A Few More Thoughts About The Kennedy Boys

My friend Billy sent me an email today. It was a kind and gentle reminder that I've been neglecting my blogging. He's right of course, I haven't posted recently. His email and the fact that someone even bothered to notice my absence was perhaps just the inspiration and motivation I needed.
"Haven’t heard from you in days!", Billy wrote, "You haven’t updated your Ted Kennedy blog yet. His death was a real blow, even though it was expected, it really was the end of an era, an empire, an age of optimism and naïveté."

- Yes indeed it was Billy, indeed it really was. The end of an era and the loss of innocence. Or did we still have innocence left to lose?


Forgive me please, but once again - I do feel so inclined
to express some thoughts in meter and of course, in rhyme.

Was our Innocence ours to lose, or was it long since gone
way back when we first lost Bobby and Dear Brother John?

I don't know why it is and I don't know how to explain,
but ever since then, nothing seems to be quite the same.

Have I just gotten cynical, grouchy, cantankerous and old,
or is something palpable happening, that really needs to be told.

It was to a hopeful generation that the torch had been passed,
but what happened to our optimism? - Why didn't it last?

The "Edmundian" Forensics were my High School Forté,
when I wrote and delivered speeches that I remember 'til this day.

The competition was fierce - Oratory and Debate.
My pinnacle achievement - First Place in New York State.

"The Prospects For My Generation" is what I then spoke of,
So full of Piss and Vinegar; and Peace and Hope and Love!

Is it just my imagination and fond memories that persuade,
or were the sixties truly special and a uniquely confident decade.

We went to the Moon on July 20th, nineteen sixty nine,
but it wasn't Alice Kramden's foot that stepped out so sublime.

An Astronaut named Armstrong, fulfilled the Kennedy Pledge,
and it was his "Giant Leap for Mankind" that then gave us the edge.

Anything seemed possible and perhaps it truly was,
we seemed to work together and have a common cause.

Yes we had some hard times and we often disagreed

but we cared about each other and one another's needs.

So we created Medicare and then even Medicaid

it truly was remarkable, a benevolent decade.

The Kennedy's believed that health care was Not a privilege but a right,

so Ted diligently pursued this - working hard both day and night.

Now that they've all left us, does not their legacy implore,

that we find a way to do this - and give a little more.

Limbaugh, Beck and O'Reilly would surely disagree

but Limbaugh, Beck and Bill O' don't care about you and me.

Greed has taken over, you see it everywhere

let's all look out for # 1 and never, ever share.

You say that it's the deficit and we simply can't afford

but one way or another - we can always afford a War.

Maybe it's time we got our priorities in order people.

Just Thinking...

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Thanks For Reading!

Ted Kennedy is Dead!

Knowing that I have a busy day planned for tomorrow (Wednesday) I tried to go to bed early tonight, well early for me anyway.

So I'm lying there, trying to drift off to sleep while listening to the radio softly playing in the background. It's late night Tuesday or actually early Wednesday August 26, 2009 at about 1:30 a.m. when I hear the news. "This is just in, and as yet unconfirmed, but ABC NEWS is reporting that Senator Edward Kennedy is Dead at the age of 77. "

I immediately sat up with a start. I felt a surprising sense of Shock and Overwhelming Grief. I say surprising because it's not like we didn't know this was coming. We all knew he had "Inoperable" (aka Terminal) Brain Cancer but Wow what a sense of Sorrow and Loss I'm feeling right now.

Truly the end of an era, the last, of the Kennedy Boys Is Dead!

I'm sure I'll have more to say about this in the days to come, but I'm going to try and go back to sleep right now. I just wanted to post something in the meantime.

Sometimes - lately, it seems like the world is changing to fast for me.

    Just Thinking...

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Remembering Cronkite...

Walter Cronkite
1916 - 2009





Long before The Networks, would tell us what to think.
There was a man named Cronkite, who was truly distinct.

Back when there was still real news, and not just sensation.
There was a voice in America, that narrated the nation.

A true journalist he was, fact finder, and truth teller.
An honest reporter of news, and never, an opinionated yeller.
He blinked back a tear when Kennedy died.
But still we could see, how he cried deep inside.

From JFK, to MLK, and RFK too.
Cronkite was there, to help get us through.

Through triumphs and tragedies, he would hold our hand.
From the man on the moon, to that damn Viet Nam.

So unique was he, that no words could describe.
So they coined a new phrase, by which he would abide.

As he steadied our ship, through each stormy tide,

He became the "Anchor Man" on whom we relied.

It was his great love of history, he attempted to share
When he re-created it for us, in the show "You Are There".

He explained the "Twentieth Century" as only he could.
And, I don't know how he did it, but we all understood.

From Einstein to Atoms and DNA Recombinant,
he mastered it all, no topic was too abundant.

A generation has passed, since he first left the air.
Yet still we remember, and we will always care.

"And that's the way it was", what else can I say,
As I remember this great man, who just passed away.

    Just Thinking

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The Curious Case of Michael Jackson

August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009





Thursday, June Twenty Fifth, Two Thousand Nine,
A day that will be marked in time.

'Cause something Iconic, happened this day,
Michael Joseph Jackson, passed away.

Impromptu vigils everywhere,
from the streets of L. A. to Washington Square.

Hong Kong, Vegas, London, Madrid,
the world all knew him, since he was a kid.

There was an audible moan, in New York's Times Square,
when on the big screen, the news was declared.

A Musical Genius, A Late Night Joke,
His Mesmerizing Dance, left a lump in our throat.

Tabloid Caricature, Provocateur,
Legendary Oddity, and so much more.

Was he the King of Pop, or the King of Sleaze?
That all depends, on what you believe.

You see something Ironic, happened this day,
Michael Joseph Jackson, passed away.

Rest in Peace Michael, - Rest in Peace.

  Just Thinking 



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