In Memoriam

[O Really]

Yeah, they were good. "You Might Think" played on heavy rotation on early MTV - and I don't think I ever got tired of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dOx510kyOs

[Vrede too]

Cokie Roberts

RIP

Susan Stamberg is still my all time favorite radio journalist, but Cokie was good.

[neoplacebo]

Ginger Baker dies. Was the drummer in the old supergroup Cream.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/legendary-cr ... 23286.html

[billy.pilgrim]

Ginger Baker dies. Was the drummer in the old supergroup Cream.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/legendary-cr ... 23286.html

https://youtu.be/EvtaE_QNM2k


Imagine him as a kid - in your house

[Vrede too]

Ginger Baker dies. Was the drummer in the old supergroup Cream.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/legendary-cr ... 23286.html

https://youtu.be/EvtaE_QNM2k

Imagine him as a kid - in your house

I googled, but still don't know what "TOAD" in the video title means.

Take Over And Destroy?

Probably not:
Trashed Object Abandoned in Disgust
Tony Orlando and Dawn
Temporary, Obsolete, Abandoned or Derelict
Take Out And Delivery
Take Off and Die (surfing slang)
The Open Acronym Database (irony)

Doh, it's the name of the song:
Toad (instrumental)
No mention of how they came up with the title.

[neoplacebo]

Ginger Baker dies. Was the drummer in the old supergroup Cream.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/legendary-cr ... 23286.html

https://youtu.be/EvtaE_QNM2k


Imagine him as a kid - in your house

Awesome. The only other drummer I can think of who had that sort of energy and drumming style was Keith Moon but he's been gone quite a while. And Buddy Rich could belt out an impressive lick as well. Up until about five years ago I still had a drum set; it's good exercise as well as a stress reliever.

[billy.pilgrim]

The poem he read on his 1st day in Congress


I only have a minute.

Sixty seconds in it.

Forced upon me, I did not choose it,

But I know that I must use it.

Give account if I abuse it.

Suffer, if I lose it.

Only a tiny little minute,

But eternity is in it.

[Vrede too]

The poem he read on his 1st day in Congress


I only have a minute.

Sixty seconds in it.

Forced upon me, I did not choose it,

But I know that I must use it.

Give account if I abuse it.

Suffer, if I lose it.

Only a tiny little minute,

But eternity is in it.

Thanks. There's even more depth and history to it:

Watch Elijah Cummings' First Congressional Floor Speech: I Only Have a Minute... But Eternity is In It

Mediaite article with a five-minute-long video clip of Cummings' complete speech:

https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-eli ... -is-in-it/

Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings delivered a stirring first floor speech in 1996 that has only gained poignancy with news of his passing. In the speech, he recited a poem about the fleeting yet significant nature of life.

-snip-

And so my mission is one that comes out of a vision that was created long long ago. it is a mission and a vision to empower people. To make people realize that the power is within them. That they too can do the things that they want to do. And so I am about that mission, and I’m looking forward to joining with all of you as we travel this road, I often call journey, which I define as life.

And there’s a poem that Parren Mitchell said many many years ago that I say sometimes 20 times a day, and it’s a very simple poem, but it’s one that I live by.

It says ‘I only have a minute. Sixty seconds in it. Forced upon me, I did not choose it. But I know that I must use it, give account if I abuse it, suffer if I lose it. Only a tiny little minute. But eternity is in it.

And so I join you as we move forward to uplift not only the nation, but the world.

-snip-

Parren James Mitchell (April 29, 1922 – May 28, 2007) was a U.S. Congressman affiliated with the Democratic Party who represented the 7th congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1971 to January 3, 1987. He was the first African American elected to Congress from Maryland.

Cummings represented MD7 from April 16, 1996 – October 17, 2019.

Early life

Mitchell was born in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, Clarence M. Mitchell, Sr., was a waiter, and his mother, Elsie Davis Mitchell, was a homemaker. Mitchell graduated from Frederick Douglass Senior High School in Baltimore in 1940. Mitchell served as an officer in the 92nd Infantry Division during World War II, and was wounded in Italy; he received the Purple Heart. He earned his bachelor's degree from Morgan State University, and his master's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. In 1950, Mitchell sued the then segregated University of Maryland for admission to the graduate school with support from the Baltimore Branch of the NAACP, and won admission. When he graduated he was the first African-American to do so from that school.

Before entering graduate school, Mitchell participated in the early civil rights activity in Baltimore. These included protests against segregated seating at Ford's Theatre in downtown Baltimore City, and unequal funding for teacher training programs in the city's segregated black school system in 1948. Parren Mitchell was the brother of the late Clarence Mitchell Jr., who was head of the NAACP's Washington office and was one of Lyndon Johnson's chief advisers during the Civil Rights Movement.

Congressional career

... Mitchell was one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Mitchell immediately became a vocal member of the caucus with one of his first actions with the caucus, numbering 12 at the time, was to boycott President Richard M. Nixon’s State of the Union address in 1971 after Nixon had refused to meet the group.[3] Eventually, Nixon met the caucus weeks later.

During his 16-year career, he fought for affirmative action legislation. As Chairman of the Small Business Committee, Mitchell attached an amendment to a $4 billion public works bill that compelled state and local governments, seeking federal grants, to set aside 10% of the funds to retain minority firms as contractors and subcontractors....

Death and legacy

... Congressman Elijah Cummings delivered the eulogy saying: "He earned the trust of people throughout the country and the world because he was constantly building bridges for others to cross, while tearing down the walls that had excluded them."

On December 3, 2015, the University of Maryland, College Park held a dedication ceremony renaming the Art/Sociology Building in his honor.

The poem that Parren Mitchell shared with Elijah Cummings was written by:

Benjamin Elijah Mays (August 1, 1894 – March 28, 1984) was an American Baptist minister and civil rights leader who is credited with laying the intellectual foundations of the Civil Rights Movement. Mays taught and mentored many influential activists: Martin Luther King Jr, Julian Bond, Maynard Jackson, and Donn Clendenon, among others. His rhetoric and intellectual work focused on notions of nonviolence and civil resistance–beliefs inspired by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. The peak of his public influence occurred during his almost thirty years as the 6th President of Morehouse College (Atlanta, Georgia), a historically black institution of higher learning.

Mays was born in the Jim Crow South on a repurposed cotton plantation to freed sharecroppers. He traveled North to attend Bates College and the University of Chicago from where he began his career in activism as a pastor in the Shiloh Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. After a brief career as a professor, he was appointed as the Dean of the School of Religion at Howard University (Washington, D.C.) in 1934 which elevated him to national prominence as a proponent of the New Negro movement....

Digression:

Elijah Eugene Cummings ... was born on January 18, 1951, in Baltimore, the son of Ruth Elma (née Cochran) and Robert Cummings. His parents were sharecroppers....

Did Cummings' sharecropper parents know about Mays?
Did they know that he was the son of sharecroppers?
Did they take their son's name from his middle name?
Did Mitchell know about any of this when he shared the poem with Cummings?

Probably all coincidence, but none of it is a very big leap.

Back to Mays:

Six years later, Mays was elected as the president of Morehouse College, an at-the-time financially unstable enterprise. Over his tenure from 1940 to 1967, the college's financial endowment was doubled and enrollment quadrupled; it was established as a leading liberal arts college in the United States.

Due to the relative smallness of the college, Mays mentored and taught many students, most notably King. His connection with King spanned his early days at the college in 1944. King was known as Mays' "spiritual son" and Mays his "intellectual father." After King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, Mays gave the benediction. Upon the 1968 death of King, he was asked to give the eulogy where he described him in his "No Man is Ahead of His Time" speech. Mays stepped down from the presidency in 1967 continuing to work as a leader in the African American community. He presided over the Atlanta Board of Education from 1969 to 1978, where he initiated the desegregation of Atlanta.

Mays' contributions to the civil rights movement have had him hailed as the "movement's intellectual conscience" or alternatively the "Dean [or Schoolmaster] of the Movement". Historian Lawrence Carter described Mays as "one of the most significant figures in American history". Hundreds of streets, buildings, statues, awards, scholarships, grants, and fellowships are named in his honor....

As they say, even giants like Cummings, Mitchell and King stand on the shoulders of giants.

[Vrede too]

Elijah Cummings 'signed subpoenas from his hospital bed' for Trump impeachment before his death

Sorry, God, you'll have to wait a few minutes while I beat up the Devil one last time.

[Leo Lyons]

Elijah Cummings 'signed subpoenas from his hospital bed' for Trump impeachment before his death

Sorry, God, you'll have to wait a few minutes while I beat up the Devil one last time.

[Vrede too]

(illiterate - "re-elected [sic, no hyphen]" - pics)

I appreciate that you've joined the blasphemous team, and that you've even outdone us in depicting Jesus as spiteful, cruel, cartoonish and even racist, “Bro”, towards Rep. Elijah Cummings, a lifelong devout Christian. Mr.B, who you often cite on these matters, would be scandalized and horrified, but I'm cool with your free will choices. Hail Satan.

[Leo Lyons]

I appreciate that you've joined the blasphemous team,
Well, aren't you just a fun-filled little candy-ass triple-dipped in psycho! Thank you. I didn't think your ilk would ever accept anyone except those who walk around with their head up their ass; let alone your being appreciative. You never cease to amaze!

and that you've even outdone us in depicting Jesus as spiteful, cruel, cartoonish and even racist, “Bro”, towards Rep. Elijah Cummings, a lifelong devout Christian.
One side of your mouth spites Christian beliefs and the other side praises them. Hypocrite much?

Mr.B, who you often cite on these matters, would be scandalized and horrified, but I'm cool with your free will choices. Hail Satan.
Interesting to note that Mr.B still lives in your head; miss the old boy, don't you? He must have really gotten into your psyche. Hail Satin! (and lace)
(p.s. Sorry, Vrede, you'll have to wait a few minutes while I beat up the Devil one last time.
If it makes you feel any better, the meme came off a liberal website. I didn't create it. Thanks for giving me the credit though)

[billy.pilgrim]

Wow, I'm so unimpressed, leo can beat up dead guys.

[Leo Lyons]

Wow, I'm so unimpressed, leo can beat up dead guys.

I AM impressed; first time I ever heard you refer to you guys as "dead". Carry on. You've earned it.

[1 CAT FAN]

He won't have to endure another leftist loss.

[Leo Lyons]

He won't have to endure another leftist loss.

[Vrede too]

Damn you’re a whiny moron!

Not my path but I respect lifelong devout Christian Elijah Cummings’ beliefs, the ones YOU mock.

My only issue is with BIGOTED Christian beliefs. Why do you keep committing Commandment-level sinful and desperate false witness about that?

Ummm, YOU are the one that routinely cites Mr.B. I merely mention the OBVIOUS irony while noting your depicting Jesus as spiteful, cruel, cartoonish and even racist, “Bro”. Your projection is cowardly, as usual.

Ummm, I never said that you created the pics and don’t care where they come from. I merely point out the illiteracy, blasphemy and mocking of Jesus that YOU chose to share. Grow a pair and own your poor decisions.

[billy.pilgrim]

Damn you’re a whiny moron!

Not my path but I respect lifelong devout Christian Elijah Cummings’ beliefs, the ones YOU mock.

My only issue is with BIGOTED Christian beliefs. Why do you keep committing Commandment-level sinful and desperate false witness about that?

Ummm, YOU are the one that routinely cites Mr.B. I merely mention the OBVIOUS irony while noting your depicting Jesus as spiteful, cruel, cartoonish and even racist, “Bro”. Your projection is cowardly, as usual.

Ummm, I never said that you created the pics and don’t care where they come from. I merely point out the illiteracy, blasphemy and mocking of Jesus that YOU chose to share. Grow a pair and own your poor decisions.

Slack off attacking poor leo, everybody knows it is okay for christians to do unchristian things. Jesus forgives all.

[Vrede too]

Slack off attacking poor leo, everybody knows it is okay for christians to do unchristian things. Jesus forgives all.

His religiosity is confusing to me. Early on he was as cynical about religion as he is everything else. Later, he started quoting Mr.B like he's an apostle and condemning what he perceives to be, often incorrectly, attacks on all Christians.

[neoplacebo]

On this Sabbath, I wish to share a verse from John Prine's song "Pretty Good" with regard to religious opinion.
"I heard Allah and Buddha were singing at the Savior's feast
And up in the sky an Arabian rabbi
Fed Quaker oats to a priest.
Pretty good, not bad, they can't complain.
Cause actually all them gods is just about the same."