Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Amnesty International now in Ferguson MO....R.I.P. Don Pardo

It's very late at night over here but I've been watching cable coverage of Ferguson MO, seeing for the first time the appearance of Amnesty International observers.  And I'm sure a lot of people are doing the same, as well as monitoring Twitter,  Instagram, and such.

What's going to make this blog entry on that different is the recollection of Tahrir Square in Egypt and the question that kept popping up throughout: when is America going to have an American Spring?

Well, isn't that what Occupy Wall Street was trying to do?  But--back to Ferguson MO.  There's a lot that is similar to the events in Tahrir Square, and I'm pretty sure that the people across the globe that are watching events in Ferguson are feeling that the U.S. is in no position to criticize Egypt, or even Russia for that matter, for sending in local militias or whatever they have that passes for a National Guard, or other military into, oh, say, Crimea.

The role of the military in Egypt was criticized in re: Tahrir Square, as was Assad re: Syria rebels.  And now look at the air strikes we're taking in Iraq in what's otherwise a civil/religious war.  Whatever standing the U.S. used to have as a world leader for basic civilization, rule of law, and the like, just vanished in Ferguson MO.

Adding to the solemnity of this late night is word in that the voice of Saturday Night Live died at the age of 96. :'(




Thursday UPDATE: People not familiar with the updated version of the TV series Battlestar Galactica will probably just say that the picture above is of Edward James Olmos...and as far as the actor goes, that's correct.  But it's the story of events on the Battlestar under the command of Admiral Adama that relates to what happened in #Ferguson, big time.

But speaking of favorite actors and characters and science, this was circulating on Facebook:


Ya, that's neither actor nor character, but it evokes the recollection of a deceased local legend of Southern Illinois, who performed a song about this topic.


Uncle Briggs, you are still sorely missed.  I hope they have SAE signs where you are now.

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