THE DAMNED - Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics

Williams had first attempted suicide in 1993 by hammering a knife into her chest; the knife lodged in her sternum and she changed her mind, calling Swenson to take her to hospital.  She attempted suicide again in 1997 with an overdose of ephedrine.

Williams died at age 48 on April 6, 1998 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a wooded area near her home. While some argued that rather than compromise her art, she committed suicide, Swenson reportedly described her as "despondent" at the time of her death. This is what she is said to have written in a suicide note regarding her decision:

I don't believe that people should take their own lives without deep and thoughtful reflection over a considerable period of time. I do believe strongly, however, that the right to do so is one of the most fundamental rights that anyone in a free society should have. For me, much of the world makes no sense, but my feelings about what I am doing ring loud and clear to an inner ear and a place where there is no self, only calm. Wendy O. Williams died at the age of 48 years old.  I don't believe liberty allows anyone to take their life, especially, when the world makes no sense.

Florence Ballard - The first 6 minutes interview

...To the many thousands of Supremes fans, (click title to entry - thank you) the exhibition represents yet another sparkling tribute to the legendary girl group.

But to Florence Ballard's surviving family, the glamour and the glitter has long since worn off.

After the recent discovery of eight hours of taped interviews with Florence shortly before she died, in which she expresses fears for her safety, the Ballard family has raised its own concerns about the unexplained mysteries which still surround her death.

More than 32 years later, her sister, Maxine, now 65, firmly believes Florence did not die of natural causes and that she intends to have Florence's body exhumed in order to prove her case.

"We were told that my sister had died of coronary artery thrombosis, but she didn't have a history of heart disease," she said this week.

"There was no trace of alcohol or barbiturates in her system, but there was this brown cereal-type substance which was never identified.

"I believe she was killed because someone wanted to silence her."

But who? Maxine admits that she has privately confronted the man she suspects of being responsible for her sister's death....

Solid Gold (1983) Season 3 - June Pointer - "Ready For Some Action".

June had a troubled history of drug and alcohol abuse, and suffered a stroke on February 27, 2006. While in the hospital, June was also diagnosed with cancer which had metastasized in her breast, colon, liver and bone.

June died at 1:10pm on April 11, 2006 at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California in the company of her older sisters and brothers: Ruth, Anita, Aaron, and Fritz.

June Pointer died at the age of 52.

The DL - Amy Winehouse 'Valerie' Live

Police recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room.

A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 mg per decilitre at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."

Amy Winehouse was 27 years old at her death

Dinah Washington - I Don't Hurt

Early on the morning of December 14, 1963, Washington's eighth husband Lane went to sleep with his wife, and awoke later to find her slumped over and not responsive. Doctor B. C. Ross came to the scene to pronounce her dead. An autopsy later showed a lethal combination of secobarbital and amobarbital which contributed to her death at the age of 39. She is buried in the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.

Lotta Love Nicolette Larson

Larson died on December 16, 1997 in Los Angeles as a result of complications arising from cerebral edema triggered by liver failure. According to her friend Astrid Young, Larson had been showing symptoms of depression and her fatal seizure "was in no small way related to her chronic use of Valium and Tylenol PM".

Larson is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

A benefit concert was held in Larson's honor the following February, with tribute concerts staged on the tenth anniversary of her death in December 2007 and also the following year.

Nicolette Larsen died at the age of 45.

Mama Cass Eliot - Dream a little dream of me

Elliot had lost 80 pounds in the eight months before her death by fasting four days a week. Her fatal heart attack was most likely related to this extreme weightloss measure.


Cass Elliot died at the age of 32.

Phyllis Hyman Living all Alone (video)

On the afternoon of June 30, 1995, Hyman committed suicide by overdosing on pentobarbital and secobarbital in her New York City apartment. She was found unconscious hours before she was scheduled to perform at the Apollo Theater and died 3 hours later at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital. Her suicide note read in part:

"I'm tired. I'm tired. Those of you that I love know who you are. May God bless you."

She died at the age of 43.

Janis Joplin- Try (Live at Woodstock, 1969)

Janis Joplin died of acute heroine - morphine intoxication at the age of 27 years young.

Billie Holiday: I'll Be Seeing You, Carnegie Hall 1956

On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities.  Police officers were stationed at the door to her room. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959. In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person. Her funeral mass was held at Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City.

She died needlessly at the age of 44.

Judy Garland died of a drug overdoes at the age of 47.

It's Sunday Night

Judy Garland - Over The Rainbow (Subtitiles)

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

These artists need to organize, seek investors and have their own recognition.

Artists gather to protest the new Grammy Awards cuts (Carolina Cavaliere)


They will probably be happier with their own standards and they can even expand their categories.  I am confident there will be funding available from sources they would not expect.


I think this is really lousy of the Grammy Awards to simply weed out artists rarely recognized elsewhere.  Really lousy.  But the artists and their record labels should not wait around expecting to achieve a victory.  They need to have their own recognition program.  It will probably increase record sales with their own red carpet.  They will be able to promote their 'sound' better than the Grammy Awards ever could.


I am thinking maybe MTV or VMA might be a good beginning to inclusiveness, too.   Perhaps some of the Spanish channels could begin to sponsor their own awards.  It can be done.

...“Sometimes America (click title to entry - thank you) loses sight of some values because of money,” said Grammy winner Oscar Hernandez, “but when it comes to culture, it goes beyond money, and we as individuals need to fight against that.” Hernandez is the founder of Spanish Harlem Orchestra, who, in 2011, won the Best Tropical Latin Album Award, one of thecategories that the Academy is eliminating. Hernandez will be among the artists holding aprotest rally Sunday outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles as stars arrive to perform at the 54th annual Grammys ceremony.

In addition, musicians from the eliminated genres plan to hold a counter-concert in Studio City right after the Grammys, featuring artists from the eliminated genres, including Latin jazz, traditional and contemporary blues, Hawaiian music, Mexican Norteña, polka, Native American music, R&B, gospel, traditional and contemporary jazz, and Cajun....

Corruption runs deep in the GOP. Corey Rossi was never qualified for his state job, never understood wildlife management which is why he got the job.

Alaska, under big game hunter Rossi, has been setting their sights on Intensive Wildlife Management, to eradicate natural predators of ecosystems leaving behind out of control 'grazer' herds so there would always be unlimited 'takes' to hunters.  

Rossi no longer managed Alaskan wildlife for its citizens, it managed it for maximum profits to its hunting guides, although in reality, if the natural keystone species of predators are removed from the wild entirely there would be no need for guides so much as a direction arrow from the licensing bureau stating "Caribou slaughter this way."

Rossi was no unqualified to serve at the Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation that he would have allowed grazers, such as Caribou to grow out of control wiping out their own grazing lands and imperiling the species.

These are the people of the GOP.  They aren't qualified in any way for the jobs they obtain through stupid ideas that common sense goals are the best venue for government.

...But it wasn't just Rossi's advocacy for predator control, as opponents of intensive management prefer to call the activity, that made him controversial. Nor was it involvement with Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, a collection of high-rollers who spun away from established hunting and conservation groups with reservations about intensive management.

No, what really set Rossi apart was how he landed the high-profile job as director of the Division of Wildlife Conservation in the once prestigious Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Rossi got that job not because of what he knew, but who he knew: Chuck and Sally Heath, the parents of Sarah Palin. Once Alaska's most-popular governor, Palin became one of the nation's most controversial candidates for vice president. That, however, didn't happen until after she was elected governor with a vow to clean up government at a time when the state was in midst of scandal. Bill Allen, the head of the oilfield service company VECO, had been caught trying to manipulate state legislators in all sorts of ways to encourage them to hold down oil taxes. Palin promised to put an end to such shenanigans and come down hard on the oil companies, which she did....


Sad, but, true.  They haven't got a clue.  Ya think it shows?

How Alaska wildlife manager Corey Rossi was charged with illegal hunting (click here)

Craig Medred

Jan 16, 2012

Someone in a trio of Outside men that former Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation director Corey Rossi took on a bear hunt on the north side of Cook Inlet in 2008 is now in trouble with the law.

Who it is, what they did, and where they did it has not been reported. But what is known from an Alaska State Troopers statement is this: "Charges (against Rossi) were filed . . . following an investigation by the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, Wildlife Investigations Unit after learning of the offenses through an unrelated out-of-state operation conducted by another agency."...

Alaska wildlife woes raise red flags "outside" (click here)

Ben Long

Feb 01, 2012 05:00 AM

Anyone who cares about wildlife should pay attention to a scandal unfolding in Alaska.

Earlier this month, Alaska Fish & Game Division of Wildlife Conservation director Corey Rossi resigned under allegations that he systematically falsified bear hunting records and violated guiding regulations shortly before being appointed to the agency in 2008. If convicted, Rossi is guilty of defrauding the people he was appointed to represent and undermining the wildlife resource he was sworn to defend.

That may be Alaska’s mess for Alaskans to clean up. But Rossi’s fall exposes a cancer that is spreading through America’s wildlife management: cronyism and big money undermining the foundation of North American wildlife management....


Wildlife Management does mean making it sterile for hunters and tourists, it means maintaining a fine balancing act between wildlife populations.  If not done well Wildlife Management can crash ecosystems and there won't be anymore hunting because nutrient and water quality are lost while habitat is destroyed or used for human development beyond what it should.

Walker is the epitome of corruption or he is a communist, but, even Russia isn't this bad anymore.

Walker literally sent Wisconsinites into further peril?


There is a real possibility these extremist governors are communist in their belief systems.


An adherent or advocate of an economic system in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state.


Look at Snyder in Michigan, removing elected officials and taking public land for millionaire developments and golf courses.  The anti-union attacks.  That is all Old World Communism.  It just is.


This guy needs to be impeached and investigated.  I guarantee there is some kind of scheme Walker is looking at that will return the monies received in a settlement for the victims of Wall Street to the banks through some kind of legislation the Republicans are cooking up.  


Priebus is in here somewhere.  Priebus is scared for his job and is hoping if he can find a way to get Wall Street's attention so they will bail him out of trouble in Wisconsin with billion dollar ad campaigns for Walker.  It is Walker's only hope, especially now.


...Walker is directing the State of Wisconsin (click title to entry - thank you) to keep a large chunk of the money from this week’s national settlement with five of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders —money intended to help compensate those who were victims of the illegal mortgage practices that caused so many to lose their homes and to aid in the rebuilding of stricken neighborhoods—so that the state’s budget gap can be closed and Gov. Walker can head into his recall election able to claim that he has balanced the state budget....


There are fraudulent dealings in Wisconsin somewhere.  This settlement was intended for the people, not the government.  Walker needs to be immediately investigated if for nothing else campaign fraud by using these monies for a political play to prevent his recall.  He needs to be removed immediately.  If Wisconsin's are hurt then so is the general economy and its recovery.  The Justice Department in DC needs to step up investigations to the mishandling of citizen's rights in the states with some of the poorest track records when it comes to abuse of power.


The federal government needs to keep those monies out of Walker's hands until this is thoroughly investigated.  Heck, the courts can rule to bypass the state government and work directly with the people.

Topless in Vatican: FEMEN strips against 'Catholic witch-hunt'

...A member of the Ukrainian women’s rights group Femen (click title to entry - thank you) was detained in the Vatican on November 6 after holding a topless protest against the Roman Catholic Church’s “misogynist policies” under the balcony of Pope Benedict XVI.

Wearing tight black jeans and a see-through black top, Oleksandra Shevchenko managed to slip into St. Peter’s Square in the heart of the Vatican.

She held up a placard demanding “Freedom For Women,” struck provocative poses, chanted “Freedom! Freedom! We Are Free!” in Italian, and removed her shirt before being surrounded and detained by police....

If Priests were allowed to marry like most of the them want to, there would be contraception in the Catholic Faith.

And I am surprised the Republicans haven't issued a bill to provide for insurance paid pastic surgery to return hymens to women that would also be tax deductable.

...Anything (Click title to entry - thank you) that angers social and religious conservatives while annoying a significant portion of his own base does not soon fade, especially in a presidential re-election year...

President Obama is not a strategist. He has no political agenda he puts first before what is best for the country and to that end at least the USA still has its sovereignty after dealing with the Catholic Church. That is an advantage he has over Republicans, he actually values the nation's sovereignty, he doesn't sell it out to faiths and Wall Street.

I was returning for a lengthy trip otherwise I would have written this earlier.

That Catholic Church has many concerns for their sheep in the USA. Yes, sheep. For the profound disagreement they have with the Vatican one would think they would be more verbal.

Ninety-eight percent of Catholic Women use or have used contraception and the other two percent are nuns.

Only 16% of the American Catholics actually attend church. That might be because they can't relate to their religious leaders, but, still feel a connection to god. Most churches could NOT tell you their parishioners by name, so who is going to know if they actually attend so long as their tithing is in on track, for weddings, christenings, the sacraments and funerals.

Catholics are cowards when it comes to their hierarchy. Currently, the hierarchy is busy consolidating churches or shutting them down because the attendance is so abysmal. Sort of a Bain Strategy.

Catholics won't stand up for what they believe the church is doing wrong. Once before the church listened and realized many of their parishioners were becoming divorced. When they realized how estranged they were from their flock they started handing out annulments like candy so long as the paperwork is right. Officially the Catholic Church is against divorce, but, realistically they know there isn't a darn thing they can do about it.

The Hierarchy of the church lives back in the days of the Medieval Kings, when a word like contraception was used everyone would go, "huh?" Contraception wasn't necessary then or when the Bible was edited and published, because a lot of people died. That doesn't happen today, so the economic dictates of the day wins out.

If you want to know what the ELDERS say about contraception it goes like this:
My Grandmother lived to be 94 years old, Irish, 2nd generation in the USA, gave birth to eleven children, had 40 grandchildren and prayed the rosary everyday. I was the first granddaughter. When I became engaged she was visiting and began to ask me about the relationship I was beginning with my husband. She asked me, in private, straight out "How many children are you going to have?" I simply stated, "I don't know, we haven't really decided, I suppose it will depend on how many we can afford."

She stated, "Good." She also said I was to hold my husband dear and be a comfort to him. She asked me if I had thought about child conception. I told her, "Yes, the pill." She stated, "Good."

She also said, "I love my family, but, I had too many children. We were very poor and they had to struggle as much as we to get by everyday. I made sure they finished High School and encouraged all of them to get good jobs. They didn't have as many children as me and I was pleased. They had more time for themselves and making life nice for their children. 
 
The USA is a great country and we have done well here. Do you know I was born in 1902 and your grandfather in 1900. We have seen the light blub invented, the arrival of radio and the television. The ability to own a home and a car. But, what I have admired most of all my life is the ability of women to achieve their own sense of who they are and control their destinies and that is what I wish for you today."  

There is not a mother or father alive that would not want to have their children live a completely parochial life, but, it is not possible and to that end we make compromises and ask for the grace of god. After all, I am sure the confessional has heard many requests for forgiveness of using condoms. Ask any GI.

The socio-economic status is at much a concern at the faith most people walk in or at least give it their best try. Spiritual perfection is not a reasonable thought unless one is devoted to it. There are spiritual leaders to minister to all of us and for that there is gratitude.

When my father passed away I began to know him better than ever before. I his wallet was a man's prayer to "Our Lady of Smiles." It was to help him cope with being a father and a husband. He loved my mother. They went to church every Sunday unless their work took them away from it. But, he was not pure and he enjoyed her company and they only had three children. They had good friends and some evening gatherings the jokes rolled like water from a chalice. But, the women were good women and never denied their husbands.

The way religion interprets into the daily lives of people is very different than the lives lived by missionaries, priests and nuns. The average paritioner only hopes to be as pure of spirit as those they worship and TRUST THEIR HARD EARNED TITHINGS TO.

The Republican Fervor is political and Rovian in its etiology and has absolutely nothing to do with the unemployed or our recovery economy. To that end the Republicans are ABSENT.

I think President Obama did a remarkable job and I thank him. But, he should also consider, the sovereignty of the USA and its value of women cannot be compromised to reduce them to less than who they are or should be.  I think the President and his family are Baptist?  I might have that wrong.  He is a Christian though and much to his credit he has emphathy for those that are as well.

I have only one remaining thought. "Does the health insurance policy of the Catholic Church cover vasectomies?"

The same dynamic applies to the relationship between the American people and Wall Street.

When Wall Street bit, it hurt!

The President doesn't adhere to the ("Republican") USA Constitution

Those are the allogations of the Right Wing extremists like Breitbart.  


I don't understand what happens to THE TRUTH when it hits the Republican Party these days.


According to the Kings of Swing of the Right Wing, the Occupy Movement was created.  


The 'buyline' to the GOP is to spin and lie as convenient.  The #Occupy hasn't been followed enough in the lame-stream media in my opinion unless they are in danger through police aggression and as a result they are being defined by people outside the movement for the convenient of GOP politicking.  


The #Occupy Movement was not created by anyone except impoverishment of the American people by Wall Street.  When one is left without resources in their lives where do you go?  You go to the people causing the problem, hence #Occupy Wall Street.


Here is the latest REAL statistic so no one should be confused.

By SABRINA TAVERNISE

Published: February 9, 2012

WASHINGTON — Education was historically (click title to entry - thank you) considered a great equalizer in American society, capable of lifting less advantaged children and improving their chances for success as adults. But a body of recently published scholarship suggests that the achievement gap between rich and poor children is widening, a development that threatens to dilute education’s leveling effects....


I do believe the latest settlement by the government to benefit people effected by Wall Street Greed is proof of the lousy circumstances that resulted in the nation after the Bush Bailout of 2008.



Jeffrey Chiesa, New Jersey's attorney general, announced this week that New Jersey will receive an estimated $837.7 million from a nationwide settlement with five of the country's largest mortgage servicers. 

Landmark foreclosure settlement a good step, but not enough

Published: Friday, February 10, 2012, 6:01 AM

Accountability means something. (click here) That’s the satisfying message in President Obama’s announcement of a $25 billion settlement between 49 states and several financial institutions that used fraudulent foreclosure procedures. As Obama noted in his news conference yesterday, though, the efforts are not nearly enough. Only 2 million people, at most, will get financial relief. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) welcomed news of the deal, but said it was “a long way from healing the grievous wounds left by the crisis and deceptive mortgage practices.”...


The sad truth of the GOP and its extremists is they do not adhere 'as the law of the land' ALL the legislation that came over time that was derived as an understanding of our Constitutional Rights.  The original document, while inspiring, does not apply to a growing nation beyond 13 original states.


The USA has and continues to become ungainly in its geographical size and its growing populous.  Laws, binding laws, were written to handle 'the world for the USA as it has become.'  I sincerely don't believe there is anything about "Terry's Law" but due to Jeb Bush's politicking federal legislation was passed.  But, I suppose that is a matter of interpretation as well.


If I had to point to any one person in the federal government that does not understand the USA Constitution it would have to be Chief Justice Roberts as he couldn't or wouldn't get the oath of office correct on January 20, 2009.


So, when Right Wing talks about, it would be wrong to say 'discusses, the USA Constitution is the DESIGNER US Constitution they desire and not the USA Constitution as it exists and the subsequent RULE OF LAW that is consistent throughout history.


If I may quote former President Bush, "We are a land of laws, not men."  Exactly.  Now if the men of the GOP would stop 'designing' their own understanding of the American Justice System and the truth it would be good.