The Hell-Hole Spectator
Woodstock Authoritarians
While fulminating about the lack of “civility” today, they whimsically recall one of the stupidest and most destructive protest periods ever.
The unruly left-wing protesters of yesteryear have become the authoritarians of today, criticizing and clamping down on protests far tamer and more sober than the ones they engineered in the 1960s.
Notice that as liberals fulminate about the sudden lack of “civility” in the country and the supposedly chilling spread of nihilism and protest across the land they simultaneously celebrate this month’s anniversary of the hideously stupid and destructive Woodstock festival. Somehow the Woodstock protests were charming and harmless, according to their moral calculations, while today’s raucous townhall meetings are perilous to the future of the republic.
Last week the Washington Post, in the midst of its pooh-poohing of the townhall protests, ran a piece by Jeanne McManus that extolled the “spirit” of Woodstock. McManus whimsically recalled a lost opportunity to attend that glorious event.
“A guy I hardly knew” tendered the “loosely issued” invitation, but McManus passed, owing to an editing job she had taken ten days earlier. “As that VW bus rolled north,” she was stuck in a cubicle, “wearing a skirt, blouse, stockings and shoes.” She adds importantly, “women couldn’t wear pants in that office. I might as well have been bound with rope.”
“I had driven myself smack dab into a brick wall of obligation and responsibility,” she sighs. But in a searing self-assessment she acknowledges that she “probably” wasn’t ready for a “long weekend of camping, chaos, wet sleeping bags, partying, sex, drugs and rock and roll.”
Fortunately, she says, Woodstock’s lunacies touched her anyways: “Was Woodstock a haven for the overindulged, self-important youth of 1969? Some of my friends think so. But I think that, to its credit, pieces of Woodstock’s own crazy world broke off and spun their way into a larger world, especially the one in which I dutifully participated; for about 10 years after Woodstock, its atmospherics were infectious.”
Woodstock made life more carefree, she claims: “After Woodstock, we knew we could abandon the car on the way to a concert, then hitch a ride back afterward and find the car still waiting for us. We could show up without tickets to see The Who and somehow find ourselves at the front of the crowd, near the stage. And the car that we had left back in the ditch? How did that happen? Who knows, who cares? When we got back to it, people helped us tow it out, as we knew they would.”
The world of Woodstock, she continues, was a world without identity theft, noting that after it: “I would sometimes leave the house without a plan, a destination or even a map. I’d book a one-way fare and worry later about the return. One night I left my fringed suede purse on a coat hook in a bar. I got home before I realized it was gone. But the house was unlocked, so I didn’t need a key; my wallet was almost empty of cash and I had no major credit cards — no one did. There was no such thing as identity theft. I never even went back for that purse. I had lost nothing.”
Never mind that against her paradisal vision stand the ruins of four decades of Woodstock-style pathologies. Ask a drug addict how liberating it was.
Today, thanks to its ethos, a girl who accepts a “loosely tendered” invitation from a stranger is more likely to end up as an ongoing segment on Greta Van Susteren than a carefree attendee at a concert. And that car “still waiting” for McManus? Would it still be waiting in a scenario like that today? No, she would probably find it keyed by drug-addled drifters. Her “suede purse” would probably be gone, her unlocked door ajar and her identity thieved in the night.
The self-delusion of liberalism is bottomless. It blithely celebrates the inane though no less destructive nihilism of Woodstock while treating as nihilistic traitors serious, property-holding, taxpaying citizens who protest a statist takeover of one-sixth of the United States economy.
Beneath the well-pressed suits of those establishment liberals who are now touting the virtues of “civility” lies the sordid attire of Woodstock, illustrating once again that no one is more authoritarian than a successful left-wing protester. And as the agents of previous liberal revolutions understood acutely, the Woodstock authoritarians know that they must cow vigilant citizens into docility, for the most sweeping revolutions are not carried out against state power but with it.
About the Author
George Neumayr, a contributing editor to The American Spectator, is co-author, with Phyllis Schlafly, of the new book, No Higher Power: Obama’s War on Religious Freedom.
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Appleby| 8.21.09 @ 6:52AM
The Woodstock Attitude is a touching faith that no matter how badly one behaves or how irresponsible and naive one is, there is still a critical mass of responsible, God-fearing adults in charge who will keep one safe from ones own toddler-like behaviour.
Those of us who had nothing to do with the whole Woodstock Mythology (but are the adults they are still counting on to cough up the cash and protect them from their own idiocy) are retiring now and Going Galt, turtling up and climbing into the bleachers, and gradually the Woodstock Kids are realizing that there is nobody at the wheel save they themselves -- and that indeed they have met the enemy and its them. Nobody is going to step in this time and save them from the consequences of anarchy.
P.J. O Rourke calls it Toddler Liberation: the freedom to pull down your pants in public, yell poo poo head in a crowded theathre and stick everything in your mouth.
These are the people in charge today. Are you surprised they cant figure out why everything around them is falling to pieces?
News Flash: The reason is that the people you always depended on to save you from yourselves and make other people leave you alone ... are gone.
As the old bumper sticker said: Got A Problem? Call a Hippie.
Lawler Nicoteri| 8.21.09 @ 7:01AM
Just the right age for Woodstock I was too busy working to waste time with a horde of overindulged morons in a muddy field. Pigs wallowing in their own filth. The defining moment of a generation? Hardly.
Rocco| 8.21.09 @ 7:28AM
I was a senior in high school at the time; it disgusted me then, it disgusts me now. I have no part of this idiocy. Appleby and Mr. Nicoteri said it right! My sentiments as well.
Pingback| 8.21.09 @ 7:33AM
Woodstock Authoritarians « The Right Cup of Tea links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Melvin| 8.21.09 @ 7:43AM
Come people, I was born and raised in Oregon and the citizens bore the brunt of aftereffects of Woodstock.
First of the Hippies had a penchant for old yellow school buses that they would turn into, love bus, or sin bins, as they used to call them.
Second the Hippies had a severe problem with squatting on other peoples property, and refusing to leave. The Hippies professed that they were free spirits and that they didn't recognize laws made by, "The Man."
Many land owners unfortunately had to also deal with the fact that Hippies loved to run around naked and fornicate pretty much whenever and wherever they wanted.
And when, "The Man," did finally get the sheriff to evict the Hippies of someone's private property what they left behind was enough to fill a landfill many times over.
Hippies were immoral, filthy, and disgusting human beings to be around, and they used to stand on street corners panhandling for money, singing anti-war songs and Bob Dilan.
After landowners revolted against the Hippies squatting on someone else's property, the Hippies then created communes where everyone shared everything, including each other. This communal-ism still didn't improve the Hippies personal hygiene either.
After a while once allure of the free love, free sex, free drugs wore off the Hippies came to the realization that living in a commune was not there bag because it involved the concept of having to work to provide food and shelter, so they trudged back to their old yellow battered school buses and went back to college, later to become politicians and political activists.
I guess old habits never change because politicians still smell.
melvin| 8.21.09 @ 7:47AM
Pardon my atrocious grammar this morning in the above post. Must be from lack of coffee and this damn poison ivy rash is killing me.
Denver Todd| 8.21.09 @ 8:04AM
Why does the authoer say that Woodstock was nihilistic?
S.L. Toddard| 8.21.09 @ 8:19AM
"The unruly left-wing protesters of yesteryear have become the authoritarians of today, criticizing and clamping down on protests far tamer and more sober than the ones they engineered in the 1960s"
Such authoritarianism is repulsive and repellant, and should turn any good-hearted, patriotic American against the party associated with it forever.
The “union thugs” that showed up to silence anti-Obamacare protesters are repugnant, and they and the party that supported them should be rejected as un-American. Identically, the “Rolling Thunder” pro-war meathead thugs that roughed-up and tried to silence the patriotic dissent of anti-war protesters in 2007 are un-patriotic and un-American as well, as are the people (Michelle Malkin) that supported them.
The MSM zombies that characterize anti-Obamacare protesters as “crazy”, “nuts” and “racist” should be recognized for what they are – anti-free speech, unpatriotic fascists, substituting ad-hominem for real debate. Identically, other anti-American enemies of free speech who use the same tactic should be also be recognized as unpatriotic fascists – like Rich Lowry of National Review (among many others in the establishment neoconservative media), who slandered Cindy Sheehan for speaking out against the war, calling her “unhinged” and “paranoid”, and who characterized good, dissenting Americans who protested the unjustified war in Iraq as "howling at the moon, bile spewing Bush haters". Silencing honest dissent with unfair, ridiculous demonizations is un-American in the extreme and anyone who does it should be condemned as the authoritarians they are.
The government agencies under Obama that are now monitoring the activities of right-wing groups need to be recognized for what they are – KGB-esque enemies of free speech, anti-American and authoritarian police-state rogues. The same goes for the FBI under Bush, which intimidated and deterred protesters at the Republican convention in Minneapolis. Silencing American dissent is un-American, period, and Obama and Bush and the parties they represent should be equally condemned for their equally anti-American, un-patriotic, totalitarian dispositions.
Let us all stand together and condemn the totalitarianism of the Obama and Bush factions, let us reject their anti-American parties and supporters and instead support Conservatives who respect the Constitution and the rights enshrined therein.
ex-hippie| 8.21.09 @ 8:44AM
No, I didn't go but I partook in the madness, hedonism, sex drugs and rock and roll of those heady times and almost turned my life into catastrophe. which eventually led to my profound conservatism. My journey led me from chaos to order.
From the beginning this rock concert-cum-drug-fueled mud bath was touted as nirvana for young people, but scratch the surface of this glittery media creation and you will find the usual lies and distortions, just like "Camelot" and Obama, another huge PR scam. It must appeal to the adolescent in media people.
However, I can't help myself--I still love most of the music!
Mr. Robinson | 8.21.09 @ 8:47AM
THANK GOD!!! Someone finally has the guts to point this out! I'm 38, and I am sick to death of hearing about "the sixties" (which actually means late 60's and early 70's). I had to suffer through guitars in church, constantly hearing how awful Reagan was and how our "last hope" was JFK and if only he had lived things would be happy and peaceful, not too mention that stupid "Big Chill" movie and its evil television spin-off "THIRTYSOMETHING" (which could have been subtitled "Why I Feel Guilty For Owning A Volvo And Living Amongst Other Affluent White People), BOTH of which are referred to every six months or so on NPR,,,I could go on. This whole hideous generation doesn't even know what its rebelling against anymore. They are truly the saddest and most mixed up (and hypocritical) bunch of white whiners I've ever seen. Grow up and get over it, man. And NO, I'm not condemning all people of this age group. I know MANY of them did NOT tune in and drop out, grow their hair long and go to a sit-in. They had the courage to think for themselves and not become pop culture junkies. And thankfully, a lot of them that did outgrew that garbage somewhere around 1979. The rest became English professors. Just ask Bill Ayers.
Phil| 8.21.09 @ 8:48AM
Nihilism (from the Latin nihil, nothing) is the philosophical doctrine suggesting that values do not exist but rather are falsely invented. ...
Can you think of a better word to discribe their actions.
Kitty| 8.21.09 @ 8:58AM
Dittos, Appleby! :)
We lived not far from Woodstock. I was 19 at the time and 7 months pregnant with our first child. The thought of wallowing in the mud with strangers, not to mention no bathrooms, was not my idea of a fun weekend. Our children know who there father is. How many 40-year-old 'Woodstock babies' can say that today?
...
Jane Fonda | 8.21.09 @ 9:29AM
I didn't burn my bra just so Sarah Palin could run for office!
Tim| 8.21.09 @ 9:45AM
Tortured metaphors Dept.
Today we've left our individual rights in the ditch and headed off to the Obama festival of communal living. Once we're broke, tired and covered in mud and sh*t will we be able to remember where we parked?
Bill| 8.21.09 @ 9:53AM
Of all, or most, of the responses to this article, Kitty's response, especially the last two sentences, said more than milions of words written of that era. Thank you Kitty.
Jeff| 8.21.09 @ 10:02AM
Jane, You wish you could fill Sarah's...........shoes.
Kitty| 8.21.09 @ 10:34AM
Your welcome, Bill.
...
Le Cracquere| 8.21.09 @ 10:53AM
As the crowds were cavorting at Woodstock, I must confess that I also spent that moment in time spouting nonsensical, poorly thought-out demands and quasi-slogans. I admit to freely wallowing in mud & filthier things, rejecting traditional hygiene, and angrily protesting any checks on my pursuit of pleasure and entitlement. Worst of all, under my veneer of good-natured free-spiritedness lay a humorless and dictatorial mindset.
But good Lord, man, I was 21 months old. (I'm still not sure what the Woodstock attendees' excuse was.)
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.21.09 @ 11:01AM
Let’s just get something straight right up front!!,.. 90% of those who attended that Woodstock thing?,. they weren’t there to change the world or protest anything,.. Nothing!!,.. not even the so-called “Evil” Vietnam War,.. they were there to hear the free music,.. get drunk,.. get high,.. & get laid,.. nothing noble!!,.. nothing high minded!!,.. so Jeanne McManus cries about "I had driven myself smack dab into a brick wall of obligation and responsibility," (when referring to not being able to go to Woodstock),.. like there’s something wrong with that!!,.. “I actually had to go to work that weekend damn it!!”,.. actually?,.. that’s the noble calling she should be talking about here,.. or about serving your Country during that so-called “Evil” War in Vietnam,.. those were the noble calling’s of the 60's!!,.. that’s the story she should be recalling here.
Then she goes on to say,.. "After Woodstock, we knew we could abandon the car on the way to a concert, then hitch a ride back afterward and find the car still waiting for us”,.. being completely and totally irresponsible!!,.. is that something we should be proud of?,.. the friggin’ Left is just re-inventing history,.. and their role in it,.. the only noble young Americans during the Woodstock era?,.. weren’t at Woodstock that weekend!!,.. either because they were working and paying their taxes,.. or because they couldn’t abandon the Post they were guarding in Vietnam,.. nor would any of those fine Americans ever consider abandoning their post!!
The Left’s just re-inventing history,.. their role in it was never that glorious,.. it’s all just lies they make up,.. to make themselves feel like they did something in the past,.. but in actuality?,.. they never did do anything!!,.. except bring this Country down,.. and they don’t want to face that truth today.
S.L. Toddard| 8.21.09 @ 11:04AM
Lullabys, Legends and Lies - what do you have against ending a sentence with a period and two spaces? Does that last post of yours look readable to you? It looks like the written dialogue of a drowining man. "Must... swim to... shore... losing... breath..."
Doug| 8.21.09 @ 11:08AM
Seems that godlessness eventually leads to authoritarionism. Only the format appears to vary, but not the destination.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.21.09 @ 11:17AM
S.L.Toddard: The first and last paragraphs I wrote above ended with periods?,.. I think you need to get your eyes checked out,.. okay?.
(see?,.. there’s a period after that question mark)
Can I ask you a personnel question S.L.?,.. did you take you medication today?,.. because you seem to be falling back into that loop you get stuck in sometimes?,.. “Both Parties Suck,.. so you can’t support either one”,.. we’ve heard this record before from you,.. and it just keeps going round and round. (See?,.. there’s a period)
S.L. Toddard| 8.21.09 @ 11:25AM
Can't... respond... running... out... of... oxygen... must... open... escape... hatch...
Seek| 8.21.09 @ 11:26AM
Nobody here has pointed out something obvious: The festival was held on the grounds of a consenting property owner. Whether one likes or dislikes "hippies" (not everyone there was one, I might add), it was farmer Max Yasgur's uncoerced agreement that made Woodstock happen. From a libertarian perspective, the people had every right to assemble peaceably on his property so long as he was compensated for its use.
A few other points:
1) The music, for the most part, was fine.
2) If the fields were muddy, that wasn't the fault or desire of the concert-goers. Even hippies can't control the weather.
3) George Neumayr should have talked to some people who actually were there instead of nursing his own primitive Hilton Kramer-style hatreds.
Appleby| 8.21.09 @ 11:28AM
Mr. Robinson, you missed the point of The Big Chill -- and I admit that in 1985 when it came out, I did too. I watched it with my sister (who is 59) a month or so ago and the message stood out clearly now I am 61:
The characters in that movie realized over that weekend when they faced one another over the suicide of one of their number, that their lives since university proved that their parents were right and they were wrong.
The scene in which Harold confronts his drug-addled friend Nick, exploding after Nick asks, "When did you get so friendly with cops?" is the Author's Message written large: "I've put down roots here. This place means something to me!"
Or, perhaps, the Message comes earlier when Harold and Sam are making up some bunk beds and discussing the fact that Harold has become very wealthy running a chain of shoe stores which is about to be bought up by a big corporation ... and Sam is a wealthy, well-known movie star ... and Sam comments, "What a life for a couple of revolutionaries!"
And Harold mutters, "Yeah, well, f**k 'em if they can't take a joke."
Listen to Sam explain to Meg why he can't just casually father a child for her as he might have done in his university days ... and watch the characters who cheat on their spouses in this movie and notice the barricades that go up -- between the cheaters and between Harold and his wife -- as a result.
Far from being a "Thirty Something" this movie says exactly what this column says.
If I were you, I'd go watch it again.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.21.09 @ 11:48AM
Where’s my medication?,.. must open bottle,.. damn child proof cap!!,.. light dimming!!,… must continue typing,.. the Republican Party Sucks!!,.. they’re Socialist too!!,.. must piss somebody off tonight!!,.. Period,.. Period,.. Period.
(Are you done picking on me yet?,.. I'm not going to change the way I write for you,.. just scroll by me if you can't handle it,.. I don't care)
S.L. Toddard| 8.21.09 @ 11:54AM
"I'm not going to change the way I write"
Why though? You write poorly. Wouldn't you rather write well?
You would literally fail grammar school if you wrote like that there. And it's not like it's any extra work - period-space-space takes up no more time than comma-period-period. You're like a rapper hoo intenchunally mizpelz hiz w3rdz.
Come now - show the English language some respect. Write like an educated adult.
Truth to Power| 8.21.09 @ 11:55AM
Lullabys, Legends and Lies,
Very funny but it isn't nice to make fun of crazy people. Noticing that he is unhinged apparently makes you authoritarian.
the aura of truthiness| 8.21.09 @ 11:55AM
Well, Appleby, you may have missed the conclusion of "The Big Chill". They gather 'round, and burble approvingly because the drug pusher and the suicide's airhead girlfriend are about to shack up and freeload bohemian style, just like the suicide was, with the same airhead.
And at the end, the entire self absorbed crowd decides that they'll NEVER be leaving this hippy paradise, with Three Dog Night kicking in to lock them into that happy fantasyworld.
The real world sucks, and only old 60's music and ideals matter, evidently. And you seem to be forgetting that the amoral shoe guy actually slept with that gal, with his disturbed wife's approval. Is there some type of distinction you're drawing between different types of fornication, and adultery? Soros and the Wall Street bankers would be proud... you can screw whoever you want... as long as you're rich, and Hollywood and the Beltway thinks you're pretty.
No, that movie was all about moral relativism. Nobody celebrates this, except the morally relativist.
juanderunner| 8.21.09 @ 12:13PM
Hey Lullabys, Legends and Lies
You must be a Bobby Bare fan, hahaha
"Drop kick me Jesus through the goalposts of life" hahaha
juanderunner| 8.21.09 @ 12:17PM
Thanks for the grammar lesson S.L. But, "You would literally fail grammar school if you wrote like that there" doesn make grammatical sense either. "There" implies a specific place while "grammar school" refers to a type of place. Maybe you need to re-read your e.b. white.
S.L. Toddard| 8.21.09 @ 12:24PM
"There" implies a specific place"
No, it this sentence it clearly does not. Must I now teach reading comprehension?
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.21.09 @ 12:25PM
S.L. Toddard: Who says I’m educated?,.
did I?,..
nope!!,..
I never said that!!,..
maybe I was raised by a pack of Wolves in the Woods,..
what the hell is it to you anyway?,..
don’t read what I write then!!,..
if you don’t like it,..
I didn’t know I had to have a college degree to participate here?,..
or get your Gold Stamp of approval,..
as the high and mighty “American Spectator King Blogger”,..
I thought?,..
and silly me for thinking this?,..
but I thought?,..
all I had to have was just some interest in what’s going on in our Country to join in here,..
I didn’t know I had to pass a Friggin’ English Grammar test for you,..
(Do you like it written this way better?,.. it reads more like a script now?)
Juanderunner: Yep,.. the name is from that Bobby Bare album!!,.. my Dad tortured me with this album during the 70’s,.. and I never really got over it!!,.. but It’s a good name in reference to our current Government and their “Lies”.
Joe| 8.21.09 @ 12:32PM
Denver Todd - because it was along with anarchy and many other stupid and insane labels we could use. Nothing good came of it, only bad. And now, it was not enough to push it on themselves they have been trying to push it on the us sane people for the last 40 years through government, media, schools and activism. When this generation dies out ( unfortunity I was a part of, the sane part) we will be finally free to clean up there mess.
S.L. Toddard| 8.21.09 @ 12:35PM
Come on, man. You're demoralizing The Troops with your punctuation.
I know conformity isn't your "bag", as you've said so often. I get it - you are a rebel, and you're not going to take any "guff" from "The Man" because you've got "moxie". What about the Children though? For their sake - and The Troops, and The Children Troops who will become regular Troops when they grow up - please, please finish your sentences with a period and double-space.
What if a fireman reads a post of yours and thinks it's from a drowning man and so jumps in the nearest lake looking for you and drowns? Actions have consequences, fireman-killer.
S.L. Toddard| 8.21.09 @ 12:39PM
"If he was drowning he wouldn't bother to post period-period-period."
"Perhaps he was dictating."
Joe| 8.21.09 @ 12:46PM
Jane Fonda - Go back to the Hanio Hilton and take your bra with you. It is where all you hippie malcontents belong anyway. And S.L. Toddard you can join Jane.
Cris Worth| 8.21.09 @ 1:05PM
Liberal smog that engulfed this country since the onset of the Kennedy administration has done considerable damage. At long last the skies are clearing and Americans see the wreckage. The Woodstock generation saturated with nihilism is a lost cause but we the people can make a huge difference by cleaning up our own lives, praying and raising our children properly.
Carrie| 8.21.09 @ 1:07PM
I am 30 years old and got sick of hearing about Woodstock/hippies/the fabulous 60's when I was about 12 years old. My parents came of age in teh 60's but did not, at ALL, buy into any of that junk. But, as someone who read early and voraciously, I quickly got sick of hearing about it when it seemed to me even then that all the 'protesting' was just an excuse to sit around, avoid the Vietnam war (our of fear, I think, not for moral reasons), get drunk, get high, and sleep with anyone one wished to. Anyway, I lived that lifestyle for about 8 months when I was 21 years old, got smacked upside the head by it, and am living with the consequences to this day although living right since then has helped immensely. At that time, interestingly enough, I considered myself a liberal Democrat and when all was said and done went to being a conservative Republican in the blink of an eye.
S.L. Toddard| 8.21.09 @ 1:11PM
"At long last the skies are clearing and Americans see the wreckage."
No, they don't. By and large they believe the "solution" to what ails America is to return the same party to power who - by launching two disastrous wars, spending more money than any liberal, utterly destroying the American economy and turning the Republican party into a world-wide laughingstock - are the very people responsible for putting Obama in power.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.21.09 @ 2:07PM
I used to hang out with the “Let’s re-invent the 1960’s” crowd,.. but that was in the mid-1980’s,.. we’d all get together,.. head out to the Grateful Dead show (when they came to town),.. wearing our Tie Dyed Tee Shirts,.. I never thought much of the crowd there?,.. but I loved the music from that period (The Beatles, Yes, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd),.. and I still do!!,.. but I don’t buy into any of that 60’s?,.. “Give Peace A Chance” crap,.. it’s just a song!!,.. and a nice song at that!!,.. but it’s not a military strategy that you’d want to adopt as a Nation!!,.. although?,.. I think France might be using it against the spread of Islam right now,.. I wonder how that’ll work out for them?
Now tread carefully S.L.?,.. Fireman-Killer you say?,.. it’s not even a funny joke to me!!,.. I’m from the Great City of New York,.. so you’re hitting a little close to home for me,.. I was in Manhattan that morning,.. I remember what happened that day,.. like it was yesterday,.. I remember waking up to the sound of the local Fire Station’s Alarm blaring endlessly,.. I remember the smells from that day,.. I remember the City turning into a ghost town over night,.. almost to the point?,.. where you could walk across the street during a “Don’t Walk Sign”,.. and not get hit by a Taxi,.. and this is in Downtown Manhattan!!,.. and then I remember the missing person’s posters appearing everywhere overnight,.. I also remember the flowers that appeared outside of the Fire Houses too,.. the makeshift memorials to our fallen Hero’s,.. that sprung up over night,.. and I remember the days that followed too?,.. and I don’t laugh about it,.. and I never will laugh about it,.. Not until our enemy is destroyed,.. so show our Firefighter’s the respect they all deserve,.. make a joke on me,.. but tread carefully otherwise,.. I had nothing to give that day,.. I was just a watcher on the sidelines,.. but I’ve changed because of that day.
May God Bless every American soul lost since that terrible day!!
rexvini| 8.21.09 @ 2:29PM
test
S.L. Toddard| 8.21.09 @ 2:30PM
Quit being a wuss.
Now, you've added a space to your punctuation conglomeration. All you have to do is add another space and subtract a comma and a period and we're good to go.
Cris Worth| 8.21.09 @ 4:03PM
A little history lesson for Tod. In 1964 Gallup took a poll and asked this question. Do you believe the federal government does the right thing most of the time? 75% answered yes. Then a Democratic President named Lyndon Johnson sent the boys into Vietnam when he promised he would not. Coupled with Great Society handouts the red ink we suffer today began then. Just one Great Society program, Medicare, the grand daddy of all time federal boondoggles has cost us trillions and trillions more in unfunded liabilities. By the way Gallup took the same poll in 1994...15% yes when the greatest nihilists of them all occupied the White House. God knows what the % is today.
Pingback| 8.21.09 @ 4:19PM
The American Spectator : Woodstock Authoritarians | Booty Biz links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Nobama| 8.21.09 @ 5:55PM
When Toddard fails to start a faux fight with the other bloggers it attacks the punctuation skills of one blogger in particular.
Ignore the troll--it is an arse.
Daisy| 8.21.09 @ 6:11PM
My favorite memory of those stinkin' HIPPY years? It was the warm spring day I stood at my Stanford dorm window throwing rotten tomatoes at the violent, rock throwing, anti-war student protesters below. I nailed a lot of them.
My second favorite memory? Making sure those same obnoxious liberal dirtbags couldn't get into our dorm to escape the riot-cops' teargas.
Those memories still make me laugh!
Joe B| 8.21.09 @ 6:15PM
On Telegraph Ave today I saw some young white guy dressed like a lawyer pulling down Obama-as-Joker posters off telephone poles on Durant Ave in Berkeley. He was loudly proclaiming to his girlfriend -- and everyone else on the street -- how racist they were.
The Free Speech Movement is dead, it would seem.
Nobama| 8.21.09 @ 6:21PM
Chicken sh!t white liberal guilt. White liberal beta- male facilitators like that clown are our real enemies.
Simon Templar| 8.21.09 @ 6:27PM
Their parents basically saved this nation in WWII...they will be responsible for destroying it..odd is it not? Like my punctuation Toddard? By the way Toddard, your smart ass, know it all, irreverent, and disrespectful style reminds me a lot of this generation. I would bet like them you really have lived a rather spolied, affluent, and coddled life.
Nobama| 8.21.09 @ 6:39PM
The problem is not generational, it's political--LIBERALS are destroying our country. Boomer liberals were a minority then as they are today.
Bet you most of those folks stepping up at the Town Hall meetings and organizing the Tea Parties are Boomers.
Paul| 8.21.09 @ 7:27PM
"We could show up without tickets to see The Who and somehow find ourselves at the front of the crowd, near the stage."
Has McManus forgotten the people who were trampled to death trying to do just that? Or is that too perfect an analogy for the Woodstock generation, forgetting the victims of their irresponsibility?
jim| 8.21.09 @ 9:00PM
The adults (local authorities) had to come and help them take care of themselves. They needed food and medical help because of their lack of planning things properly. Sounds kinda familar - huh !
George| 8.21.09 @ 10:16PM
The music, people, culture and times have resulted in the AIDS epidemic, the total disregard for life and its responsiblities, and liver transplants for the living musicians of this era. The bulk of the people lead down this path of instant fulfillment and gratification are leading hollow lives filled with distrust of themselves and others in their life. I was far too busy working at McD's and attending church funtions to even know what Woodstock was. After I found out about the particulars I then knew I had missed nothing! I own a large parcel of land in Oregon. The hippies left me enough garbage to fill 6 double semi's. This is the result of this perfect Woodstock culture. These same people now run environmental corporations that charge millions to dispose of the man made garbage they left behind. This in no way accounts for the human tragadies that occurred and to this day still occur as a result of this deeply misguide bunch of trash.
Sue| 8.21.09 @ 10:50PM
Somehow I think the "hippie freeloaders" will get their comeuppance. Look at Hillary; she got hers; relagated to the continent of Africa while her husband continues playing his harmonica, and the Nation debates (avoids discussing) her health care plan. What a comeuppance that is for her!!!!
A man (specifically a bi-racial man) doing the job she dreamed of for decades!
How sweet! Now, if only we can give all the rest their comeuppance the world may get back to normal.
Sue| 8.21.09 @ 10:53PM
Have any of you noticed how all of the little girl clothes are styled after the "hippie" styles with peace symbols, love, and other disgusting slogans from that era on them?
Thankfully, the younger generation of today isn't buying it. Maybe the designers are peaking and this is their last "hurrah?" Don't buy the stuff. Another comeuppance to the 60s hippies.
Lauren| 8.21.09 @ 10:59PM
Wait...how, exactly, was Woodstock destructive? You guys are supposed to believe in Jesus, right? Look at his ORIGINAL teachings...not the communist beliefs your church brainwashes you with as children, but his original message. There are thousands of books on it. Go to college. Wasn't his message peace, love, understanding, and compassion? How on earth did it get from that point to the hatred and intolerance you preach today? These 'hippies' were much more in tune with Jesus and his word than you'll ever be. Sad, really.
Lauren| 8.21.09 @ 11:06PM
PS, just to prove my point, my best friend is gay and his boyfriend lives across the street from me. :) WWJD? I'm guessing your answer is going to be "SHOOT EMMMMMM!!!!" Typical hate mongering God-fearing hypocritical bullshit of the conservative movement. Yawn. And I'm not even a liberal so I can only dream of how they'd react to the blatant idiocy I've read on this web site; although I guess you didn't CHOOSE to be born to rednecks in the south/midwest. You never got a chance to develop your own brain/ability to think for yourself!
Nobama!| 8.22.09 @ 12:23AM
Lauren, you are the stereotypical brain dead, closed minded liberal we are ridiculing. The 60's counterculture movement was NOT about peace and love--it was about promiscuous sex, drugs and selfishness.
The number of drug overdose deaths, abortions and broken families are incalculable and are the true hallmarks of the "If it feels good--do it" hippy legacy.
You said church 'brainwashed' us with COMMUNIST beliefs and then tell US to go to college? FYI, communism is atheistic and wouldn't be taught in most churches--except perhaps Obama's church with Rev. Jeremiah Wright!
The only one shooting anything around here is you, Lauren--shooting off your mouth!
Heather| 8.22.09 @ 12:35AM
Look at Lauren (if you can stand it). She is the "TOLERANT" liberal who populates Obama's authoritarian administration and creates 'snitch lines' to rat out fellow Americans. Liberals like her are the SEIU goons and thugs who beat up the Conservative black man at the Town Hall meeting and call Conservatives like us unAmerican and Nazis.
As we have come to find out about liberals; peace, love and understanding Lauren is ANYTHING BUT!
IMKessel| 8.22.09 @ 10:53AM
Lauren,
I can walk around and say I am a giraffe, but that does not make me a long necked leaf eater. Words have meaning and they work best when they corresponded with reality. Hippies preached many things, but the reality was disconnected from their words. They preached free love and redistribution of wealth, but their behaviors were some of the most misogynistic of the modern age and their lifestyles were frequently supported by their upper middle class parent’s incomes. Their drug experimentation was based on ignorance and is easily forgiven, but their philosophy was based on arrogance; they wanted to pull down the old structures without understanding the consequences and little regard for when they did. Theirs was a revolt of children. They did damage and few have repented for it. A person deserves forgiveness when they seek correction.
As for Christians and their behaviors, I am not fit to judge who is a true Christian and who is either looking to deceive the world or is self-delusional. Jesus taught a person (‘s character) is known by his deeds: :
15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. 18 A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.
Matthew 7:15-20
I wish you well on your journey of self-discovery. Be patient with others and you will learn to be patient with yourself. Only with patience can one nuture understanding.
Le Cracquere| 8.22.09 @ 12:10PM
From her statement that Jesus' message was primarily (let alone consistently) "peace, love, understanding, and compassion," one infers that Lauren is actually thinking of Oprah, not Christ. Anyone who's known a bored daytime-TV watcher realizes that this mistake is more common than it ought to be.
Still, it's nice of her to pity us for possibly being Southerners or Midwesterners--i.e., never having "got a chance to develop your own brain/ability to think for yourself." Still, if we were all as rivetingly original and obviously literate as Lauren, our titanic collective intellectual firepower would no doubt collapse into a black hole and take Earth with it. For our planet's sake, Lauren's palpable intellect and freedom from cliche and cant must be her lonely cross to bear. And Oprah's.
IMKessel| 8.22.09 @ 1:36PM
To pick up your fine point, Le Cracquere, and not to paint the guilded lilly (i.e., pile on sweet Lauren), but Jesus was not all about peace; he was all about doing what is right:
Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 10:34-39 NASB)
Parallels in the Gospel of Luke (12:49–53,14:25–33
As one who is raising a child, I can assure you that love is not always pleasant. Sometimes love means bringing on temporary pain so another learns to do what is right and good. Disciplining is not a pleasure but an obligation. Living for only pleasure is a desecration of what is good and holy.
If these words do sting, may they also bring you to understanding.
Jack| 8.22.09 @ 1:52PM
Lullabys, Lies and Legends:
I really shouldn't indulge in this, but here goes: your moniker, your thought process, and your prose style are jejune. Look it up.
Write like a man. Fast as you can.
Write like a man my son.
No blog is worth
Scrawling on the earth,
So write like a man my son.
Regards (and apologies to Franie Valli),
Jack
Jack| 8.22.09 @ 2:05PM
IMKessel:
Forgive me for commenting on matters of mere style, but when you cautioned yourself "not to paint the guilded lily," surely you meant, not to embroider on the painted, gelded lilac?
Regards,
Jack
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.22.09 @ 2:10PM
Hey Jack: You must be even more bored than I am right now?,.. because this thread is dead now!!,.. but I came back to see what I missed after I left it yesterday,.. and I get all the way down to the bottom of it?,.. and surprise, surprise,.. here you are?,.. telling me I’m simplistic, predictable & superficial!!,.. well thanks Jack (yes?, and I had to look it up your deep word too)!!,.. How very Christian of you!!,.. are you another English/Grammar Teacher here?,.. or just another ball breaker?
But tell me Jack?,.. What profound thing did you have to say about this article or the comments that followed?,.. other than jumping on me?,.. I must of missed it?,.. or I just couldn’t understand it!!,.. because you’re so much smarter than everybody here,.. especially me!!
Jack| 8.22.09 @ 2:26PM
LLL:
Matters of style are fair game. And remember, it *is* only a game.
But, please, what does " ?,.. " mean? Also, do you have an auto-button for ,.. or do you type it out every time?
Regards,
Jack
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.22.09 @ 2:56PM
Jack: The Folks I work with today?,.. they think I’m a bit of a “Stick in the Mud” too,.. but they respect me for it anyway,.. but I’m only this way now?,.. because I used to be one of those “we can change the world” types too,.. if only we held Hand Across America?,.. everything would turn out okay!!,.. but you see the World today Jack?,.. it turns out?,.. it is just a little bit more complicated than that,.. and obviously much more complicated than I can ever understand (according to you)!!,.. but the Woodstock way of thinking?,.. it didn’t work back then,.. and it never will work on this planet,.. so just keep your head in the ground,.. and you’ll get your ass shot off soon enough.
So I grew up since then Jack?,.. but I guess I didn’t become smart enough for the likes of you,.. sorry about that Jack!!,.. I’m just a regular guy,.. a plain common High School Graduate,.. your average Blue Collar Worker,.. a Worker Bee if you will?,.. but I guess you have to graduate from Harvard or something to have a point of view here?,.. or to have a legitimate opinion,.. so go ahead Jack!!,.. look down you nose at me if you want,.. but I’m one of those Angry Mob Types,.. who’s going to fall for it all over again?,.. “I guess I never do learn?”,.. who’s going to be showing up in Washington D.C. on the 12th September,.. to see if I can’t change the World one more time,.. but I’m not holding hands this time!!,.. I swear!!,.. so call me stupid if you must!!,.. Oh yeah?,.. I forgot Jack!!,.. you already did.
To answer your question about the question marks?,.. the (?’s) they just represent the question that I’m posing to myself,.. or to whoever takes the time to read what I’m writing,.. you need to add an inflection to you voice as you read it!!,.. and about the auto-button that would type out all the commas and the periods for me?,.. well no, I don’t know anything about an auto-button that would do that for me,.. so I do it the old fashioned way?,.. one comma,.. and two periods at a time.
janet| 8.22.09 @ 3:22PM
I still am trying to figure out how the Greatest Generation that fought the 'Big One' could possibly have seeded the 60's loser generation. There is not one positive thing that I can say about the Woodstock generation. Their feel good policies have wreaked total destruction on our society. Period. Thanks for leaving my generation with such a mess trying to clean up.
Jack| 8.22.09 @ 3:53PM
LLL,
I also am a blue-collar worker. I also am an Angry Mob type.
Don't hate me just because I'm beautiful ... I mean, just because I use beautiful punctuation.
As for the Woodstock-World, I thought it was self-indulgent nonsense then, and I think that now.
You wrote, "Keep your head in the sand, and you'll get your ass shot off soon enough." Well amen to that. A fine phrase.
Ye are the salt of the earth.
I owe you an apology. I wrote that your "thinking process" is jejune. Wrong. Your moniker and your prose style, yes. But your thinking process, as far as I can tell, is alive and well.
Yes, I do look down my nose at your prose style.
But not at you. Big difference. If you and I sat down for a couple or three beers, we'd be pals in about two minutes. Only my blog- prose, not my conversation, is stilted. Look it up.
And when I say, sit down for a couple of beers, please don't think of Obama (may-he-rot-in-hell-forever) and that decent cop.
Regards,
Jack
P.S. Harvard means nothing. Just look at the head-in-the-sand "liberal" fascists it's full of. Ditto Yale, Stanford, you name it. All education is self-education, which is why you and I are reading AmSpec. What else are you reading? Check out Destructive Generation, by David Horowitz. He's a former leftist liberal who saw the light.
You and I may cross swords on minor matters, but in the Final Battle we'll be on the same side. C. S. Lewis says it's the losing side, but we'll see.
IMKessel| 8.22.09 @ 4:56PM
Janet,
File under For What It’s Worth –
The Greatest Generation was labeled by Tom Brokaw; they did not ask for it, and since he was part of that generation, it is a bit presumptuous. (The rules are clear – a person cannot give himself a nickname!) The Greatest Generation has done much to deserve such accolades. In the words of one of theirs, Winston Church, “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.” They did keep a large section of the world safe for democracy. But they were not without fault. (No generation or people is.) Their society was largely segregated; this included the military (thanks to FDR) and they tolerated the interment of the Japanese while fighting for a safe world. (Thanks again to FDR.) Further, societal rules were often stifling and women were second class citizens. Hegel would call this period “thesis” (though he would have, and did, start with earlier periods, but the post war period is good as any for a starting point, or thesis.) The Sixties (early to mid 1960’s – early 1970’s) answered that people’s conservatism with radicalism (antithesis). The majority of American youth did not belong to the hippie movement, but it was a central and defining force. The Reagan ‘80’s started the period we are in now, the “synthesis.” Part of why the Left and Right are fighting so hard for the center (populace) is we are moving towards the next movement. If the Right/Libertarian philosophy is able to take root (and Ron Paul demonstrated it is possible), the country may prosper and know freedom and liberty as it has not since the end of WWII. If we continue down the Obama path, we will end up with a European style Socialist government. The time for a nuanced and modulated response is, historically speaking, past.
Americans are choosing sides. The path you choose will make a difference. Every choice will.
Or so goes the rantings of this mad man.
Proud Boomer| 8.22.09 @ 5:12PM
Janet, honestly, Shut The F**k Up! Only a small minority of Boomers were hippies; and if you had half a brain you'd already know that!
My brother, friends and boyfriend fought in that bloody hell of a war in Vietnam, and were spat on and ridiculed when they returned home. Too many other beautiful young American guys came home in body bags. The heartbreak was everywhere.
I DIDN'T: Sleep around, take drugs, get an abortion, burn my bra or engage in other obnoxious behaviors. MOST of my friends DIDN'T either.
I have worked hard, reared a family, paid my damn taxes and tried to remain a decent woman; so I don't need a snot-nosed brat lecturing me on the evils of the kids/adults I've loved and treasured since childhood.
Please, think before you speak--and do a little research before you thoughtlessly blame an entire generation for the misdeeds of a few.
Janet, from what I've observed of your generation, I'm not particularly impressed by what we've seeded, either, you know.
Big baby whiners extraordinaire. Toughen up!
janet| 8.22.09 @ 5:36PM
Proudboomer,
Your nasty post sums up your generation perfectly. Bitter are you that your Social Security and Medicare are bankrupt? Bitter that your philosophies on life turned out to be shallow and false? Bitter that you are part of a generation that is known mainly for its destruction of the family, morality and traditional values that once made this country great? So much for your free love. I'm not proud of most of my generation either, but look who are role models were before us. Not every generation was perfect. Not every person was bad, least of those from the 60's who fought in Vietnam. I have every right to speak my mind and I do NOT HAVE TO SHUT THE F@CK UP because you don't like to hear the truth about the damage your generation has caused.
Proud Boomer| 8.22.09 @ 5:58PM
You immature little twit! Grow up. ALL OF US are responsible for the mess we are in right now--including you! Janet, when you point your accusatory finger at others, three of your fingers point back at you.
The biggest mistake we made was spoiling mean whiny brats like you! Bet you a bundle that you blame everyone else for problems in your private life, too
You are no Conservative: Conservatives hold themselves accountable and have more dignity and humility than you do. I bet you are a huge disappointment to your parents, considering the fact that you think they are such horrible, despicable Boomers and all!
I hope, for your sake, Janet, you've been a perfect mother--your children will be just as cruel toward you if you haven't been. You've been their teacher, after all.
Proud Boomer| 8.22.09 @ 6:08PM
Janet, I'm not bitter about any of the things you've mentioned, because I didn't do any of them!
Unlike you, I don't whine and blame others--especially foolishly tar an entire generation--I will pray to God for help, be the best woman I can be and work to make things better for all of us.
Janet, you're the bitter one--because you wallow in self pity. I've had my share of knocks in my life, too--but I don't blame others, I go to God. He's the only way to find true peace.
We Americans have turned our backs on God--and it shows.
Palestinians Organs for sale| 8.22.09 @ 6:50PM
Sunday, August 23, 2009 Search go advanced search
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Free Patriotic Movement
Israel Big Scandal: Israelis are killing Palestinians for Organs
Did you know?
Britain rejects talk of deal in Lockerbie release
Quote of the day
How could it be? Where are all those organizations that work to save the human rights? Did they read what was written today in newspapers about yet again another crime against human beings and their right to decide…If you are asking "decide what", then continue reading...
Sweden's daily “Aftonbladet” published a report that said Israeli troops killed Palestinians and harvested their organs. The article headlined "Our sons are plundered for their organs," said Israeli soldiers harvested the organs of Palestinians after seizing them from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The report detailed how Israeli soldiers detained young men and after they died in custody returned their bodies with organs missing. The newspaper quoted several Palestinians as saying Israeli soldiers kidnapped their sons and stole their organs.
Interviewed by the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, on Wednesday, journalist Donald Bostrom said he wrote the article to push for an international investigation into the allegations.In his article, Bostrom discussed the case of Bilal Ahmed Ghanan, 19, who was accused of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers during the first intifada against the Israeli occupation.
The article says Ghanan was hiding in the mountains around the West Bank city of Nablus, fearing arrest. When he came down soldiers, shot Ghanan in the chest, legs and stomach, then took him to their camp on a military helicopter.Bostrom said he witnessed Israeli soldiers return the body to his family wrapped in green hospital sheets five days later. Bilal's chest had been cut open and organs removed. T
he article also carried a photograph of a dead Palestinian man with a line of surgical stitches running the length of his torso, apparently taken after an autopsy, as well as pictures of stone-throwing youths and Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, a New York resident arrested in an FBI sting last month and charged with plotting to buy a kidney from an Israeli and sell it to an American patient for $160,000.
At the same time that this organ campaign was going on, young Palestinian men were disappearing, and being delivered back to their villages five days later at night, dead and cut open," Bostrom wrote.Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon filed a formal protest with the Swedish government on Wednesday.
The story made headlines in Israel, where some commentators compared it to medieval accusations that Jews killed Christian children for their blood.
A Horrible, revolting crime done by the Zionist against the Palestinians... I call upon the entire word and specifically the Arabs organizations that work to preserve "human rights", to read the article and call for an inquiry...
Maybe will they be able to save those young Palestinians who deserve to live... As if it is not bad enough for them to be living in their own land, humiliated by the occupation, no it is not enough… They should also die and get their organs ripped away from their bodies for the Zionist to make money and live..what a bad irony!!
SAY NO TO LEFTIST HATE!| 8.22.09 @ 7:33PM
More SATANIC HATRED from LIBERALS.
LEFTISTS ARE EVIL!
tenrten| 8.22.09 @ 7:48PM
F woodstock
janet| 8.22.09 @ 8:08PM
Proudboomer (really now, please change your name): You think I'm wallowing in self-pity because I find fault with the '60s leftist, liberal mentality that your generation is responsible for? If anyone is loathing in self pity it is you because you were part of a generation that is universally derided for what it stood for (except of course in the eyes of Hollywood and the media which think the 60's generation was the 'greatest generation') Please state specifically one program that espoused liberal values of the hippie generation that you are proud of which can be classified as a success. Surely it's not abortion or contraception on demand. We all know what that make love and not war philosophy brought us in the name of teen pregnancies, rampant venereal diseases, high rates of STDs, etc. Surely you are not going to cite our public educational system which was the guinea pig for liberal experimentation for years which resulted in not just the ruin of our public educational system but also the destruction of the black family. Surely you don't call the feminist movement which was nothing more then a vehicle to deride men in general and women who chose a more traditional path? Or you don't think that your generation had anything to do with the problems our society now faces? I go after people and philosophies not with the aim or purpose of pointing fingers but to highlight the errors of continuing policies that do nothing but destroy our society. Nice of you to cite God. Maybe if more of your generation bowed down to that Almighty God instead of their own personal god of self, then maybe our society would have gone down a different path. Honestly, the authoritarian streak running through your posts combined with the near foaming at the mouth clearly highlight someone of the liberal mindset and certainly not someone with a conservative philosophy. I'll say a prayer for you at church tomorrow.
PROUDEST BABY BOOMER!!| 8.22.09 @ 9:12PM
Janet, better say a prayer for yourself: You need it, honey. I haven't had an abortion but perhaps you have and that's what's tormenting you.
There's something wrong with you, dear; have you considered professional help? Obviously, someone close to you has hurt you and made you an angry, bitter girl.
Better watch that bitterness, Janet; it's very aging. Ask God for His guidance and wisdom instead of blaming strangers for your personal disappointments.
PROUD BOOMER| 8.22.09 @ 9:24PM
Just remember, Janet--YOU started it by attacking MY ENTIRE GENERATION! It wasn't enough for you to attack LIBERALISM and the DEBAUCHERY of the 60s, you had to attack EVERYBODY in my generation.
Would you like it if I attacked YOU AND ALL OF THE PEOPLE IN YOUR GENERATION? Most likely not, but I would never do that because it would be terribly unfair to the many people in your generation I didn't know.
Your comment was a personal attack--no one else did that before you! You were mean-spirited from the beginning.
GOD FEARING BOOMER| 8.22.09 @ 9:33PM
Janet, if you really are a church going girl like you claim, you'd know that Jesus Christ loved the sinner and hated the sin. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, right?
Remember those two little nuggets of truth tomorrow-- if you really do go to church.
Pingback| 8.22.09 @ 10:45PM
Nice Shorts Michelle! « Jim Blazsik links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Truth Be Out| 8.22.09 @ 11:29PM
Palestinians Organs for sale,
Don't believe everything you read -- or post.
Propaganda is an ugly business.
Etiquette Man| 8.22.09 @ 11:50PM
To Daisy @ 6:11 p.m.--If I weren't already happily married, I would propose. I love any woman who hates hippies and is a dead-eye with tomatoes. Your last name wouldn't be "Cutter," would it?
To S.L. Toddard and L-Cubed: The grammar lesson got old really quickly, but, L-Cubed, your punctuation truly IS atrocious, proving that one can be both correct AND annoying, S.L. Toddard. In fact, L-Cubed, I do not read generally your posts due to the post-modern writing style. That's a pity, because you really do have interesting things to say.
In your defense, S.L. does sometimes seem to be suffering from a longish, rectally inserted wooden item (not unlike a stick) of considerable dimension. I--like Bubba Clinton--feel your pain.
So don't think I'm taking sides.
IN SUMMARY:
1. Presentation matters--L-Cubed. (Your (ahem) "unique" style of punctuation is profoundly distracting and reduces the effectiveness of your good points.)
2. So does courtesy and respectfulness--S. L. Play nicely.
Just my two cents.
Alan Brooks| 8.23.09 @ 12:26AM
here is my one cent worth, again:
It was 1969.
That's when people began to be liberated, when they could Find Themselves. And if they eventually found they weren't the people they wanted to be, were stuck with the selves they didn't know what to do with, then tough luck. You're on your own, you could infer, in a new world where everybody secretly knew that only imaginary rules existed. Before '69, people were bound by silly, outmoded, Victorian, civilized mores. Then, after '68, you could shed your old self, and your clothing in the bargain. It filtered down to the grassroots. On Sesame Street, Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog disrobed; even the Cookie Monster would take it all off, but only after you gave him several cookies. 1969 was the year of 'Oh! Calcutta!' and 'I Am Curious Yellow', both of which appear tame by today's standards. Today restraint is gone and you have to say, "I'm no prude", just like you say you're no racist-- and you say it as quickly as you can.
Tom Wolfe described what Beatles' fans did at concerts 45 years ago, they were in reality screaming "me, me, look at Me!" Just a few years later, in '69, exhibitionism began to be normed. Dancers stomped around stoned in front of the crowd.
Smoking marijuana almost became mandatory in '69. Grow your hair and smoke marijuana. At Woodstock, they thought they would take over the world so everyone could smoke marijuana, roll in the mud, and listen to ear-piercing three chord Rock and Roll played by an unending stream of musicians, some of whom had talent. Activist John Sinclair wrote a book titled, with unintentional humor, 'Guitar Army'.
On TV, being irreverent became the In-Thing in '69. You could insult any institution or persons, except TV executives. I mean, let's not carry things too far.
We don't want to undermine the social order, now do we?
The surviving Woodstock people don't give it all away for free anymore-- they are well off; rolling not in the mud at Yasgur's Farm, but in the dough on Main Street.
Alan Brooks| 8.23.09 @ 12:32AM
actually, it was fun in '65 for a short time, but then it got old, fast-like: today's anarchist is tomorrow's boring old you-know-what (this is a family site).
Mick Jagger was buff and handsome in '65, now he looks silly on stage. Like watching Gramps cavort at a dance in the nursing home.
Hot Con| 8.23.09 @ 12:47AM
I don't know, Alan--Mick Jagger's big fat lips scared the hell out of me when I was sixteen! He was too skinny anyway.
Big buff American guys have always rocked my boat. ;p
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.23.09 @ 6:59AM
Etiquette Man & Jack: My writing style has never been described to me as “post-modern” before, and I’m not sure I like it described that way either. So I’m not promising anything here, but I’ll try to clean up my act a little bit.
So it’s just a period, and then two spaces at the end of a sentence huh, without using any Commas and “double” periods between my thoughts. Okay then, it sounds simple enough to me, I’ll try to give it a shot.
So thanks to everybody, for any and all criticism about my writing style. I’ll do my best in the future to improve on the way I write, but old habits do die hard. And my “post-modern” way of writing and smoking cigarettes, were the only vices I still had left. So about those beers Jack?, I haven’t touched the stuff in almost ten years. Now I’m definitely not ready to quite smoking yet, so don’t even waste your breath trying to convince me otherwise on that. Let me deal with my vices, one vice at a time, okay?
So if I fall back into my “post-modern” writing style again, I do apologize upfront for that. But I have to admit, it took me twice as long to write it this way than my normal way. Now I know S.L. Toddard will take this as a personnel victory for himself, but it wasn’t his nudging that made me change my ways. Etiquette Man & Jack explained the problem to me in a better way, by explaining that my style profoundly distracts from any good points I’m trying to make. I know S.L. will say that he said this to me too, on more than one occasion, but I don’t like listening to him, because he pisses me off too much.
Let’s Go Yankees!!
janet| 8.23.09 @ 8:25AM
Proudboomer,
Not surprising that you could not answer my question to you about naming one liberal program that the 60's generation espoused that amounted to anything of value. Instead you are a typical hypocrite who cries because you are insulted by being lumped with the degenerate 60s generation. If I seem to recall, I expressed an opinion about the 60s generation -- akin to what the author in this article stated -- and you told me to shut the f@ck up for expressing my opinion. Now is that civil? Then when I call you on it, you are the one continually insulting me. I can handle it, but obviously you cannot. Argue the merits and stop the personal insults. It really highlights the fact that you cannot defend YOUR generation one iota. And insulting my parents, my upbringing, my parenting skills, accusing me of having an abortion all because you dislike my analysis, well now, really, do I need to highlight your craziness any more?
Michael L. Hauschild| 8.23.09 @ 8:54AM
When Woodstock occurred I was in basic training at Ft. Lewis Washington. As trainees we had no radios, TV’s, or outside contact other than mail. Before the year was out I was in Viet Nam. Later in 1970 we had a new troop who had rotated into our company and his claim to fame was that he had “been there.” He attained celebrity status from some. Until I researched it I did not even know what Woodstock was. When I came home in 1971 I married a hippie (spent more time ”in country” than I did married to her) and bought the album. I am sure that many who participate in this forum share my “being there” experience. For those who have not shared that particular “dropping out and tuning in” happening, be assured that I have been thanked for my service more times than I can count. I do not thing the phase “Thanks for being at Woodstock” has ever been uttered.
bluecollarbytes| 8.23.09 @ 9:31AM
Woodstock generation is synonymous with spoiled pampered brats who, having rejected conformity to the lessens learned by the 'greatest generation', have now become the Ultimate conformists and far more demanding than America-loving citizens have ever been.
Our pop culture is sicker because of the hoopla and muddled philosophies of our first ME-generation. This may come as a surprise to the mud dwellers, but most folks get along just fine together and it never took a drug-fueled pop-event to 'get them there'.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.23.09 @ 9:32AM
Michael: Thanks for buying the Woodstock Album? Is that close enough for you? Yeah, it doesn’t really work? Nobody should get thanked for their service at Woodstock, because it meant nothing more than what it was in the end?, a music festival. But add this one to your “lost-count-list” about your service in Vietnam? Thank you.
JeffT| 8.23.09 @ 9:40AM
Denver Todd- Definition of nihilism 1. Philosophy
a. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence.
b. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.
2. Rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief.
3. The belief that destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.
Pretty well defines the Woodstock generation to a "T"
Michael L. Hauschild| 8.23.09 @ 12:39PM
LLL
I have said it to everyone else and I will write it to you, you are welcome!
Proud Boomer| 8.23.09 @ 1:14PM
Janet, get a life or maybe just a good shrink. Any one who blames an entire generation for what ails them personally needs professional help.
You're crazy, girl.
janet| 8.23.09 @ 2:01PM
Still waiting for you to answer my question, Proudboomer. Aren't you a Godfearing Boomer today? What's your next moniker? Old Dumbass Boomer? Just answer my question. LOL
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.23.09 @ 2:19PM
Proud Boomer........WELCOME!
It is fairly fun to look forward to making fun with you along with the other emotionally crippled liberal/communists here.
Who pays you?
Soros?
ACORN?
One of their other conduits?
Just curious. You will find some serious horse laughs at your expense here, so gird up your spindly loins and prepare for battle. heh
Mike| 8.23.09 @ 2:48PM
Janet and Proud Boomer,
Get a grip folks and can the personal sniping. It seems that you are both conservatives, why the in-fighting?
Janet I must agree with Proud Boomer a bit. You paint with a very broad brush accusing an entire generation of malfeasance and having no redeeming qualities while at the same time implying that she was complicit in all that was wrong.
This is the generation that rebuilt our military after Vietnam and was instrumental in bringing us the personal computer and helped in getting us to the moon.
It seems a bit much to be goading Proud Boomer to tell you about a liberal program from the sixties when she hasn't professed that there are any that she supports. Remember that the liberalism of the sixties has its roots in the attitudes of the 1920's and 1930's with Wilson and FDR. The policies of the "Great Society" and the Vietnam War were from LBJ whose roots in national politics start in 1937 when he was elected to the House of Representatives.
Just my two cents
Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)
Mike| 8.23.09 @ 2:54PM
Oops, I forgot to add for Proud Boomer. Get some body armor or thinker skin. It is not good to be so easily offended.
Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.23.09 @ 2:55PM
Jack (from earlier): About other Websites I’ve been doing my reading from? I’ve been checking out FrontPagemag.com for awhile now, because they’ve always got a lot of good stuff on the spread and threat of Islam to the West. But thanks for the heads up on the book “Destructive Generation”, by David Horowitz and Peter Collier. I read a review of that book today on FrontPage.com (Per your suggestion), and I think it might be time to read the whole thing now. I was too young at the time, to really understand what the Weather Underground, and the Black Panthers were really all about in the 60’s & 70’s, but it sounds like MR. Horowitz deconstructs all the myths that have build up over time about their history, and how relevant they still are today (IE: Bill Ayers, & Town Hall meetings).
Other than American Spectator?, I like going to AmericanThinker.com, National Review, Heritage Foundation, and a new one I just found recently, DakotaVoice.com. Some of them are better than others, but they all have something to offer. Now this might sound traitorous to you, but I also go to HuffingtonPost.com every now and again. But I normally don’t last more than a few minutes there, before I get so pissed off about something that I can’t take it anymore. But I figure you’ve got to hear what your enemy is talking about, even if you can’t understand their rationale in any way. If you can listen to their arguments, you can understand which way the battle may be turning. And then we can learn how to counter their moves, and out flank them.
But the best thing about all these sites to me, is just reading all the comments, with all the little verbal wars that break out on them, like Janet Vs. Proud Boomer here tonight as an example. I swear I learn more from the readers, than I do from the articles themselves. I think there’s really something going on out there in middle America right now, and I just want to be a part of it.
Mike| 8.23.09 @ 2:56PM
Thicker...thicker! Not thinker. Darn keyboard.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.23.09 @ 3:15PM
Mike: Retired Army? Well that explains why your keyboard isn’t working to well for you? It’s got all that sand from Iraq built up in it, a little canned air should do the trick on that. But the letters “C” and “N” aren’t very close together on the keyboard, so you could have a more serious problem on your hands than canned air can fix.
Now so far concerning this verbal battle between Janet and Boomer? I’ve been cheering on Janet so far. She just seems much more pissed off about something, and it makes me laugh. And this is extremely hard to do, it’s too hot to laugh here.
Proud Boomer| 8.23.09 @ 4:07PM
Janet, you're just a b!tch. Stick it where the sun don't shine, moron.
Mike, I'm a Conservative and always have been. It sucked big time having to put up with all of the liberal 60's garbage when I was young, so I'm not going to let some air-headed, public school educated no-nothing brat blame me for the hippy crap of that time.
It's ridiculous, illogical and self indulgent of anyone to blame ALL of us for the BS of a few. But if you're into that kind of nonsense--bend over, grab your ankles and enjoy yourself.
Proud Boomer| 8.23.09 @ 4:11PM
LLL, you've really p!ssed me off now--and I liked you before. You men are weenies; what happened to you? Defend the good people of your generation.
Sarah Palin is the only Conservative on the scene with any b@lls, too. Guess I should just get used to it.
Proud Boomer| 8.23.09 @ 4:14PM
Mike, I just read all of your post so I take back some of what I said to you. Sorry.
LLL--not you, though.
Mike| 8.23.09 @ 4:17PM
LLL
Where is here that it is so hot? I am in the Florida Panhandle and we finally got through a week of heat, humidity and thunderstorms to get to an absolutely gorgeous Sunday afternoon.
The ladies in question do seem a bit incensed about something. It seems to me they skimishing for sheer enjoyment and entertainment value.
Now about that keyboard. I am sure I have removed all of the sand so there is a remote possibility of an end user malfunction. I, of course, reject that option.
Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.23.09 @ 4:26PM
Boomer: Now that’s what I’m talking about, you just made me laugh, so I’m back on your side again. Screw Janet, she’s definitely losing this battle now.
Now I’ve lost count here Boomer, is this day two, or three of this on-going battle? It doesn't really matter, I just hope it keeps going on. I really am very bored.
Let’s go Boomer!!, and let’s go Yankees!!
IMKessel| 8.23.09 @ 4:27PM
LMAO.
I have been sitting on the sidelines enjoying the sound and fury signifying – something. Not sure what.
Apparently the Sixties hits a lot of nerves. It was a watershed era and one where consensus was rare enough.
LLL, as a reader (and English teacher), I do appreciate the change to standard punctuation; the “post modern” was difficult to read. (NB: i.e. is Latin for id est and means that is or in other words. Proper use of it does not call for capitalization.)
Mike, please add me to your lists of “thank you” for your proud service.
Janet and PB, the listening process is highly impaired when two people talk past each other and not to each other. Both of you had some valid points.
Ken (Old Texican), good to see you riding out here again. Been too long.
Maybe Ms. (Bev) Gunn will share her point of view. I for one would appreciate it. And Frost too. He lived through it.
Be well.
Mike| 8.23.09 @ 4:52PM
IMKessel
You are qite welcome. It was my pleasure.
Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)
Mike| 8.23.09 @ 4:54PM
Proud Boomer
Damn, I thought I was pretty much taking your side.
Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)
Contrite Boomer| 8.23.09 @ 4:59PM
Geez, Mike, I told you I was sorry.
I meant it, okay?
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.23.09 @ 5:03PM
IMKessel: Does anybody on this site ever grow tired of correcting my grammar, spelling, or punctuation? Don’t answer that, because obviously the answer is, no they don’t. So, i.e. is Latin for id est huh? Well thanks for the Latin lesson there. Funny thing about that, but I always thought it meant, is (an) example. (As in, this is an example of something?) I guess I should’ve paid more attention in Latin class, oh yeah I forgot, I never took Latin.
I’ve got to tell you, I do miss my “post modern” writing style though. I keep finding myself having to back space a lot, to delete all those commas and periods that I like to type naturally. But I guess Rome wasn’t built in a day either? Unless it really was, and somebody here wants to come back and correct me on that assumption too. It’s okay, I can take it.
Mike: Let’s just put it this way, it’s about 1700 back in the States right now, correct? But it’s tomorrow where I am. I think you can figure it out. Oops!!, I’ve got sand in my keyboard now too!! Well, I'm done for the night folks, thanks!!
Mike| 8.23.09 @ 5:15PM
Contrite Boomer: Appology accepted. I was just tweeking.
LLL: Keep safe. BTW I like your new writing style. I know it is difficult but keep up the good work.
Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)
Alan Brooks| 8.23.09 @ 5:35PM
the squishylibs who come to AS aren't being fair to red staters; red states became as trashy as they admittedly are after the Woodstock 'ethos' (counter-ethos) filtered down to the 'masses'-- the deliberate intention of Hoffman, Rubin, and their ilk. It has been bad since the Civil War, but after '68 it has been infantile. Here is Zappa on the Woodstock, and slightly pre-Woodstock era ('67- '69)
*What's there to live for?
Who needs the peace corps?
Think I'll just DROP OUT
I'll go to Frisco
Buy a wig & sleep
On Owsley's floor
Walked past the wig store
Danced at the Fillmore
I'm completely stoned
I'm hippy & I'm trippy
I'm a gypsy on my own
I'll stay a week & get the crabs &
Take a bus back home
I'm really just a phony
But forgive me
'Cause I'm stoned
Every town must have a place
Where phony hippies meet
Psychedelic dungeons
Popping up on every street
GO TO SAN FRANCISCO...
How I love ya, How I love ya
How I love ya, How I love ya Frisco!
How I love ya, How I love ya
How I love ya, How I love ya
Oh, my hair is getting good in the back!
Every town must have a place
Where phony hippies meet
Psychedelic dungeons
Popping up on every street
GO TO SAN FRANCISCO...
Hotcha!
First I'll buy some beads
And then perhaps a leather band
To go around my head
Some feathers and bells
And a book of Indian lore
I will ask the Chamber Of Commerce
How to get to Haight Street
And smoke an awful lot of dope
I will wander around barefoot
I will have a psychedelic gleam in my eye at all times
I will love everyone
I will love the police as they kick the s--- out of me on the street
I will sleep...
I will, I will go to a house
That's, that's what I will do
I will go to a house
Where there's a rock & roll band
'Cause the groups all live together
And I will join a rock & roll band
I will be their road manager
And I will stay there with them
And I will get the crabs...
Boomer| 8.23.09 @ 5:38PM
Ira, it's illogical for Janet to blame her fellow Conservatives for the past excesses of Liberals.
She's right about the debauchery of the sixties and the resultant deleterious affects on our country, but she lacked discernment about those who were responsible for it.
A lot of us younger Boomers weren't even of age yet in the late sixties, so we had even less to do with all of the craziness.
I'll never defend the chaos of that time but I will always defend my older brother and his friends who went to Vietnam and sacrificed so much for our country yet received so much scorn in return.
I remember my mom crying almost every day when my brother was in Vietnam; especially during the evening news hour when footage of the war was shown. There were too many body bags to count. Nothing my brothers or sisters said or did could console my mother. My heart broke for her, you know?
So, please forgive my "hypersensitivity" regarding that wretched time; the memories are still painful.
Alan Brooks| 8.23.09 @ 5:47PM
PS,
I mentioned how America's disgusting, babyish [anti] 'culture' can be traced back to the Civil War, but though I agree with Red that the North was mercenary, there would have been a war later when the South tried to expand Weswards, and the eventual war would have been worse.
So what since then? the 'culture' declined so much that exactly 100 years after the war, in '65, the cuture began to become Roman Empiresque; now it is nothing short of hideous, turning an old liberal like me into a Menckenite.
case in point: Michael jackson is lionized by the descendents of slaves; but if you touch one of their children, you are dead-- after a very severe beating. You blacks (if any are at AS) think about that one very carefully, if you have the guts.
Boomer| 8.23.09 @ 5:49PM
LLL, I was trying to retain a modicum of dignity, but sometimes it's impossible.
About your Yankees--GO ANGELS!
Daisy| 8.23.09 @ 6:02PM
When I read mean, simplistic and stupid posts from "Conservatives" like Janet, I understand some of the criticism we get from Liberals.
Enraged, unreasonable people; regardless of ideology, are nearly impossible to reason with. I think Boomer is right; Janet needs professional help.
Alan Brooks| 8.23.09 @ 6:05PM
PPS,
even if Jacko was innocent of all legal charges-- and he might have been legally innocent, as no definitive proof has emerged-- how many of you would let your children sleep in the same room, let alone the same bed, with an ultra-pampered imbecile such as Jacko?
So we can with some justice say the Woodstock 'whatever feels good' anti-ethos facilitated the corruption of black people as much as anyone else. Read Thomas Sowell to get the, um, lowdown.
Alan Brooks| 8.23.09 @ 6:52PM
to sum it up: don't you libs ever forget how red states were corrupted by the feel-good (in more ways than one) Woodstock now-in-2009-I'm-rich-but-you-hicks-are-not 'Love' (sex) Generation. You'll get yours yet.
However big you think you are
However big you think you a a a r r r r are
Sexy Sadist, you'll get yours yet...
janet| 8.23.09 @ 6:55PM
Boomer (today), aka yesterday God fearing Boomer, Proud Boomer, Contrite Boomer, whatever you want to call yourself this hour, boy, talk about an identity crisis! If you are holding yourself up as the shining example of that part of the '60s generation that had nothing to do with the '60s Hippie, counter-culture, then it's no wonder we've lost the culture wars. Are you the best soldier your side had/has in fighting the war?
Like I have posted to you many times before, if you were not part of the degenerate '60s generation that has wreaked societal havoc, then why don't you attack them instead of me? Just the last couple of posts do you actually aknowledge the damage that was done to society as a result of policies they promoted. Guess that is as far an answer to my many-times-asked question that I'll get from you.
As I stated before, of course not every apple from your generation tree was bad. I commended those that fought in Vietnam. Just wondering how loud your opposition voice was. Consensus is pretty clear that when people talk about "the 60's generation" it is usually in the context of what the counter-culture element stood for, and the resultant consequences that we in society face today. This article and my posts as a result of that were/are talking about just that degenerate element of your generation. For someone who is so thin-skinned and reactionary, I really do doubt your supposed innocence and sympathies. When someone like you cannot tolerate other peoples opinions, or if your only response is to call swear, use vulgarity and call me every name in the book, then maybe you are the one that is bitter and needs a shrink. Guess you have more in common with that element of the '60s that you supposedly disapprove of. They loved talking to shrinks too. Keep talking. You really cannot debate anything on its merits without resorting to crying, name-calling or intimidation , can you? And when your final resort is to try and lay guilt trips on fellow bloggers who criticize you, my God, you give a bad name to us women! Toughen up, lady. Your tactics are definitely not a Sarah Palin but more like a Hillary Clinton.
And, finally, yes, I admit, at first I posted mainly because I have strong opinions on the subject matter. Now it is just for the sheer enjoyment of getting your goad up. Maybe that's my therapy :)
Alan Brooks| 8.23.09 @ 7:58PM
despite what some say, there is material 'hope' via technologies, but unfortunately that means more corruption by empowering everyone from Jacko to David Duke.
Morally we are toast. Just look at how nihilistic today's youth are-- Woodstock multiplied by more than 20.
Alan Brooks| 8.23.09 @ 8:26PM
seek posted the worst, considering his-- or her-- knowledge:
"the music was fine"
no, it was second rate, at best, even by three or four chord rock standards.
"the hippies couldn't help the weather".
no, but they COULD help playing like randy swine in the mud.
Proud Boomer| 8.23.09 @ 8:59PM
Janet, your first and last posts contradict each other.
Your first post stated that you couldn't find one positive thing to say about the Woodstock generation; your last post stated that of course, not every apple is bad from the (Woodstock) generation tree.
So, which is it? Your first post where you stupidly shot off your big mouth or your last post where you tried to weasel out of it? Focus now, so you don't contradict yourself once again.
You finally admitted that you were wrong: Of course not every apple from the Boomer generation was bad--that's all I was trying to get you to see.
I was born in 1960 and I was only 8 or 9 nine years old when things started to fall apart in our country--I was too young to be part of the craziness. But when I got older I totally rejected the hippy counterculture. I have spent my life working with young, unmarried pregnant girls counseling them to choose life. It's hard work, some times heartbreaking, but I know that I've made a difference in the lives of many young girls and their babies: In fact, I have saved some of those babies' lives.
What have YOU done to make things better?
I haven't sat on my backside whining, complaining or blaming my misfortunes on others: I have tried to witness Jesus Christ by living a moral life. More than anything, I am grateful for every day of my life and I do feel blessed.
Many of the people who post here at AmSpec are Boomers and you won't find a smarter, kinder or more decent group of people anywhere.
That's all I was trying to say.
Etiquette Man| 8.23.09 @ 9:24PM
Hi, L-Cubed. Love the new punctuation!!!
Seriously.
Glad you seem to have taken my remarks in the constructive spirit in which they were intended.
I enjoy your posts much more now. Thanks (really).
I also hope that people will stop piling on you now. I truly wasn't trying to pile on or act superior, although it may have seemed that way.
In any event, making a fuss about a minor mistake here or there is simply errant pedantry, up with which we should not put (with apologies to Winston Churchill).
Now back to silently watching the carnage . . .
Cheers!
Daisy| 8.23.09 @ 9:38PM
It's poor etiquette to lurk, Mr. Etiquette Man. ;p
Flower Power| 8.23.09 @ 9:53PM
Alan, you're right; 60's counterculture sucked--but please, for the love of God, STOP! You're really grossing me out!
Except, I did love the music.
It's not fair to say today's kids are nihilists (you sound like crazy Janet)--too many of these fine young Americans are fighting and dying everyday on our behalf. They're just as good (or better!) as any American generation that preceded them. Keep your chin up.
janet| 8.23.09 @ 10:04PM
Proudboomer,
I guess it's an improvement in the dignity of your posts that you only resorted to calling me just a weasel and didn't use anything more profane, although I see you couldn't resist saying I was whining, complaining, and blaming others for my misfortunes. Let's hope you don't save such profanity when "counseling" young women about making proper choices in life. I commend you for counseling young girls to choose life over other alternatives, but if your bedside manner with them is anything like how you write your posts, I wouldn't want any female I know counseled by you, not unless you improve your mode of communication.
When you state that I'm contradictory, I could say the same thing about you as well. In your beginning post you said that you were part of that Woodstock generation and how dare I offend you, but now you say you were too young and had nothing to do with that Woodstock crowd. Which is it then, huh?
If you re-read my second post to you above, I stated almost from the onset that " Not every generation was perfect. Not every person was bad, least of those from the 60's who fought in Vietnam" so I didn't do an about face on my last post. I am consistent throughout my postings that the '60s Hippie, counter-culture generation caused lasting damage to our society. The Woodstock generation in my opinion did not contribute anythine positive. I have not wavered from that view one bit. Maybe you need to differentiate when people talk about the Woodstock generation and when they talk about the '60s generation in general terms. When I speak Woodstock, I'm speaking about those that espoused the Woodstock mentality. I thought that was pretty clear in my postings.
BTW, whether you believe it or not, your psychological analysis of me in your postings was so far off. The most profound impact on my life which has shaped my views is the exposure I have had in my childhood with elderly relatives who lived through the Depression and WW2. Maybe that's why I have the most profound and deep respect for that generation. Their personal sacrifices enabled me not only to attend private Christian schools where I received an excellent education and was able to learn in an environment that reinforced the traditional values I learned at home and which I so highly value. I was able to study abroad at university which fostered my love of international travel. Maybe that's why I volunteer a lot of my free time (when I'm not blogging :) to helping elderly people. Like you, I like to think I have made a positive impact on the people I am exposed to in my daily work life. My work in the courts is not easy either. I see on a daily basis what a valueless society that glorifies immorality and feel good policies can do to a person, a family, a community.
For the sake of saving the sanity of all our male readers who probably are glad they are not married to either one of us right now, I'm saying goodnight. My battle with you is done. I'm suiting up my armor for another day, another person, but am fighting for the same cause.
Boomer| 8.23.09 @ 10:24PM
PEACE, Janet. YOU AND I HAVE NO BATTLE. That's all I was ever trying to tell you.
Save your fury for the fascist liberals among us, and God bless you on your next skirmish.
And don't kid yourself about the men--they loved it!
wah| 8.23.09 @ 10:43PM
the problem with america today is the woodstockers have permeated the u.s. education, judicial, and political system the past four decades. its no wonder the young ones today are blind to the fact that socialism is a historical failure.
wah| 8.23.09 @ 10:51PM
woodstockers are no doubt authoritarians. they severely punish their own kind/country while turning a blind eye towards third parties. one example is the bogus "carbon credits" scheme..they penalize their own societies that clearly do not produce as much pollution as the majority of the world actually does.
Boomer| 8.23.09 @ 10:55PM
Janet, I am a Baby Boomer--just a young one. I never contradicted myself. And if you had really read my posts you would have seen that I defended some of the PEOPLE of my generation not the proclivities of my generation.
I've always agreed with you about the disgusting cultural changes that took place in the sixties, but I didn't agree with you when you condemned my ENTIRE generation.
Maybe, next time, you'll be a little wiser, a little more circumspect before you go out and harshly judge a whole group of people without knowing them.
Hopefully.
Etiquette Man| 8.24.09 @ 4:58AM
Dear Daisy,
Poor etiquette to lurk? Is Etiquette Man guilty of a breach in same???
Horrors!!!
Hmm . . .
I would call it civility, actually; is it not rude to interrupt a vigorous conversation, simply to make oneself heard? I had nothing to add, really, and everything that I would have said, already had been.
I only commented on S.L and L-Cubed's exchanges because I hoped that my comment might improve the conversation by improving the punctuation--as it seems to have done.
Etiquette Man shall now retire to the shadows, Emily Post in hand, his honor defended . . .
Cheers!
EM
P.S. Your Stanford stories had me laughing out loud. No kidding! Keep the tomatoes ready, Dead-Eye Daisy! ;-)
S.L. Toddard| 8.24.09 @ 10:18AM
"I know S.L. will say that he said this to me too, on more than one occasion, but I don’t like listening to him, because he pisses me off too much.
Let’s Go Yankees!!"
Now LLL, your punctuation has improved drastically but there is a gargantuan spelling error in this post. It should read "GO RED SOX".
Please revise and re-submit.
tom| 8.24.09 @ 11:04AM
Boomer,
Isn't your battle with Janet over? I thought she won and you made peace. I enjoyed the banter.
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Smitty| 8.24.09 @ 4:02PM
Tom, if you thought Janet won the debate when she admitted Boomer was right, you're as irrational as poor Janet.
Maybe you should Janet in her therapy sessions. :)
Smitty| 8.24.09 @ 6:18PM
Maybe you should JOIN Janet in her therapy sessions. :)
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