We continue to explore the career of “The Boss”-Bruce Springsteen.
In September 1973 his second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, was released, again to critical acclaim but no commercial success. Springsteen’s songs became grander in form and scope, with the E Street Band providing a less folky, more R&B vibe and the lyrics often romanticized teenage street life. “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” and “Incident on 57th Street” would become fan favorites, and the long, rousing “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” continues to rank among Springsteen’s most beloved concert numbers.
In the May 22, 1974, issue of Boston’s The Real Paper, music critic Jon Landau wrote after seeing a performance at the Harvard Square Theater, “I saw rock and roll’s future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time.”[20] Landau subsequently became Springsteen’s manager and producer, helping to finish the epic new album, Born to Run. Given an enormous budget in a last-ditch effort at a commercially viable record, Springsteen became bogged down in the recording process while striving for a wall of sound production. But, fed by the release of an early mix of “Born to Run” to progressive rock radio, anticipation built toward the album’s release. All in all the album took more than 14 months to record, with six months alone spent on the song “Born To Run”. During this time Springsteen battled with anger and frustration over the album, saying he heard “sounds in [his] head” that he could not explain to the others in the studio. It was during these recording sessions that “Miami” Steve Van Zandt would stumble into the studio just in time to help Springsteen organize the horn section on “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” (it is his only written contribution to the album), and eventually led to his joining the E Street Band.[citation needed] Van Zandt had been a long-time friend of Springsteen, as well as a collaborator on earlier musical projects, and understood where he was coming from, which helped him to translate some of the sounds Springsteen was hearing. Still, by the end of the grueling recording sessions, Springsteen was not satisfied, and, upon first hearing the finished album, threw the record into the alley and told Jon Landau he would rather just cut the album live at The Bottom Line, a place he often played.[21]
1975–1983: Breakthrough
On August 13, 1975, Springsteen and the E Street Band began a five-night, 10-show stand at New York’s Bottom Line club. The engagement attracted major media attention, was broadcast live on WNEW-FM, and convinced many skeptics[who?] that Springsteen was for real. (Decades later, Rolling Stone magazine would name the stand as one of the 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll.)[22] Oklahoma City rock radio station WKY, in association with Carson Attractions, staged an experimental promotional event that resulted in a sold out house at the (6000 seat) Civic Center Music Hall. With the release of Born to Run on August 25, 1975, Springsteen finally found success. The album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and while reception at U.S. top 40 radio outlets for the album’s two singles were not overwhelming (“Born to Run” reached a modest No. 23 on the Billboard charts, and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” only hit #83), almost every track on the album received album-oriented rock airplay, especially “Born to Run”, “Thunder Road”, “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” and “Jungleland”, all of which remain perennial favorites on many classic rock stations. With its panoramic imagery, thundering production and desperate optimism, Born to Run is considered by some fans to be among the best rock and roll albums of all time and Springsteen’s finest work. Springsteen appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek in the same week, on October 27 of that year. So great did the wave of publicity become that Springsteen eventually rebelled against it during his first venture overseas, tearing down promotional posters before a concert appearance in London.
A legal battle with former manager Mike Appel kept Springsteen out of the studio for nearly a year, during which time he kept the E Street Band together through extensive touring across the U.S. Despite the optimistic fervor with which he often performed, his new songs had taken a more somber tone than much of his previous work. Reaching settlement with Appel in 1977, Springsteen returned to the studio, and the subsequent sessions produced Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978). Musically, this album was a turning point in Springsteen’s career. Gone were the raw, rapid-fire lyrics, outsized characters and long, multi-part musical compositions of the first two albums; now the songs were leaner and more carefully drawn and began to reflect Springsteen’s growing intellectual and political awareness. The cross-country 1978 tour to promote the album would become legendary for the intensity and length of its shows.[citation needed]
Springsteen at Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport in Ivory Coast during Amnesty International’s 1988 Human Rights Now! Tour.By the late 1970s, Bruce Springsteen had earned a reputation in the pop world as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band had achieved a U.S. No. 1 pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of Greetings’ “Blinded by the Light” in early 1977. Patti Smith reached No. 13 with her take on Springsteen’s unreleased “Because the Night” (with revised lyrics by Smith) in 1978, while The Pointer Sisters hit No. 2 in 1979 with Springsteen’s also unreleased “Fire”.
In September 1979, Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear power collective at Madison Square Garden for two nights, playing an abbreviated set while premiering two songs from his upcoming album. The subsequent No Nukes live album, as well as the following summer’s No Nukes documentary film, represented the first official recordings and footage of Springsteen’s fabled live act, as well as Springsteen’s first tentative dip into political involvement.
Springsteen continued to consolidate his thematic focus on working-class life with the 20-song double album The River in 1980, which included an intentionally paradoxical range of material from good-time party rockers to emotionally intense ballads, and finally yielded his first hit Top Ten single as a performer, “Hungry Heart”. This album marked a shift in Springsteen’s music toward a pop-rock sound that was all but missing from any of his earlier work.[citation needed] This is apparent in the stylistic adoption of certain eighties pop-rock hallmarks like the reverberating-tenor drums, very basic percussion/guitar and repetitive lyrics apparent in many of the tracks. The title song pointed to Springsteen’s intellectual direction, while a couple of the lesser-known tracks presaged his musical direction. The album sold well, becoming his first topper on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, and a long tour in 1980 and 1981 followed, featuring Springsteen’s first extended playing of Europe and ending with a series of multi-night arena stands in major cities in the U.S.
The River was followed in 1982 by the stark solo acoustic Nebraska. Recording sessions had been held to expand on a demo tape Springsteen had made at his home on a simple, low-tech four-track tape deck. However during the recording process Springsteen and producer Landau realized the songs worked better as solo acoustic numbers than full band renditions and the original demo tape was released as the album. Although the recordings of the E Street Band were shelved, other songs from these sessions would later be released, including “Born in the U.S.A.” and “Glory Days”. According to the Marsh biographies, Springsteen was in a depressed state when he wrote this material, and the result is a brutal depiction of American life. While Nebraska did not sell as well as Springsteen’s two previous albums, it garnered widespread critical praise (including being named “Album of the Year” by Rolling Stone magazine’s critics) and influenced later significant works by other major artists, including U2’s album The Joshua Tree. It helped inspire the musical genre known as lo-fi music, becoming a cult favorite among indie-rockers. Springsteen did not tour in conjunction with Nebraska’s release.
Reports: Envelope Sent To Senator’s Office Tests Positive For Ricin Poision
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/16/177519356/reports-envelopes-sent-to-senators-office-tests-positive-for-ricin-poision
Quoting “congressional and law enforcement sources,” CNN is reporting that an envelope sent to a senator’s office have tested positive for the poison ricin.
“After the envelope tested positive in a first routine test, it was retested two more times, each time coming up positive, the law enforcement source said,” CNN reports. “The package was then sent to a Maryland lab for further testing.”
Quoting “two sources,” Politico reports the envelope was sent to the office of Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi.
NPR’s Tamara Keith reports that Sen. Harry Reid’s office said the package was sent to Wicker’s office.
Newtown families ask for meeting with Mitch McConnell
Posted by Greg Sargent on April 16, 2013 at 4:03 pm
A representative for families of the Newtown shooting victims has asked Senator Mitch McConnell to hold a meeting with them, according to sources familiar with the request. McConnell’s office initially declined the request on the basis of scheduling, a source says — and now family members are set to call McConnell and reiterate the request personally.
How will McConnell respond?
The request – if granted — would allow the families to directly confront the primary architect of the GOP’s strategy of blocking everything Dems propose to slow the tide of gun violence. If it is denied, it would be a big story, and could lend support to the argument that Republicans are callously rebuffing the families — and prioritizing the gun lobby over them – in the wake of a massacre that claimed the lives of 20 Newtown children.
more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/04/16/newtown-families-ask-for-meeting-with-mitch-mcconnell/
LOL
Just to lighten things up a bit
East of Eden
By Steve Benen
–
Tue Apr 16, 2013 1:45 PM EDT.
9
Associated Press
Michael Potter, the Eden Foods founder and CEO, is one of the folks suing the Obama administration over its policy covering contraception as basic preventive care. Salon’s Irin Carmon asked him why.
“Because I’m a man, number one and it’s really none of my business what women do,” Potter said. So, then, why bother suing? “Because I don’t care if the federal government is telling me to buy my employees Jack Daniel’s or birth control. What gives them the right to tell me that I have to do that? That’s my issue, that’s what I object to, and that’s the beginning and end of the story.” He added, “I’m not trying to get birth control out of Rite Aid or Wal-Mart, but don’t tell me I gotta pay for it.”
That’s a doozy of a quote, so let’s unwrap it a bit.
First, plenty of men are capable of supporting women’s access to contraception. It’s troubling some find this confusing.
Second, comparing birth control to whiskey is kind of odd.
Third, the federal government tells Potter and other business leaders to pay for all sorts of things — minimum wages, safety equipment, etc. — they might otherwise not want to pay for. That’s not grounds for a lawsuit; it’s generally just considered the literal bare minimum of modern corporate responsibility. Indeed, under federal health care law, employees who get their insurance through their employers will get all kinds of benefits without a copay, but notice that Potter isn’t suing over eye exams or colonoscopies.
And fourth, under the Obama administration’s compromise, Potter and other opponents of contraception don’t have to pay for the coverage directly, anyway.
All of which is to say, there must be something more to this. Potter wouldn’t bother hiring a bunch of lawyers to sue the administration if he actually believed “it’s really none of my business what women do.”
——————————————————————————–
So, Carmon pushed further.
Why sue over this if he had no particular issue with contraception, as the suit — “these procedures almost always involve immoral and unnatural practices,” his court filing explained — clearly alleges he does out of religious conviction? Well, he said, he opposes “using abortion as birth control, definitely.”
Of course, this doesn’t make sense, either. Contraception isn’t abortion, and abortion isn’t covered under the health care law. Potter did look into this before filing a federal lawsuit, right?
The CEO added, “I’m not an expert in anything.” That’s good to know.
He went on to say, “I am qualified to have an opinion about what health insurance I pay for.” That’s true, though he’s doing more than having an opinion — there’s that federal lawsuit — and under the administration’s existing policy, he still doesn’t have to pay for birth control.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/04/16/17780992-east-of-eden?lite
Maria Tallchief, the first Native American prima ballerina of the New York City Ballet, died Thursday at age 88. In her decades-long career, she was instrumental in elevating her companies and her choreographers to stardom, turning once-unfavored productions like “The Nutcracker” into modern classics. For many, she was the quintessential American ballerina, providing a presence to answer to Europe’s and Russia’s centuries of tradition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0y_tWR07F7Y
http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/04/watch_maria_tallchief_groundbreaking_prima_ballerina_perform_firebird.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+racewireblog+%28ColorLines%29
slave catchers gotta meet too, I guess…
SG2…where’s that cooning graphic?
…………………………………………
Herman Cain returns to spotlight with American Black Conservatives group
By Krissah Thompson,
Published: April 15
Washington, the Hermanator is back
Remember him?
Herman Cain steps up to microphones at the Willard hotel on Monday after a two-day meeting of a dozen black conservatives that he pulled together. Mr. 9-9-9 has come out of the meetings with a catchy name for his group. They are the ABCs — American Black Conservatives.
After surging to the front of the GOP primary field in 2011 — before flaming out amid a wave of sexual harassment allegations — Cain returned home to Georgia to his radio show, relatively forgotten. Standing before the mikes on Monday he seems to sense another moment in the blazing sun on what happens to be an overcast day in the nation’s capital — a moment not solely for himself but for an entire cadre of “like-minded Americans who happen to be black.”
The former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza acted as something of a godfather to the ABCs, including the famed neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has reaped his share of controversy of late for his remarks lumping together homosexuality, pedophilia and bestiality. The pair were joined by the founder of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, a former Ohio secretary of state, a former U.S. Housing and Urban Development secretary, a radio personality and a niece of Martin Luther King Jr., who has become a conservative activist.
Together, they are searching for solidarity at what appears to be a critical juncture for minorities in a Republican Party that has acknowledged it is too old and too white to keep pace with an increasingly diverse electorate. And Cain is putting himself out front. Again.
His news conference is held in a room named for progressive Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. In attendance: three cameramen and three reporters, including one from the conservative publication NewsMax and another from CNN who is visibly disappointed when told that Carson had skipped the Monday event.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/herman-cain-returns-to-spotlight-with-american-black-conservatives-group/2013/04/15/8ed18794-a392-11e2-be47-b44febada3a8_story.html
He’s GRIFTING.
Americans for Prosperity wants Gov Snyder to use cuts to education & state employees to fund road repairs
By Eclectablog on April 16, 2013 in Conservatives, Taxes
At least they’re not hiding it…
As the debate rages on where to get the millions of dollars in funding needed to repair Michigan’s crumbling roads and bridges, Americans for Prosperity have an answer: use cuts to education and state employee wages to pay for them.
Scott Hagerstrom is the state director of Americans for Prosperity. He says Michigan shouldn’t be raising taxes.
“We already have the fifth highest tax on gasoline in the country,” says Hagerstrom, “And under his proposal, we would have the highest tax on gasoline in the country.”
Hagerstrom says state lawmakers should instead use this year’s budget surplus, along with cuts to education and state employee paychecks to fund the governor’s road construction plan.
Americans for Prosperity plans to hold a series of public meetings around the state in the coming weeks.
That’s right, just like the billions in tax breaks given to corporations in Michigan were paid for on the backs of children, senior citizens and the middle class, AFP wants to suck even more money from these groups to pay for something that should be paid for by those who benefit most from them.
It’s part and parcel of their effort to publicize costs and privatize benefits. These corporate shills are no longer doing it quietly and surreptitiously. They are blatant in their efforts to make sure that corporate America continues to receive their corporate welfare by placing the burden on those already hardest hit. When groups like AFP have massive corporate financial backing, it’s amazing how much of a public whore they are willing to be.
http://www.eclectablog.com/2013/04/americans-for-prosperity-wants-gov-snyder-to-use-education-cuts-state-employees-to-fund-road-repairs.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+eclectablog%2FkInS+%28Eclectablog%29
Soul Brother
by BooMan
Tue Apr 16th, 2013 at 02:03:41 PM EST
From the president’s remarks:
We also know this — the American people refuse to be terrorized. Because what the world saw yesterday in the aftermath of the explosions were stories of heroism and kindness, and generosity and love: Exhausted runners who kept running to the nearest hospital to give blood, and those who stayed to tend to the wounded, some tearing off their own clothes to make tourniquets. The first responders who ran into the chaos to save lives. The men and women who are still treating the wounded at some of the best hospitals in the world, and the medical students who hurried to help, saying “When we heard, we all came in.” The priests who opened their churches and ministered to the hurt and the fearful. And the good people of Boston who opened their homes to the victims of this attack and those shaken by it.
So if you want to know who we are, what America is, how we respond to evil — that’s it. Selflessly. Compassionately. Unafraid.
What? No duct tape and plastic sheeting?
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/4/16/14341/2953
A Deaniac No More
Monday, April 15, 2013 | Posted by Spandan C at 11:38 AM
This isn’t easy for me to write. I got my start in politics 10 years ago in the presidential campaign of Gov. Howard Dean. It was a campaign that I joined not just because of Gov. Dean’s bold opposition to the Iraq war but also his pragmatic record as the governor of Vermont. I slugged through the snow in New Hampshire, knocked on doors in Phoenix, and spent more nights organizing in my home state of California than I can count.
When Howard Dean didn’t make it to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, I was a founding member of our local DFA chapter, known as the Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley. I was in San Francisco for DFA’s launch. When he ran for party chair in 2005, we lobbied our DNC members. I served on the Board of the local DFA chapter for a few years, and as a Co-Chair for two years, determined to spread Gov. Dean’s vision of fiscal responsibility and social progress. I adopted the monkier ‘Deaniac83’ proudly and early on.
I can no longer call myself a Deaniac in good conscience. Not any more. Not after this:
Gov. Dean is really ticked off because the president’s budget restores most of the Pentagon cuts sequestration imposes. Obama’s budget offers $100 billion in defense cuts, replacing the $500 billion in cuts from the sequester. That the president does that in his budget while also saving about the same amount through adjusting Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustments to a more accurate inflation measure has the former Chairman of the DNC thinking about leaving the party.
Never mind, of course, that the president’s budget actually also spares the domestic discretionary budget by the same measure, and concentrates the cuts instead on giveaways to agribusiness (guess Dean might not like it so much; Vermont is, after all, a farm state) and cracking down on Medicare abuse and reforming the Medicare payment system. Never mind that the same budget proposes to fund universal preschool (something as I recall from the 2004 campaign, Howard Dean used to be pretty fond of). Never mind that it raises $580 billion in additional revenues from the rich. Also, never mind that the president is the Commander in Chief, and every budget and defense expert has said the dumb sequester cuts will harm the actual military readiness.
No, never mind any of that. Let’s all lament how the status quo is great and preferable to the Obama budget (actually, he said as much). Why would you want every child in America to be able to get an pre-K when you can cut defense? Why would you want to raise more than a half trillion in revenue from the rich when you can cut defense? Why would you want to increase the minimum wage to $9 an hour and peg it to inflation when you can pontificate about defense cuts not being big enough?
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/04/a-deaniac-no-more.html
How out of touch is today’s GOP?
Posted by Greg Sargent on April 16, 2013 at 2:02 pm
submit to reddit
I already touched on today’s new Post poll this morning, but there are a bunch of numbers in here that really deserve their own post.
To wit: It finds that only 23 percent of Americans — that would be fewer than one in four — believe the Republican Party is “in touch with the concerns of most people in the United States today,” while 70 percent believe that it is “out of touch.” Among independents, those numbers are 23-70. Among moderates they’re 20-75.
By contrast, Americans say by 51-46 that Obama is in touch. Among moderates that’s 56-42 (he fares worse among independents, 44-53, though far better than Republicans).
At the same time, the poll finds the public siding with Obama and Democrats on many major issues surveyed. Americans disapprove of the sequester cuts, 57-35 — cuts that Republicans are describing as a “victory” for them. Americans support a path to legality for illegal immigrants by 64-32. In fairness, the poll doesn’t test citizenship specifically, so this finding is somewhat inconclusive, but a new CNN poll finds that 84 percent back a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who have a job and pay back taxes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/04/16/how-out-of-touch-is-todays-gop/
On immigration, will Republicans take Yes for an answer?
Posted by Jamelle Bouie on April 16, 2013 at 11:56 am
submit to reddit
The Senate “Gang of Eight” has released a memo outlining its comprehensive immigration reform proposal. The details should be familiar to anyone following the legislative journey.
Republicans and Democrats have agreed to a path to citizenship — unauthorized immigrants who have lived in the United States continually since before December 31, 2011 will be eligible for “Registered Provisional Immigrant Status” if they pay back taxes, fines, and haven’t been convicted of a felony. And after ten years, they would be eligible for green cards if they have demonstrated knowledge of English and paid an additional fine. The bill includes a fast track to a green card for DREAM Act applicants, a guest worker program, a new merit-based visa system, and a higher cap for high-skilled workers, provided they don’t undercut American worker wages.
What ties all of this together are a series of border security triggers, to assuage Republicans who fear a new wave of illegal immigration. The first requires the Department of Homeland Security to establish strategies for border security before any unauthorized immigrant can be given “Registered Provisional” status. The second, then, keeps those with said status from becoming eligible for “Lawful Permanent Resident” status until DHS and the Comptroller General can confirm that an employment verification system has been implemented and new border security measures are in place.
There is also a requirement for the federal government to create — within ten years — an electronic system for checking foreigners as they enter and leave the country through airports and seaports. Overall, these triggers would require DHS to spend $5.5 billion over ten years to enhance enforcement and further extend fencing along the border with Mexico
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/04/16/on-immigration-will-republicans-take-yes-for-an-answer/
Congress: Enact Expanded Background Checks
Target: United States Congress
Sponsored by: Americans for Responsible Solutions
With the first votes on background checks already underway, it’s important that your Senators hear from you about legislation to reduce gun violence in the United States. Senators Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey have proposed one sensible step: expanding background checks for gun purchases.
Sign our petition calling on the Congress to pass expanded background checks for all gun purchases.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/379/862/853/?z00m=20537124
We have a Boston thread.
https://twitter.com/Joshua_Newman/status/323961539797340160/photo/1
McCaul isn’t helping
By Steve Benen
Tue Apr 16, 2013 8:27 AM EDT.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who recently took over as the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told a national television audience yesterday that a “person of interest” in the Boston Marathon bombings “is in custody.” That was incorrect, and law enforcement officials went out of their way last night to explain there is no one in custody.
Shortly before his appearance, McCaul held a brief press conference on Capitol Hill, telling reporters, “We’ve been quite fortunate that this type of attack has not happened before in the U.S.” This, too, is incorrect.
http://youtu.be/uW2oW3l-w1Q
Rachel spent some time last night detailing the series of bombings we’ve seen on U.S. soil over the last 20 years, including the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, the Unabomber in 1994, the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the pipe bombs at the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, the bomb at an Alabama abortion clinic in 1998, the arson attack at a Syracuse temple in 2000, the 18 pipe bombs planted in mailboxes in five states in 2002, the 2008 bomb planted in front of a military recruiting center in Times Square, the bomb at a San Diego courthouse also in 2008, the fire bombs targeting researchers in 2008 at UC Santa Cruz, and in 2011, there was an attempted bombing of an MLK parade in Spokane.
And that’s just the last 20 years. If we go back further, let’s not forget the series of anarchist bombings in 1919 and 1920, including the wagon bomb that killed 38 people on Wall Street, which were terribly deadly.
The tragic truth is this type of attack has happened before in the U.S., and it’s not helpful for the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee to argue otherwise.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/04/16/17777639-mccaul-isnt-helping?lite
From Liberal Librarian:
Be not afraid
http://youtu.be/nqCYFpUAJ2Q
By Liberal Librarian
We don’t know who did it.
We don’t know if he was a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew.
We don’t know if he was left wing or right wing.
We don’t know if it was done with a political purpose in mind, or if his mind merely snapped, lashing out at a society of which he wasn’t a part.
At this point, we know nothing about the bomber at today’s Boston Marathon.
But I will not cower in fear.
I will not listen to the ones with the megaphones who are already using this as an excuse to settle political scores.
I will not hide in my room, or acquiesce to give up a bit of freedom for safety. Giving up one rarely secures you the other.
I will not pound my chest and say that the answer is more guns on the street, so that we’re all deputized, armed, dangerous.
I will not let hatred blind me.
I will run towards the danger, like hundreds of citizens did in Boston.
I will open my home to those who suffered and lost.
I will stay resolute that fear will not prevail.
I will trust that this country will feel its way towards doing the right thing. It always, eventually, does.
Our instinct is to give up on our fellow humans. One of my first reactions was to root for global warming to do its worst.
But that hopelessness is the one thing which will condemn us to extinction.
Hope is what keeps humanity going; it’s the only thing keeping us from falling into the abyss. Once we’ve lost hope, we’ve lost what makes us human.
I will not lose hope.
We don’t know what prompted the bomber to commit his act. But one thing we can assume with a clear certainty is that hope was lost in him.
I will not be that man.
I will not succumb to the thought that humanity is a cesspit, doomed to fall. One man bombed a race. Hundreds raced towards the explosions, to help out their fellow human beings. I’m with them.
I will not be afraid. That’s when I lose.
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/04/15/be-not-afraid/
Police searching apartment in Boston suburb
By JIMMY GOLEN
Associated Press / April 15, 2013
BOSTON (AP) — A television station is reporting that police are searching an apartment in a Boston suburb, and authorities confirm the search is part of the investigation into the explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
WBZ-TV reports that police are searching the apartment in Revere. Massachusetts State Police confirmed that a search warrant was served Monday night but provided no further details.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode-island/2013/04/15/police-searching-apartment-boston-suburb/eTCBooTgQBTfWykrEbKlyI/story.html
The FBI is leading the investigation into the explosions, which killed three people and injured more than 140 others.
Child Well Being Ranked State by State
Carolyn Buchanan | Posted: April 12, 2013
Which state is the best place to raise children? For the first time, the Foundation for Child Development (FCD), aided by data from The KIDS COUNT Project by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, has ranked the child well-being for individual U.S. states (rather than for the country as a whole) in a report titled, Analyzing State Differences in Child Well-Being. And the winner is…
New Jersey.
Massachusetts was a clear second. New Hampshire, Utah, Connecticut, and Minnesota weren’t too far behind.
The broad quality-of-life measure is based on 25 indicators of well-being, grouped within seven “domains” that include: economic conditions; health; education; community engagement; emotional and spiritual well-being; social relations; and safety.
The six states with the worst scores are New Mexico, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Nevada, and Arizona. The majority of states (33 out of 50) show improved child well-being between the data’s time span of 2003 to 2007. Hawaii, West Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania showed the most improvement. The states with the most deterioration of child well-being between 2003 and 2007 are Connecticut, South Dakota, Kansas, and Maine.
http://www.whattoexpect.com/wom/family-life/0412/child-well-being-ranked-state-by-state.aspx?xid=aol_wte-preg_6_20130415_&aolcat=HLT&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl36%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D298671
.
Faith In Humanity: The Most Uplifting Pictures From The Boston Marathon Twin Bombings (PHOTOS)
Read more: http://globalgrind.com/news/most-uplifting-pictures-boston-marathon-twin-bombings-rescue-prayers-photos#ixzz2Qd5FSh00
Roupen Bastajian, a state trooper from Smithfield, R.I., had just finished the race when he heard the explosions.
“I started running toward the blast. And there were people all over the
floor,” he said. “We started grabbing tourniquets and started tying
legs. A lot of people amputated. … At least 25 to 30 people have at
least one leg missing, or an ankle missing, or two legs missing.”
At Massachusetts General Hospital, Alasdair Conn, chief of emergency
services, said: “This is something I’ve never seen in my 25 years here
… this amount of carnage in the civilian population. This is what we
expect from war.”
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BOSTON_MARATHON_EXPLOSIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-04-16-05-26-46
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King, Jr
Good Morning, Everyone! :-)
Good Morning, Everyone at 3CHICS!
Yes, another night with Bruce! But a sad night for Boston.