A couple of days ago I ran a story about a couple of reporters publishing Darren Wilson's address knowing that there would be chaos when the information reaches all the SJW's out there. Well apparently one isn't happy that she is being harassed. Well ain't karma fascinating...? What did she expect would happen by the release of his address and other information. The people would ignore him? I pulled this from "GotNews" on Facebook actually. I was pulling some information for my scout Troop's Facebook page and ran across this. I guess they thought they are exempt since they are part of the Pravda Apparachnik and "Dear Leader" and his policies will protect them. Well we ain't East Germany or North Korea.......Yet. There are people out there where there is a decorum or a code of behavior and one of the biggest one is that "Civilians are not involved" They got reminded that standards they inflict on others can be reciprocated.
The New York Times journalist who published Darren Wilson’s home
address wants police protection and has been calling the police nonstop,
Gotnews.com has learned.
Julie Bosman “keeps calling the 020th District station complaining
about people harassing and threatening her,” our source told us. She’s
also “complaining about numerous food deliveries being sent to her
residence.”
Chicago police department sources alerted Gotnews.com about the glaring double standard on Friday.
Gotnews.com published Julie Bosman’s address in Chicago after she published the address of Officer Darren Wilson and his new wife in a widely criticized move. The Holiday Season is upon us and people are already starting to be silly on all the black Friday sales, Don't get wrapped in the moment, Remember Christmas is about Family and spending time with with family and friends. Not buying the latest gizmo from Wally world. Don't get me wrong, if you want the new gizmo, buy it..just remember it is more to the season than that.
Also I have noticed the ramping up of Hillery's runup for her 2016 campaign from the "Madam Secretary" show to all the various people from the Clinton/Obama administrations writing books and bashing the current occupant of the whitehouse and the comments that "Hillary could have done better."
I have made the comment that Hillary is more ruthless than Obama is, he just acts like a petulant child when things don't go his way....Hillary is ruthless, when people cross Obama, they just get audited...
With Bill and Hillary,
Well they just end up on a park bench like Vince Foster and the very competent Washington Park Police handles the Investigation....
Well Thanksgiving is almost over and "Black Power Friday will commence.
I will touch on a couple things. First off on Ferguson..Well apparently a couple of reporters though it would be good to leak out Darren Wilson's home of record to various social media outlets, I guess the SJW's (Social justice Warriors, I had to look that one up in Urban Dictionary) will make an appearance.
I guess they
thought it a "righteous" thing to put out the physical address of
Officer Darren Wilson, putting him and his new wife in danger. Now,
their addresses are out in the open. I pulled the link off another email that I have received from "Freedom outpost". I though it was a crappy thing to do, One doesn't publish the address of family, I think that falls under the "Depraved indifference" rules...They had to know that troublemakers will make an appearance. Same thing happened with the Trayvon Martin case in Florida when Spike Lee published the erroneous address of Zimmerman to his legions of rabid fans. A Florida couple was terrorized by people wanting to give Zimmerman some "Street Justice". I wonder if they filed a lawsuit against him, I would have.
I am right now at my Moms and Pops house in Eastern Tennessee for Thanksgiving. It is the first time that I and my brother have been here at the same time during a holiday. Until recently he was flying helicopters for the Military and was either deployed or stationed in places where it was a plane ride to get here.
Now some humor for Thanksgiving, y'all have noticed that the Christmas decorations were out before Thanksgiving...It seems to start up earlier and earlier. I remember when it used to start AFTER Thanksgiving....not after labor day with some stores.
I as many people are glad to be visiting family and friends for Thanksgiving, It is a time to be thankful for what we have. Even with our problems we still are in the best country in the world. I am thankful for family and friends, they make the journey through life interesting.....not always in a good way but that is the spice of life. if everybody was "good" then family and friends would be boring.
This was played at my church, I thought it was pretty good and an accurate representation of the average family.
Again Happy Thanksgiving to my internet friends and I will be going shooting on Friday, gotta run some pistols.
Well the Grand Jury released its finding of "No Bill" against the officer Darren Wilson for shooting Michael Brown in self defense....so after 3 months of preparation for the jury...and this is the end results:
I heard that the LSM, propaganda arm of the Democrats, and of the regime Prime time media cut off the District Attorney explaining how the evidence was collected, and the results where it showed what happened versus what the perception was. They cut him off after the verdict. I was listening to the news radio station WSB Radio 95.5 FM and AM750 and they played the entirety of the District Attorney statement and even played the reporters asking him questions. Kudo's to them for that
Now we have all these various groups that have adopted the Michael Brown shooting as latest cause to support their agenda, we have the Occupy crowd down there, the various race hustlers, the communist party, the environmental groups, the LGBT groups and any body else that has an axe to grind against the system. I have been telling people at work that it will get worse on Friday and Saturday. They ask me "Why?" I reply that the people stirring all the crap up are anti-capitalist and black Friday is a big shopping day, I can see them causing a disturbance to "represent"their cause.
We will be out of town on Thanksgiving and returning Friday evening and we will not be going through Atlanta but around it. We will make a point of avoiding all major cities, something about being stuck on an interstate that is closed due to a "disturbance by Minority Urban Youths" gives me the heebee jeebee's. I also will be carrying more firepower than normal. I would by far rather have the weapons and not need it than wish I had it if the situation requires.
On a different note, I do feel for Officer Wilson, even though he was cleared of all wrong doing, he will undoubtedly have to face the racial bias of the Department of Justice, and of course all the civil lawsuits. This is why I am glad that I am not a police officer, I always wanted to be one, it is fascinating work and that kind of job does appeal to my nature. But being a minority policeman in a majority town has its own set of problems. If I was officer Wilson, I would drop off the face of the planet....Yes it sucks...but that is the life in Obama's America. he will be hunted down by every liberal group and some of them will try to "extract social Justice" from him. I would avoid all contacts with the media...they ain't his friend and will try to look for ways to make him look foolish or worse.
It will be interesting to see how things play out.
I am old enough that I remember "Disco", and I actually liked it...well most of it...some of it was really strange. The "Studio 54" was endemic of the era along with the solid gold dancers on TV. I was a young teenager when Disco exploded partly because of the movie "Saturday Night Fever" and other movies. I used to listen to music when I was growing up, I always had music playing in the background and I still have a bunch of my "Ronco Records" that had a bunch of disco songs on it. The early 70's was known for the "folk music" and I considered it boring and Disco was a total change up from it. We went from " Me and you and a dog named Boo" to "Night on Disco Mountain". I have this song on my mp3 collection, and whenever I hear it I think of the South park episode where Mr Garrison gets a nose job and the cartoonist use the likeness of "David Hasslehoff" from Knight rider fame.
The song was written by Andy and his brothers (Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb) of "BeeGee's" fame in Los Angeles, while the trio of brothers were working on the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
"And one night," Andy would recall, "while we were relaxing, we sat
down and we had to start getting tracks together for the album" (also
titled Shadow Dancing,
which would eventually hit #7 on the U.S. album charts). "So we
literally sat down and in ten minutes, we had a group going, (singing)
the chorus part. As it says underneath the song, we all wrote it, the
four of us." While Andy Gibb would have three more Top 10 hits in the U.S., this would be his final chart-topping hit in America.
According to Billboard's Book Of Number One Hits, Gibb became
the first solo artist in the history of the U.S. pop charts to have his
first three singles hit the number-one spot. Additionally, "Shadow
Dancing" was listed by Billboard as being the number one single of 1978.
In addition the song peaked at number eleven on the soul chart and sold 2.5 million copies in the United States alone.[4] Its two B-sides "Let It Be Me" appeared on US version and "Too Many Looks In Your Eyes" was from his previous album Flowing Rivers.
In July that year, Gibb performed "Shadow Dancing" at the Jai-Alai Fronton Studios in Miami, when Barry, Robin and Maurice
unexpectedly joined him on stage, and sang this song with him. It was
the first time that all four brothers performed together in concert.
And yes there is a Babylon5 episode called "Shadow Dancing" it is based on the ongoing "Shadow War" This is a 3 minute clip from that episode. Yes I couldn't resist....:)
I have posted quite a few "Schoolhouse Rock" video's on my blog. and the most popular one is"The Bill", this one explains how a bill can become law. Schoolhouse Rock was a staple when I would watch cartoons on Saturday morning. it is a fond memory that I have of my childhood, as most people have.
Original version
But since we have entered the modern age of Obama, the traditional ways that have worked for over 200 years are no longer being used for legislation.
Apparently NBC blocked this on "Copyright law's"..I wonder how much pressure the Present regime put on NBC to pull it since it was unfavorable to the Messiah.
Our founding fathers had designed a system where they believed that they had formed a system of government that would support the ideals of Freedom and individual liberty. They also knew that as long as the people were educated, that the ideals of freedom would flourish. But in the modern age of Obama, the people are no longer educated on the ideals of freedom, they are educated on what free stuff they can get from the government, and all it would take is to support the policies of the government. The people have sold out their birth-rite on the promises of free stuff. As long as they get "their stuff" they will give their loyalty to the government. Here is the danger of slavery, not the physical kind, but the more insidious slavery of spirit. Once enslaved as such, the person sees everything as a "race to keep the free stuff coming". They no longer have hope of their spirit being free, to pursue their dreams....their hope is replaced by the hope that their EBT card gets loaded at the beginning of the month. Their spirit is crushed by the slavery that they willingly signed on for with the promise of "Free Stuff." They have sold their soul into bondage and the bondage will consume them.
I am a fan of the show "Babylon5" and the character of G'kar played by the late Andreas Katsulas made a speech of freedom that resonated. It is one of the favorite clips from the fans from that 5 year run of the show.
Many people are awaiting the Ferguson Grand Jury deliberations and they have planned a huge response nationwide, there are protest planned in various cities:
Albany, NY
Carbondale, IL
Chapel Hill, NC
Chattanooga, TN
Chicago, IL
Cleveland, OH
Columbia, MO
Columbus, OH
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Des Moines, IA
Albuquerque, NM
Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Baltimore, MD
Bangor, ME
Beavercreek, OH
Blacksburg, VA
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Detroit, MI
Durham, NC
Ferguson, MO
Gainesville, FL
Grand Rapids, MI
Greensboro, NC
Greenville, NC
Grinnell, IA
Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN
Iowa City, IA
Jackson, MI
Kansas City, MO
Kennesaw, GA
Lawrence, KS
Lexington, KY
Longview, TX
Los Angeles, CA
Louisville, KY
Meadville, PA
Memphis, TN
Milwaukee, WI
Minneapolis, MN
Mobile, AL
Monpelier, VT
Monroeville, OH
Nashville, TN
New London, CT
New Orleans, LA
Newark, NJ
Northampton, MA
NYC, NY
Oak Ridge, TN
Oakland, CA
Olympia, WA
Oshkosh, WI
Phoenix, AZ
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, OR
Providence, RI
Raleigh, NC
Rochester, NY
Rocky Mount, NC
San Diego, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Seattle, WA
South Hadley, MA
Spring Valley, NY
Springfield, MA
St. Paul, MN
St. Petersburg, FL
Stroudsberg, PA
Tallahassee, FL
Tampa, FL
Toledo, OH
Toronto, Canada
Tucson, AZ
Washington, D.C.
West Hartford, CT
West Palm Beach, FL
Williamsburg, VA
Worcester, MA
This is being co-opted by a bunch of groups that have a social axe to grind, or it serves a purpose, From what I have read on verious news agencies, the Ferguson protest is being driven by outside agitators. You have the usual black race hustlers making an appearance, you also have the Holder Justice department or parts of FEDGOV coordinating activities relating to the protest. You also have the "Social justice" activist making an appearance, one even got her car stolen,
Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, November 18, 2014, 9:17 AM
No Justice, No Peace! Elizabeth Vega is one of the Ferguson protest leaders.
She protested at sports venues and attempted a banner drop. She co-led
the St Louis Symphony interruption, was arrested at the pumpkin
smashing, yelled at the St Louis Post Dispatch protest, and helped block traffic with her freakshow in Clayton yesterday.
Mike Brown protesters from Ferguson disrupted the St. Louis Symphony in St. Louis City in October. (KRON) While yelling “F*ck the Police!” apparently her car got stolen.
Do you think she’ll file a police report requesting they help her now?
Elizabeth Vega: “So while debriefing after the action my car got stolen.”
Her tweets expressing anger that Nixon called a state of emergency in
part due to the rising crime and criminal elements associated with the
protests are interspersed with others decrying the car theft.
Perhaps she could stop encouraging others to break the law? You hang with looters, you get looted.
Also making a appearance are the "occupy crowd" you know the ones that in 2012 squatted on various parcels of property and made a nuisance out of themselves. Well the "Occupy" movement would have failed if it wasn't for the unions supporting them. I remember reading of a SIEU vehicle dropping off supplies at the Occupy sites....you know the SIEU...the government union. the only union that actually increased in size since Obama got elected. the ones that during the townhall meetings where Obamacare was hotly debated, the ones that brought in agitators to intimidate the locals that were pissed about the passage of Obamacare, from the backroom deals and sheer bribery used to push it through on a strictly partyline vote.
So we have the occupy crowd, along with their union enablers making an appearance. We also have the environmental movement making an appearance trying to tie in the thug shooting with "environmental Justice". Even the LGBT lobby is making an appearance with this trying to link their agenda with the shooting of "the Saint of Swisher Sweet" by that Racist Sexist cop who is a symbol of the repressive patriarchal society that suppressed sexual identity.
There is a tumblr website that is a focal point for the protest that is planned for 83 cities, this is much bigger than a regular smash and loot mob that normally forms up after the local blacks are outraged about a Police vs a thug shooting.
Missouri's governor has now preemptively declared a 30-day state of emergency and called out the National Guard — and the grand jury hasn't even made its decision yet!
Basically, it's on.
Ferguson, however, is not the only city set to hold protests immediately following the Darren Wilson grand jury announcement.
Actually, they aren't even being referred to as protests anymore. They are now being called "planned responses."
A Tumblr page for something called the "Ferguson National Response Network"
has posted a very organized list with graphics for each location
(something which, if it's as scripted as the rest of this situation has
been and continues to be, will be expertly timed with the holidays
coming up).
The organizers have also released a list of 19 "Proposed Rules of Engagement."
Wow.
Just wow. This is not your average civil disobedience. Martha Stewart
has thrown less organized birthday parties than this. There are White
House functions with less planning and training involved.
Anyone else get the sense that this whole thing has been co-opted? Think about it.
When
you're mad about something that's wrong with the system, what do you do
if you want to protest it? You pull out a black marker, get a poster
board, call up your friends, maybe send out a few Tweets or Facebook
messages, then you find a corner and start protesting.
You don't
get so angry with the system that you first a) write a proposed rules of
engagement list, b) start fundraising campaigns, c) set up highly
coordinated protests in 83 cities, d) coordinate mass informational
meetings and finally e) hold direct action trainings then get ready to protest.
What average, random person has the time and money to pull off all that off properly?
Sure people have been protesting this for months now, but still. What monster has Ferguson now mutated into? Who is ultimately behind it, driving the agenda?
Many of the people who showed up to protest in Ferguson from the beginning were coming from out of town. There were definite provocateurs among the crowds trying to incite violence.
At this point, people are apparently quitting their jobs and flocking to Ferguson to devote all their time and energy to this.
Who is paying for this? I keep on thinking it is all the far leftist groups, probably based on billionaire leftist Soros fortune. We also have the Obama white house having meetings with the protestors and telling them "to Stay the course"
The flipside of this is that ammo and gun sales in the area have skyrocketed, the average citizen is stocking up in case of civil unrest. Many people in other area's are also stocking up, this has the potential of exploding into major civil unrest and major blood spill.
Actually, they aren’t even being referred to as protests anymore. They are now being called “planned responses.”
A Tumblr page for something called the “Ferguson National Response Network”
has posted a very organized list with graphics for each location (which
must have taken a lot of time and effort) detailing these “planned
responses” that have been scheduled for a total of 82 cities across the
U.S. and one in Canada after the grand jury announces their decision
(something which, if it’s as scripted as the rest of this situation has
been and continues to be, will be expertly timed with the holidays
coming up).
Organizers are also holding something called “direct action trainings.”
- See more at:
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/not-just-ferguson-protests-scheduled-for-83-cities-direct-action-trainings-being-held-for-protesters_112014#sthash.p1MheSh4.dpuf
Missouri’s governor has now preemptively declared a 30-day state of emergency and called out the National Guard — and the grand jury hasn’t even made it’s decision yet!
Basically, it’s on.
Ferguson, however, is not the only city set to hold protests immediately following the Darren Wilson grand jury announcement.
Actually, they aren’t even being referred to as protests anymore. They are now being called “planned responses.”
A Tumblr page for something called the “Ferguson National Response Network”
has posted a very organized list with graphics for each location (which
must have taken a lot of time and effort) detailing these “planned
responses” that have been scheduled for a total of 82 cities across the
U.S. and one in Canada after the grand jury announces their decision
(something which, if it’s as scripted as the rest of this situation has
been and continues to be, will be expertly timed with the holidays
coming up).
Organizers are also holding something called “direct action trainings.”
Here’s what that looks like:
The organizers have also released a list of 19 “Proposed Rules of Engagement.”
- See more at:
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/not-just-ferguson-protests-scheduled-for-83-cities-direct-action-trainings-being-held-for-protesters_112014#sthash.p1MheSh4.dpuf
I don't really know how this will play out, We also have the amnesty speil being pushed by the community organizer in chief, along with the Democrats killing the Keystone pipeline yesterday. This shows a major powershift in democrat politics. It showed the winners and losers, the winners were the "greens" and the loser were the labor unions. It showed who has the power and money in the democratic party. I wonder how the unions will come back from this.
When I was a shop Steward at my last employer, I warned the leadership about hitching the union wagon exclusively to one party, rather go with the one that is in the best interest of the membership. I knew that the greens in the democrats were gaining in power, I had commented that the democrat politicians viewed us as an ATM, they would go mutter platitudes about "worker rights" and we would give them money, then they would go to the environmental groups and really make things happen for them. Now the unions are being bit hard for their lack of foresight, they are paying for their lack of vision.
Missouri’s governor has now preemptively declared a 30-day state of emergency and called out the National Guard — and the grand jury hasn’t even made it’s decision yet!
Basically, it’s on.
Ferguson, however, is not the only city set to hold protests immediately following the Darren Wilson grand jury announcement.
Actually, they aren’t even being referred to as protests anymore. They are now being called “planned responses.”
A Tumblr page for something called the “Ferguson National Response Network”
has posted a very organized list with graphics for each location (which
must have taken a lot of time and effort) detailing these “planned
responses” that have been scheduled for a total of 82 cities across the
U.S. and one in Canada after the grand jury announces their decision
(something which, if it’s as scripted as the rest of this situation has
been and continues to be, will be expertly timed with the holidays
coming up).
Organizers are also holding something called “direct action trainings.”
Here’s what that looks like:
The organizers have also released a list of 19 “Proposed Rules of Engagement.”
- See more at:
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/not-just-ferguson-protests-scheduled-for-83-cities-direct-action-trainings-being-held-for-protesters_112014#sthash.p1MheSh4.dpuf
Today was a momentous day in American history, on this day 150 years ago, President Lincoln gave a 2 minute speech at the dedication of the Gettysburg battlefield where a little over 4 months earlier over a 3 day battle, the North was able to defeat the armies of the South. At the beginning of the battle, this was the highpoint of the Southern Succession movement. General Lee was hoping this incursion into the North would be successful. In the past the Armies of northern Virginia has acted in a defensive nature, basically defending Richmond, the capital of the confederacy.
This was a strategic movement of the Southern armies, and the 3 day battle was a culmination of the movement. General Lee was hopeful that this attack would force a defeat of the Union armies under George Meade on northern soil and this action would have the countries of England and France recognize the confederacy and force the United States to accept the confederacy.
Picketts Charge is widely recognized as the high-water mark of the Confederates fortunes.
Picketts Charge at Gettysburg.
There would be 2 more years of war, and the Confederacy even after Gettysburg still could have prevailed. President Lincoln was under enormous pressure especially with the mounting casualties from the war and the constant setbacks. General Lee by this time had attained glorious reputation and his exploits were the stuff of legends. Many in the North lamented this and President Lincoln was under severe political pressure from the Copperheads to have a political settlement to the war. President Lincoln feared that having 2 countries in the geographical area would make both weak and vulnerable to outside interference. Remember the Monroe Doctrine, back then the countries in Europe were on a race to either colonize or spread their own influence through the world. Look at the effect on Africa, We had our own manifest destiny to go from sea to sea and having the French, Germans or English meddling would have caused problems with that.
Following the July 1–3, 1863, Battle of Gettysburg, reburial of Union soldiers from the Gettysburg Battlefield graves began on October 17. The committee for the November 19 Consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg
invited President Lincoln: "It is the desire that, after the Oration,
you, as Chief Executive of the nation, formally set apart these grounds
to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks." Lincoln's address followed the oration by Edward Everett, who subsequently included a copy of the Gettysburg Address in his 1864 book about the event (Address
of the Hon. Edward Everett At the Consecration of the National Cemetery
At Gettysburg, 19th November 1863, with the Dedicatory Speech of
President Lincoln, and the Other Exercises of the Occasion; Accompanied
by An Account of the Origin of the Undertaking and of the Arrangement of
the Cemetery Grounds, and by a Map of the Battle-field and a Plan of
the Cemetery).
During the train trip from Washington, D.C., to Gettysburg on November 18, Lincoln remarked to John Hay that he felt weak. On the morning of November 19, Lincoln mentioned to John Nicolay
that he was dizzy. In the railroad car the President rode with his
secretary, John G. Nicolay, his assistant secretary, John Hay, the three
members of his Cabinet who accompanied him, William Seward, John Usher and Montgomery Blair,
several foreign officials and others. Hay noted that during the speech
Lincoln's face had 'a ghastly color' and that he was 'sad, mournful,
almost haggard.' After the speech, when Lincoln boarded the 6:30 pm
train for Washington, D.C., he was feverish and weak, with a severe
headache. A protracted illness followed, which included a vesicular rash
and was diagnosed as a mild case of smallpox. It thus seems highly likely that Lincoln was in the prodromal period of smallpox when he delivered the Gettysburg address: The following speech was short and is considered one of the best political speeches in history. Compare the brevity of Lincoln's speeches to the pontification of the speeches given in this day and age.
Four
score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a
new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that
all men are created equal.
Now
we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or
any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met
on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion
of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their
lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper
that we should do this.
But,
in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can
not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled
here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it
can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to
be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here
have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here
dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the
last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these
dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have
a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the
people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
This is a poster I made back in the 8th grade. I had spent a lot of time in "art" class, learning calligraphy and working on this poster. I was very glad that my mom had saved this poster along with some of the other stuff from my childhood. it is set up in my "man-cave" along with my military souvenirs and other stuff and assorted SWAG from work.
Before I start on my Monday Music, I completed my NRA instructor course for Rifle and Shotgun, the course was over 3 days, from Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This was necessary for me to instruct scouts higher then cub scouts. I have been running BB ranges for the cub scouts for 6 years, my son is a Boy Scout now and I needed to step up to the higher level. They are offering a pistol course in early December down in Florida. I will try to take that course...but no guarantees..depends on schedule. You know that Christmas is coming and the dance card is filling up fast.
I decided to go back in to the murky past for this song. I wanted to do it earlier, but was unable to find any material on it. But I found some this time. This song my Dad used to play all the time, and I would hear it on his "Reel to Reel" tape player.
His was either a "Sony" or a "Sanyo". I recall him telling me that he picked it up at the PX in Saigon. The sound quality was really good, Nothing from digital media, but there is something about an old fashioned Reel to Reel. He played this song and others a lot, I inherited some of my music taste from my Dad. This song struck a chord with the Vietnam War generation, and the later Veterans who have heard this song. The words can change a bit, but the emotions are the same.
"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" is a song written by Mel Tillis
about a paralyzed veteran of a "crazy Asian war" (given the time of its
release, widely assumed but never explicitly stated to be the Vietnam War)
who lies helplessly in bed as his wife "paints [herself] up" to go out
for the evening without him; he believes she is going in search of a
lover, and as he hears the door slam behind her, he pleads for her to
reconsider. The song was made famous by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition in 1969. "Ruby" was originally recorded in 1967 by Johnny Darrell, who scored a number nine country hit with it that year.
In 1969, after Kenny Rogers and the First Edition's success with the hits "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" and "But You Know I Love You", Rogers wanted to take his group more into a country music
direction. They recorded their version of the song (with Rogers singing
the lead) in one take. The record was a major hit for them. It made #1
in the UK on the New Musical Express (#2 on the BBC
chart) staying in the top twenty for 15 weeks and selling over a
million copies by the end of 1970. In the United States it reached
number six on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the country chart and also sold more than 1 million copies by 1979. Worldwide, the single sold more than 7 million copies.
In 1977, now a solo
act following the First Edition's split in early-1976, Rogers made
re-recordings of this and a number of other First Edition hits for his
1977 greatest hits package Ten Years Of Gold (later issued in the British Isles as The Kenny Rogers Singles Album), which topped the US country charts and was just as successful in the United Kingdom.
An answer song
to "Ruby," entitled "Billy, I've Got To Go To Town," was released in
1969 by Geraldine Stevens who had previously recorded successfully under
the name Dodie Stevens.
Sung to the same melody with an arrangement quite similar to the First
Edition version, "Billy" peaked at #117 pop, #57 country. In Stevens'
song, Ruby affirms her love for her disabled husband ("Billy" in her
song; in "Ruby," he is not named) and pleads in turn for her man to have
faith in her fidelity and her commitment to him, even in his crippled
condition
A music video consisting solely of a camera panning back and forth in a bedroom was shown at the end of a Huntley-Brinkley Report during 1969. Chet Huntley set up the video by linking it to the controversial Vietnam War and the sacrifices by U.S. servicemen and their families. Chet Huntley and David Brinkley paused after the video and then signed off in their usual fashion. I was unable to locate the video despite searching "Youtube" and other web sites.
As many of y'all that visit my little corner of the internet know that I spent 5 years in Germany, I got there in mid 1986, and DEROS's back to the world in 1991 where I mustered out. I spent the first 18 months attached to the 1st Infantry Division (FWD) at Cooke Barracks in Geoppingen Germany. I then transferred to a corp level asset in 1988 at Echterdingen or SAAF(Stuttgart Army Airfield). That is where I was when we got deployed to the Persian Gulf for Desert Shield then Desert Storm. But I was stationed in Germany when they unified in 1989.
I will intersperse my experiences with some photo's I took of my souvenirs. You know what they say about G.I's...."We souvenir anything". My first time in Berlin was in 1987 while I was attached to Wobeck a station near Helmstedt a part of Field Station Berlin. I took my Mustang down the Helmstedt autobahn, The Helmstedt Autobahn is the only land route that we as Americans can drive through East Germany to Berlin. We have to use "Flag Orders" to traverse the Autobahn to Berlin. We would have to stop at 2 Soviet checkpoints. We would be in class "A's" uniform, get out of the vehicle, present our flag orders to the soviet representative at Magneburg and at Potsdam.
Well when I went to Berlin, it was a surreal experience, this is a link of my travels and various postings, West Berlin was a 24 hour party and east Germany was very subdued. We exercised our rights of travel in East Berlin on a regular basis. I would walk around and explore the sights. I saw scaffolding everywhere, like they were rebuilding, but the wood for the scaffolding was dry rotted. the buildings still had bullet pock marks in the wall when the Soviets took the city in 1945. If we were hassled by the east Germans we would ask or demand "Ich murste mit eine Soviet Officer mit zum sprechen". I want to speak to a Soviet officer. Since the Soviets were in charge of East Berlin and the Western powers were responsible for West Berlin.
I remembered President Reagan speech in 1987 in West Berlin.
This is when we had a President that behaved like a President rather than the petulant boy-king we have now. But when the East Germans were going through Czechoslovakia and Hungary to get to the West and the East German Government started cracking down and we increased out alert status because we had doubts on what the Soviets will do, for in the past they did interfere with protest like they did in East Germany in 1953, Hungary in 1956, and Czechoslovakia in 1968. Poland almost got invaded by the "Warsaw Pact" in the early 80's during the Solidarity Protest but the Polish government declared martial law and other draconian measures to basically placate the soviets so they didn't get the "assistance" from the Warsaw pact like the other places did.
When the unrest grew, we increased our surveillance to see what the Soviets would do. when the wall started to come down, we were confined to garrison for 2 reasons, one to prevent an incident with an American near the border and in case the Soviets attacked, we would be able to ramp up to a wartime footing. Luckily such things didn't happen. But watching the party and celebration on AFN was like being in the twilight zone, we were watching history before our eyes and all we could do was hold on for the ride and hope for the best.
We started seeing the ""Trabbi's" on the autobahns and nothing like doing 130 MPH's and seeing a trabbi doing 50 mph packed full of "Osters" going to the west to see the sights.
Well I did collect some souvenirs of my time after the wall fell.
Beer Stein
My flag orders and a "DDR" country tag
A picture of the Brandenburg Tor with British Tanks in front of it. A "SMLM" ID tag in front of it.
A bunch of my Soviet and East German hats, I got a lot of stuff with some dollars and Western Pron magazines.
The Sector sign that is immortalized.
East German hat and helmets.
Yes that is a Soviet and East German flag. My "man-cave" has a lot of stuff from my travels.
I do want to go back to Berlin and Germany to see how things have changed. I hope to do this journey fairly soon and take my son with me and he can see how things were and how things have changed. We saw some exciting times and were on the fore front of history.
I don't have a lot of time, I have to go to sleep because I have to go to work early, I saw this Hitler parody and I got a chuckle out of it. I am pleased overall with the results of the elections. I heard on MSNBC that the talking heads were saying "What the GOP have to give to the democrats".. I was thinking...."Really?....Give to the democrats...in 2009 Obungler said " I won and you lost". Now the talking heads want the GOP to compromise with the democrats....what happened to the compromise when the democrats were in the ascendency and the GOP fortunes were in the gutter. The democrats pushed through their agenda all on their own. Now they want the GOP to compromise....the sheer gall and chutspa.....
Now today is Veterans day, this is a special day for us Veterans. This day is for those who had served and their families. I am a veteran as are many of my friends, I am honored to have served and would do so again. I considered it a debt of honor as a citizen of the republic. I served as did my father and my grandfather. It is a tradition for my family for the males to join the service. I hope my son continues the tradition, but this will be his decision to make.
I decided to roll with "Mickey", I remembered when this song and video hit the new and fledgling MTV music channel...back when they played music instead the crap they play now. I was a sophomore in high school when this song came out and it was pretty neat watching the cheerleaders do their thing. Since the symbol for my school was the "Mustangs" the high school cheerleaders substituted "Mustang" for "Mickey" during pep rally's. They actually did pretty good, but they worked all the time and would regularly place at state competitions. I avoided the cheerleaders since they were considered part of the "football team" and I was one of the JROTC cadets.....different dynamics, different social circles. This was part of my problems with my 20th reunion I mentioned a few months ago. We just had our 30th reunion and I flat out refused to go. Once was enough. High school was ok for me, I used to think all the time while I was in high school how others think of me and what social group, ete,ete...but once I go into the real world I realized, all that high school stuff doesn't mean crap in the real world and how much time I wasted thinking how important it was. The song is pretty cool though.
"Mickey" is a 1982 song recorded by American singer and choreographer Toni Basil on her debut album Word of Mouth.
Written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn as "Kitty", it was first recorded by UK popular music group Racey during 1979 appearing on their debut album Smash and Grab.
Toni Basil changed the name from Kitty to Mickey to make the song
about a man. Basil commented on the effect of this change: "When it's a
guy singing about a girl, it's a sweet line. But when a girl sings it,
it must mean butt-f*****g!" For years, it had been rumoured that the name was changed to Mickey because Basil was fond of The Monkees' drummer and lead vocalist Micky Dolenz after meeting him on the set of their movie Head for which she was the choreographer; however, this claim has been disputed by Basil, who said she didn't know Dolenz that well. A music video for the song, featuring costuming and choreography inspired by cheerleader dance routines, was played heavily on MTV.
Filmed in 1981, the video is considered the very first choreographed
dance video, and the opening stunt, where a cheerleader jumps through
the center of a human pyramid, is now illegal in competition.
The single scored number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 for one week and number two in the UK Singles Chart. The song was Basil's only Top 40 success, making her a "one-hit wonder". It was named #5 on VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of All Time, #16 on 20 to 1's Top 20 One Hit Wonders Countdown and #57 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s. It has also appeared on countless greatest or best lists and countdowns
"Mickey" was actually recorded in 1980 and the video was conceived,
directed, and choreographed by Basil herself for the UK-based label
Radialchoice nearly a year before the inception of MTV in 1981. Issued on Chrysalis Records in September 1982, the song knocked Lionel Richie from No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December. The infectious 45 was quickly certified Gold
and in early 1983 reached Platinum status for sales of over 2 million
copies in the United States alone. The music video for "Mickey" was one
of the most popular early MTV videos. In the video, Basil wore her head
cheerleader uniform from Las Vegas High School from which she graduated. During an interview on VH1's
"100 Greatest Songs of The 80's", Basil revealed that she still owns
the same cheerleader sweater she wore in the video. In 2009, VH1 ranked
"Mickey" Number 6 on its list of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the
'80s
One of my favorite cartoons on Saturday morning was the Looney tunes show, for 90 minutes my brother and I would watch the gratuitous violence of the Road Runner and the coyote, FogHorn LegHorn and the dog, and many others. We would eat cereal in front of the TV get cranked on the sugar and make too much noise and get the "Knock it off or else" calls from upstairs from the parents. The good old days where cartoons weren't preachy like now. They have Bugs Bunny driving a Pious er a Prius, Give me a break, We must have a ministry of cartoon morality somewhere in the Fed Leviathan somewhere.
Well I decided to go with Bugs Bunny today, Some consider him the top billing of the Looney Tunes stable of cartoon stars. Bugs Bunny has been around in various forms since the prewar era. Cartoons were popular, movie fare, people would go to the movies as a bit of escapism. Remember we were still in the great depression and movies gave us a break from that. This is part of the reason for "The Golden Age" of the movies...for the sheer escapism, for a while you could laugh, cry and get a bit of relief from the grind of the era. Many people remember this stuff later during the more affluent times, they remember how the movies kept them going and the nostalgia was real.
Bugs Bunny was created during this time,Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character, created by the staff of Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by the "Man of a Thousand Voices," Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short films, produced by Warner Bros. during the golden age of American animation. His popularity during this era led to his becoming an American cultural icon, as well as a corporate mascot of Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray hare or rabbit who is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality, a pronounced New York accent, his portrayal as a trickster, and his catch phrase "Eh... What's up, doc?", usually said while chewing a carrot.
Though Warner Bros. had been experimenting with a rabbit character in
cartoons as early as the late 1930s, the definitive character of Bugs
Bunny is widely considered to have made his debut in director Tex Avery's Oscar-nominated film A Wild Hare (1940).
Since his debut, Bugs has appeared in various short films, feature
films, compilations, TV series, music records, comic books, video games,
award shows, amusement park rides and commercials. He has also appeared in more films than any other cartoon character, is the ninth most-portrayed film personality in the world, and has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
A bunny rabbit with some of the personality of Bugs, though looking very different, first appears in the film Porky's Hare Hunt, released on April 30, 1938. It was co-directed by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway and an uncredited Cal Dalton (who was responsible for the initial design of the rabbit). This cartoon has an almost identical plot to Tex Avery's Porky's Duck Hunt (1937), which had introduced Daffy Duck. Porky Pig
is again cast as a hunter tracking a silly prey who is more interested
in driving his pursuer insane and less interested in escaping. Hare Hunt
replaces the little black duck with a small white rabbit. The rabbit
introduces himself with the odd expression "Jiggers, fellers," and Mel Blanc gave the character a voice and laugh much like those he would later use for Woody Woodpecker. Hare Hunt also gives its rabbit the famous Groucho Marx line, "Of course you realize, this means war!" The rabbit character was popular enough with audiences that the Termite Terrace staff decided to use it again. According to Friz Freleng, Hardaway and Dalton had decided to dress the duck in a rabbit suit. The white rabbit had an oval head and a shapeless body. In characterization, he was "a rural buffoon". He was loud, zany with a goofy, guttural laugh. Blanc provided him with a hayseed voice
original 8 minute cartoon
The rabbit returns in Prest-O Change-O (1939), directed by Chuck Jones, where he is the pet rabbit of unseen character
Sham-Fu the Magician. Two dogs, fleeing the local dogcatcher, enter his
absent master's house. The rabbit harasses them, but is ultimately
bested by the bigger of the two dogs. This version of the rabbit was
cool, graceful, and controlled. He retained the guttural laugh but was
otherwise silent.
a 7 minute cartoon in COLOR
The rabbit's third appearance comes in Hare-um Scare-um
(1939), directed again by Dalton and Hardaway. This cartoon—the first
in which he is depicted as a gray bunny instead of a white one—is also
notable as the rabbit's first singing role. Charlie Thorson,
lead animator on the film, gave the character a name. He had written
"Bugs' Bunny" on the model sheet that he drew for Hardaway.
In promotional material for the cartoon, including a surviving 1939
presskit, the name on the model sheet was altered to become the rabbit's
own name: "Bugs" Bunny (quotation marks only used, on and off, until
1944). In his autobiography, Blanc claimed that another proposed name for the character was "Happy Rabbit." In the actual cartoons and publicity, however, the name "Happy" only seems to have been used in reference to Bugs Hardaway. In Hare-um Scare-um, a newspaper headline reads, "Happy Hardaway."
another 8 minute cartoon
Thorson had been approached by Tedd Pierce,
head of the story department, and asked to design a better rabbit. The
decision was influenced by Thorson's experience in designing hares. He
had designed Max Hare in Toby Tortoise Returns
(1936). For Hardaway, Thorson created the model sheet previously
mentioned, with six different rabbit poses. Thorson's model sheet is "a
comic rendition of the stereotypical fuzzy bunny". He had a pear-shaped
body with a protruding rear end. His face was flat and had large
expressive eyes. He had an exaggerated long neck, gloved hands with
three fingers, oversized feet, and a "smart aleck" grin. The end result
was influenced by Walt Disney Animation Studios' tendency to draw animals in the style of cute infants. He had an obvious Disney influence, but looked like an awkward merger of the lean and streamlined Max Hare from The Tortoise and the Hare (1935), and the round, soft bunnies from Little Hiawatha (1937).
In Jones' Elmer's Candid Camera (1940) the rabbit first meets Elmer Fudd.
This time the rabbit looks more like the present-day Bugs, taller and
with a similar face—but retaining the more primitive voice. Candid Camera's Elmer character design is also different: taller and chubbier in the face than the modern model, though Arthur Q. Bryan's character voice is already established.
While Porky's Hare Hunt was the first Warner Bros. cartoon to feature a Bugs Bunny-like rabbit, A Wild Hare, directed by Tex Avery and released on July 27, 1940, is widely considered to be the first official Bugs Bunny cartoon. It is the first film where both Elmer Fudd and Bugs (both redesigned by Bob Givens) are shown in their fully developed forms as hunter and tormentor, respectively; the first in which Mel Blanc uses what would become Bugs' standard voice; and the first in which Bugs uses his catchphrase, "What's up, Doc?"A Wild Hare was a huge success in theaters and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cartoon Short Subject.
For the film Avery asked Givens to remodel the rabbit. The result had
a closer resemblance to Max Hare. He had a more elongated body, stood
more erect, and looked more poised. If Thorson's rabbit looked like an
infant, Givens' version looked like an adolescent. Blanc gave Bugs the voice of a city slicker. The rabbit was as audacious as he had been in Hare-um Scare-um and as cool and collected as in Prest-O Change-O.
Immediately following on A Wild Hare, Bob Clampett's Patient Porky (1940) features a cameo appearance by Bugs, announcing to the audience that 750 rabbits have been born. The gag uses Bugs' Wild Hare visual design, but his goofier pre-Wild Hare voice characterization.
The second full-fledged role for the mature Bugs, Chuck Jones' Elmer's Pet Rabbit
(1941), is the first to use Bugs' name on-screen: it appears in a title
card, "featuring Bugs Bunny," at the start of the film (which was
edited in following the success of A Wild Hare). However, Bugs'
voice and personality in this cartoon is noticeably different, and his
design was slightly altered as well; Bugs' visual design is based on the
prototype rabbit in Candid Camera, but with yellow gloves and no
buck teeth, has a lower-pitched voice and a more aggressive, arrogant
and thuggish personality. After Pet Rabbit, however, subsequent Bugs appearances returned to normal: the Wild Hare visual design returned, and Blanc re-used the Wild Hare voice characterization. The Wild Hare personality also returned as well. Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941), directed by Friz Freleng, became the second Bugs Bunny cartoon to receive an Academy Award nomination. The fact that it didn't win the award was later spoofed somewhat in What's Cookin' Doc? (1944), in which Bugs demands a recount (claiming to be a victim of "sa-bo-TAH-gee") after losing the Oscar to Jimmy Cagney and presents a clip from Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt to prove his point.
By 1942, Bugs had become the number one star of Merrie Melodies.
The series was originally intended only for one-shot characters in
films after several early attempts to introduce characters (Foxy, Goopy Geer and Piggy) failed under Harman–Ising. By the mid-1930s, under Leon Schlesinger, Merrie Melodies started introducing newer characters. Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid (1942) shows a slight redesign of Bugs, with less-prominent front teeth and a rounder head. The character was reworked by Robert McKimson,
then an animator in Clampett's unit. The redesign at first was only
used in the films created by Clampett's unit, but in time it would be
taken up by the other directors, with Freleng and Frank Tashlin
the first. When McKimson was himself promoted to director, he created
yet another version, with more slanted eyes, longer teeth and a much
larger mouth. He used this version until 1949 (as did Art Davis
for the one Bugs Bunny film he directed) when he started using the
version he had designed for Clampett. Jones would come up with his own
slight modification, and the voice had slight variations between the
units. Bugs also made cameos in Avery's final Warner Bros. cartoon, Crazy Cruise.
Since Bugs' debut in A Wild Hare, he appeared only in color Merrie Melodies
films (making him one of the few recurring characters created for that
series in the Schlesinger era prior to the full conversion to color),
alongside Elmer predecessor Egghead, Inki, Sniffles, and Elmer himself. While Bugs made a cameo in Porky Pig's Feat (1943), this was his only appearance in a black-and-white Looney Tunes film. He did not star in a Looney Tunes film until that series made its complete conversion to only color cartoons beginning in 1944. Buckaroo Bugs was Bugs' first film in the Looney Tunes
series, and was also the last Warner Bros. cartoon to credit
Schlesinger (as he had retired and sold his studio to Warner Bros. that
year).
Bugs' popularity soared during World War II
because of his free and easy attitude, and he began receiving special
star billing in his cartoons by 1943. By that time Warner Bros. had
become the most profitable cartoon studio in the United States. In company with cartoon studios such as Disney and Famous Studios, Warners pitted its characters against Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and the Japanese. Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips
(1944) features Bugs at odds with a group of Japanese soldiers. This
cartoon has since been pulled from distribution due to its racial
stereotypes of Japanese people. He also faces off against Hermann Göring and Hitler in Herr Meets Hare (1945), which introduced
In 1944, Bugs Bunny made a cameo appearance in Jasper Goes Hunting, a Puppetoons film produced by rival studio Paramount Pictures.
In this cameo (animated by McKimson, with Blanc providing the usual
voice), Bugs (after being threatened at gunpoint) pops out of a rabbit
hole, saying his usual catchphrase; after hearing the orchestra play the
wrong theme song, he realizes "Hey, I'm in the wrong picture!" and then
goes back in the hole. Bugs also made a cameo in the Private Snafu short Gas, in which he is found stowed away in the titular private's belongings; his only spoken line is his usual catchphrase.
After World War II, Bugs continued to appear in numerous Warner Bros. cartoons, making his last "Golden Age" appearance in False Hare
(1964). He starred in over 167 theatrical short films, most of which
were directed by Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson and Chuck Jones.
Freleng's Knighty Knight Bugs (1958), in which a medieval Bugs trades blows with Yosemite Sam and his fire-breathing dragon (which has a cold), won an Academy Award for Best Cartoon Short Subject (becoming the first Bugs Bunny cartoon to win said award). Three of Jones' films — Rabbit Fire, Rabbit Seasoning, and Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
— compose what is often referred to as the "Rabbit Season/Duck Season"
trilogy and are famous for originating the "historic" rivalry between
Bugs and Daffy Duck. Jones' classic What's Opera, Doc? (1957), casts Bugs and Elmer Fudd in a parody of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. It was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1992, becoming the first cartoon short to receive this honor.
In the fall of 1960, ABC debuted the prime-time television program The Bugs Bunny Show.
This show packaged many of the post-1948 Warners cartoons with newly
animated wraparounds. After two seasons, it was moved from its evening
slot to reruns on Saturday mornings. The Bugs Bunny Show changed
format and exact title frequently, but remained on network television
for 40 years. The packaging was later completely different, with each
cartoon simply presented on its own, title and all, though some clips
from the new bridging material were sometimes used as filler.
In the 1988 animated/live action movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Bugs appeared as one of the inhabitants of Toontown. However, since the film was being produced by Disney,
Warner Bros. would only allow the use of their biggest star if he got
an equal amount of screen time as Disney's biggest star, Mickey Mouse. Because of this, both characters are always together in frame when onscreen. Roger Rabbit was also one of the final productions in which Mel Blanc voiced Bugs (as well as the other Looney Tunes characters) before his death in 1989.
Bugs later appeared in another animated production featuring numerous
characters from rival studios; the 1990 drug prevention TV special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.
This special is notable for being the first time that someone other
than Blanc voiced Bugs and Daffy (both characters were voiced by Jeff Bergman for this). Bugs also made guest appearances in the early 1990s television series Tiny Toon Adventures, as the principal of Acme Looniversity and the mentor of Buster Bunny. He made further cameos in Warner Bros.' subsequent animated TV shows Taz-Mania, Animaniacs and Histeria!
Bugs returned to the silver screen in Box-Office Bunny
(1990). This was the first Bugs Bunny cartoon since 1964 to be released
in theaters and it was created for Bugs' 50th anniversary celebration.
It was followed by (Blooper) Bunny, a cartoon that was shelved from theaters, but later premiered on Cartoon Network in 1997 and has since gained a cult following among animation fans for its edgy humor.
In 1996, Bugs and the other Looney Tunes characters appeared in the live-action/animated film, Space Jam, directed by Joe Pytka and starring NBA superstar Michael Jordan. The film also introduced the character Lola Bunny, who becomes Bugs' new love interest. Space Jam received mixed reviews from critics, but was a box office success (grossing over $230 million worldwide). The success of Space Jam led to the development of another live-action/animated film,
Looney Tunes: Back in Action, released in 2003 and directed by Joe Dante. Unlike Space Jam, Back in Action was a box-office bomb, though it did receive more positive reviews from critics. In 1997, Bugs appeared on a U.S. postage stamp,
the first cartoon to be so honored, beating the iconic Mickey Mouse.
The stamp is number seven on the list of the ten most popular U.S.
stamps, as calculated by the number of stamps purchased but not used.
The introduction of Bugs onto a stamp was controversial at the time, as
it was seen as a step toward the 'commercialization' of stamp art. The
postal service rejected many designs, and went with a postal-themed
drawing. Avery Dennison printed the Bugs Bunny stamp sheet, which
featured "a special ten-stamp design and was the first self-adhesive souvenir sheet issued by the U.S. Postal Service."
Bugs Bunny is characterized as being clever and capable of outsmarting anyone who antagonizes him, including Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, Marvin the Martian, Beaky Buzzard, Willoughby the dog, Porky Pig, Tasmanian Devil, Cecil Turtle, Witch Hazel, Rocky and Mugsy, Wile E. Coyote, the Crusher, Gremlin, Count Blood Count and a host of others. Bugs almost always wins these conflicts, a plot pattern which recurs in Looney Tunes films directed by Chuck Jones.
Concerned that viewers would lose sympathy for an aggressive
protagonist who always won, Jones arranged for Bugs to be bullied,
cheated, or threatened by the antagonists
while minding his own business, justifying his subsequent antics as
retaliation or self-defense. He's also been known to break the fourth wall
by "communicating" with the audience, either by explaining the
situation (e.g. "Be with you in a minute, folks!"), describing someone
to the audience (e.g. "Feisty, ain't they?"), clueing in on the story
(e.g. "That happens to him all during the picture, folks."), explaining
that one of his antagonists' actions have pushed him to the breaking
point ("Of course you know, this means war."), admitting his own
deviousness toward his antagonists ("Gee, ain't I a stinker?"), etc.
Bugs will usually try to placate the antagonist and avoid conflict,
but when an antagonist pushes him too far, Bugs may address the audience
and invoke his catchphrase "Of course you realize this means war!" before he retaliates, and the retaliation will be devastating. This line was taken from Groucho Marx and others in the 1933 film Duck Soup and was also used in the 1935 Marx film A Night at the Opera. Bugs would pay homage to Groucho in other ways, such as occasionally adopting his stooped walk or leering eyebrow-raising (in Hair-Raising Hare, for example) or sometimes with a direct impersonation (as in Slick Hare). Other directors, such as Friz Freleng, characterized Bugs as altruistic. When Bugs meets other successful characters (such as Cecil Turtle in Tortoise Beats Hare, or the Gremlin in Falling Hare), his overconfidence becomes a disadvantage.
Bugs' nonchalant carrot-chewing standing position, as explained by Freleng, Jones and Bob Clampett, originated in a scene from the 1934 film It Happened One Night, in which Clark Gable's character Peter Warne leans against a fence, eating carrots rapidly and talking with his mouth full to Claudette Colbert's
character. This scene was well known while the film was popular, and
viewers at the time likely recognized Bugs Bunny's behavior as satire.
Coincidentally, the film also features a minor character, Oscar
Shapely, who addresses Peter Warne as "Doc", and Warne mentions an
imaginary person named "Bugs Dooley" to frighten Shapely.
The carrot-chewing scenes are generally followed by Bugs' most
well-known catchphrase, "What's up, Doc?", which was written by director
Tex Avery for his first Bugs Bunny film, A Wild Hare
(1940). Avery explained later that it was a common expression in his
native Texas and that he did not think much of the phrase. When the
cartoon was first screened in theaters, the "What's up, Doc?" scene
generated a tremendously positive audience reaction.
As a result, the scene became a recurring element in subsequent
cartoons. The phrase was sometimes modified for a situation. For
example, Bugs says "What's up, dogs?" to the antagonists in A Hare Grows in Manhattan, "What's up, Duke?" to the knight in Knight-mare Hare and "What's up, prune-face?" to the aged Elmer in The Old Grey Hare. He might also greet Daffy with "What's up, Duck?" He used one variation, "What's all the hub-bub, bub?" only once, in Falling Hare. Another variation is used in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, when he greets a blaster-wielding Marvin the Martian saying "What's up, Darth?"
Several Chuck Jones films in the late 1940s and 1950s depict Bugs
travelling via cross-country (and, in some cases, intercontinental)
tunnel-digging, ending up in places as varied as Mexico (Bully for Bugs), the Himalayas (The Abominable Snow Rabbit) and Antarctica (Frigid Hare) all because he "shoulda taken that left toin at Albukoikee." He first utters that phrase in Herr Meets Hare (1945), when he emerges in the Black Forest, a cartoon seldom seen today due to its blatantly topical subject matter. When Hermann Göring
says to Bugs, "There is no Las Vegas in 'Chermany'" and takes a potshot
at Bugs, Bugs dives into his hole and says, "Joimany! Yipe!", as Bugs
realizes he's behind enemy lines. The confused response to his "left
toin" comment also followed a pattern. For example, when he tunnels into
Scotland in My Bunny Lies over the Sea (1948), while thinking he's heading for the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California,
it provides another chance for an ethnic stereotype: "Therrre's no La
Brrrea Tarrr Pits in Scotland!" (to which Bugs responds, "Uh...what's
up, Mac-doc?"). A couple of late-1950s/early-1960s cartoons of this ilk
also featured Daffy Duck travelling with Bugs ("Since when is Pismo Beach inside a cave?!")
"Whats Opera Doc" played at the Hollywood bowl, this cartoon is ruled as a cultural significant event by the U.S. Library of Congress and submitted into the National Film registry
Like Mickey Mouse for Disney, Bugs Bunny has served as the mascot for Warner Bros. and its various divisions. According to Guinness World Records, Bugs has appeared in more films (both short and feature-length) than any other cartoon character and is the ninth most-portrayed film personality in the world. On December 10, 1985, Bugs became the second cartoon character (after Mickey) to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
In 2002, TV Guide
compiled a list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time as
part of the magazine's 50th anniversary. Bugs Bunny was given the honor
of number 1. In a CNN broadcast on July 31, 2002, a TV Guide
editor talked about the group that created the list. The editor also
explained why Bugs pulled top billing: "His stock...has never gone
down...Bugs is the best example...of the smart-aleck American comic. He
not only is a great cartoon character, he's a great comedian. He was
written well. He was drawn beautifully. He has thrilled and made many
generations laugh. He is tops."
