   

     Bob: “Hey Jim, did you hear about the Obama administration scandal?

Jim: “You mean releasing 5 dangerous terrorists for an Army deserter?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean corruption and terrible conditions at the VA?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean outing the CIA station chief in Afghanistan?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the Mexican gun running?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean SEAL Team 6?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Obama saying the avg family would save $2,500 on their health
insurance premiums?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Obama saying you can keep your insurance?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Obama having NSA spy on 124 Billion Phone Calls in One Month?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Obama intentionally ignoring our immigration laws?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Bailing out Detroit after decades of corrupt Democratic management?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the State Dept. lying about Benghazi?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean voter fraud?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the military not getting their votes counted?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The NSA monitoring foreign diplomats?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the use of drones in our own country without the benefit of
the law?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Giving 123 Technologies $300 Million and right after it declared
bankruptcy and was sold to the Chinese?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the president arming the Muslim Brotherhood?”
Bob: “No the other one:.

Jim: “The IRS targeting conservatives?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The DOJ spying on the press?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Sebelius shaking down health insurance executives?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean Obama spending $3.7 Trillion on Welfare Over Last 5 Years”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Giving SOLYNDRA $500 MILLION DOLLARS and 3 months later they
declared bankruptcy and then the Chinese bought it?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The NSA monitoring our phone calls, emails and everything else?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Millions of Americans losing their health care coverage?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Forcing Americans to include coverage in their insurance policies of
items they do not want?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The president’s ordering the release of nearly 10,000 illegal
immigrants from jails and prisons, and falsely blaming the sequester?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The president’s threat to impose gun control by Executive Order in
order to bypass Congress?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Providing weapons to Syrian rebels many of whom apparently are Al
Qaeda?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The 2012 vote where 115% of all registered voters in some counties
voted 100% for Obama?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The president’s unconstitutional recess appointments in an attempt
to circumvent the Senate’s advise-and-consent role?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The State Department interfering with an Inspector General
investigation on departmental sexual misconduct?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Clinton, the IRS, Clapper and Holder all lying to Congress?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The President using nearly $1 trillion dollars of stimulus money to
fund his cronies?”
Bob: “No, the other one”

Jim: “You mean Fast & Furious?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “I give up! … Oh wait, I think I got it! You mean that 65 million
low-information voters who don’t pay taxes and get free stuff from
taxpayers and stuck us again with the most pandering, corrupt
administration in American history?”
Bob: “THAT’S THE ONE!”

Voting Today

Well today we in Georgia had our run-off election today.  We had 2 republicans in the runoff for the senate seat on the GOP side to face off against Michelle Nunn( More on that in a moment.)  We had 2 candidates going for the nomination.  One is Jack Kingston, and the other is David Perdue.  Jack Kingston was a congressman that decided to step to the senate side after John Issakson decided to not run for reelection.  David Perdue was a CEO of Dollar General  Well the campaign was real dirty..both candidates threw a lot of dirt and half truths at each others and smeared each other pretty good.  Well on the democrat side, Michelle Nunn was basically anointed to that position by the Democrat party of Georgia, she is the daughter of Sam Nunn, a prominent former democratic senator from GA.  She is very liberal and would embrace the agenda of Barack Obama.  I am concerned , unlike the GOP candidates whose names are sullied, she is "pristine" and I believe that it will cause a problem for the stupid party GOP with the independents.
      I decided to go with Jack Kingston,  David Perdue has good credentials but I know of a lot of CEO's that have gone to Washington and immediately cave to work deals with the democrats who trend to be monolithic by nature...I guess it is from being a collectivist.  
     I do know that Jack Kingston has stood by his principles when he was a regular congresscritter so I expect the same.   Also speaking of elections....We have a republican governor named Nathan Deal, who has done a good job overall and helped GA land some major job expansions with businesses relocating to more friendly business climates.  Well his opponent is Jason Carter, the Grandson of Jimmy"the Djimmi" Carter.  Well there have been ethic accusations against Nathan Deal from certain groups and all the accusations have been  proven unfounded except for one on a technicality.  But they have gotten momentum from the state media who is liberal.  Also, David Axelrod, remember, he was the campaign manager for the Obama presidential run, he is advising Jason Carter on what to do.  This concerns me because the Obama Whitehouse used a lot of sneaky tricks to smear whoever the opponent is for Obama when he was running for whatever political office he aspired to.  Now we are seeing the same litany of tricks being done here in Georgia.
     I am concerned for the 2014 elections, for the democrats will do anything by hook or by crook to try to minimize the impending bloodbath that is the November elections.

Monday Music "Don't fear the Reaper" Blue Oyster Cult.

I again was successful in getting my Monday Music in on Monday and the Minions clap in glee.

    I decided to go with "Don't fear the Reaper" from Blue Oyster Cult.  I know that this song came out in 1976, but I didn't discover this song until 1991 after I had gotten out of the service and was going to school and work.  This song came on the rock station and I was hooked.   I immediately went to "Turtles Records" and bought the CD

    I still jam on this album, I still have it in my CD collection.

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is a song by the American rock band Blue Öyster Cult from their 1976 album, Agents of Fortune. It was written and sung by the band's lead guitarist, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser and was produced by David Lucas, Murray Krugman, and Sandy Pearlman. The song is built around Dharma's opening, repetitive guitar riff, while the lyrics deal with eternal love and the inevitability of death. Dharma wrote the song while picturing an early death for himself.

The edited single version was Blue Öyster Cult's biggest chart success, reaching number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1976. Additionally, critical reception was mainly positive and, in 2004, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was listed at number 397 on theRolling Stone list of the top 500 songs of all time.

     "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was written and sung by the band's lead guitarist, Dharma, and was produced by David Lucas, Murray Krugman, and Sandy Pearlman. The song's distinctive guitar riff is built on the "I-VII-VI" chord progression, in an A minor scale.

The riff was recorded with Krugmann's Gibson ES175 guitar, which was run through a Music Man 410 combo amplifier, and Dharma's vocals were captured with a Telefunken U47 tube microphone. The guitar solo and guitar rhythm sections were recorded in one take, while a four-track tape machine amplified them on the recording. Sound engineer Shelly Yakus remembers piecing together the separate vocals, guitar and rhythm section into a master track, with the overdubbing occurring in that order.

The song features the prominent use of the cowbell percussion instrument. The song was originally recorded without a cowbell, but the sound was overdubbed into the song at a later stage. Bassist Joe Bouchard remembered a producer requesting his brother, drummer Albert Bouchard, to play the cowbell on the track. Joe Bouchard recalled: "Albert thought he was crazy. But he put all this tape around a cowbell and played it. It really pulled the track together." Producer David Lucas claims that the inclusion of the cowbell was his idea, and guitarist Eric Bloom supports Lucas's claim.

     The song was on the Hot 100 chart for 20 weeks, reaching number 12 for the weeks beginning November 6 and November 13 in 1976. It was the highest-charting U.S. song for Blue Öyster Cult and helped Agents of Fortune reach number 29 on theBillboard 200."(Don't Fear) The Reaper" charted even higher in Canada, peaking at number 7.  It was not released as a single in the UK until 1978, where it reached number 16 on the UK pop chart.

Critical reception to the song was mostly positive. Denise Sullivan of Allmusic praised the song's "gentle vocals and virtuoso guitar" and its "haunting middle break which delivers the listener straight back to the heart of the song once the thunder is finished." Nathan Beckett called it Blue Öyster Cult's "masterpiece" and compared the vocals to the Beach Boys. Writing for PopMatters, James Mann remarked that "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was a "landmark, genre-defining masterpiece" that was "as grand and emotional as American rock and roll ever got."

       In 1976 Rolling Stone named "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" the song of the year and, in 2004, the magazine placed the song at number 397 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"; however, the 2010 version of the list moved the song down to number 405. In 1997 Mojo listed the song as the 80th best single of all time, while Q ranked "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" number 404 in its 2003 countdown of the "1001 Best Songs Ever"

Visiting a new Boy Scout Camp....

Well I had a bit of time today, I was going to ride to Camp Ben Hawkins on Friday down in Byron Georgia.  but I was driving to Griffin and my bike started to malfunction.  I was able to coast into the scout center and wait for the wrecker to take the bike to the shop.  I am not happy with this.

  But anyway...I drove down today dodging the rain.  I was looking for an alternate campsite for my troop especially for wintercamp.  Our council wants us to use their facility exclusively, but I believe that you use the council stuff most of the time but you also need to switch it up to give the boys more exposure to other camps and broaden their experiences and keep them excited about the program.
    Well I went down there and checked it out and it was more of a primitive camping than what we have today in our council camp.  It reminded me of what camping was like back when I was in the boy scouts in the late 70's and early 80's.  I took some pictures of the camp, it is more rustic but it is one of the oldest BSA camps in Georgia if not east of the Mississippi.

This is a totem pole.  The BSA uses certain Indian themes in some of their ceremonies. This is used to honor the them, the core values of most of the tribes are honorable and worthy of remembrance.
   

Also the Indian figure is a symbol of the "Order of the Arrow"

Benjamin Hawkins

Camp Benjamin Hawkins is named in honor of a respected U. S. Army officer and U. S. Senator who played a significant role in the settlement of the City of Macon. Camp Benjamin Hawkins, a 500-acre camp located just 20 minutes from downtown Macon near Byron, Georgia offers a wide variety of exciting programs for new and advanced campers.
Used year-round by Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Venturers, and Explorers, Camp Benjamin Hawkins is a popular retreat for Cub Scout family campouts, camporees, training courses, day camps and other events.  When you visit, you’ll see why.
Thanks to a successful capital campaign, over $1.0 million in capital improvements have been completed over the past decade or so.  New facilities include an expanded 300 seat chow hall with two new decks and a Scouters’ lounge, new freezers, water system and electrical enhancements, 14 new program shelters, and a renovated trading post with bathroom facilities.  Also, we purchased a nearly new camp truck and new lawn maintenance equipment, and we built an archery deck, shotgun and black powder range.  A 1,200 square foot multi-purpose shelter, a 300 seat amphitheater, renovated A-frame showers with adult male, female and youth privacy, and a pedestrian bridge across Juniper Creek have also been completed. Did we mention new shooting sports equipment, whitewater canoes, climbing gear, tents and platforms and three new handicapped accessible Adirondack shelters? Now, we hope you’ll want to see more.
Praised by many Scoutmasters for its pristine, natural setting, CBH offers what many youth camps are abandoning -- a great outdoor, camping experience that gets boys back to nature and away from city life. Want to know more? Contact us at 478-743-9386.