tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post3941105714286674020..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Independence DayUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-50246756075046911582016-07-05T14:49:40.293-07:002016-07-05T14:49:40.293-07:00Curtis, David, Vassilis, thanks so much for supple...Curtis, David, Vassilis, thanks so much for supplementing the compulsory shock and awe of the annual pleasantry with, of all things, a bit of thought to relieve the impact-shattered cranium.<br /><br />Curtis will probably agree that the chill penetrating reach of the marine layer, always welcome anyway here in the tinderbox, seemed to act as a kind of muffler during the thudding and bursting zenith of the explosives. One particularly loud and sudden blast suggested an armoured assault might be underway up the block, you never know. And then it was over. <br /><br />And Curtis, as you've bared your noise phobia, let me assure you, you are not alone, in that regard. A memorable family anecdote (found amusing because it revealed an appalling lack of bravery on my part) involved my first trepidated exposure to the 4th of July fireworks at the high school football stadium. At the climax, according to this legend, I peed upon my grandfather's lap.<br /><br />But now, we dwell in a crumbling ruin, hard by the Basra Expressway, and the daily racket of Harleys and hammers, and chippers and blowers, implementing an ever more overdeveloped unknowable future, makes for an annual pleasantry every day of the week, so it all blends in, as it were, in the madhouse.<br /><br />Vassilis, if anyone on earth is qualified to speak of America's ideals, it would be one who has survived and escaped their wonderfully stranglous grasp, to tell the tale...<br /><br />And David -- "Yet some of my friends chide me for saying I will not vote for Hillary--the next nihilist-in-chief. I refuse to vote for one more war criminal. I still remember her rising off her chair, applauding with all the men, when Osama was gunned down on closed-circuit TV." -- that is a moment engraved in history, an unforgettable image, her breathless excitement in the moment of the kill, the kind of moment she was born into the American suburban elite to enjoy and appreciate and repeat over and over and over for as long as the arsenal lasts.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-37204784643785015132016-07-04T12:42:11.928-07:002016-07-04T12:42:11.928-07:00Bang-up post and photos, Tom. Here's some more...Bang-up post and photos, Tom. Here's some more punk for the occasion.<br /><br />FALSE WITNESSES<br /><br /><br />Hey you chumps <br />Out there—<br /><br />Let’s keep chopping<br />America’s ideals<br /><br />Into pieces<br />We can chomp<br /><br />And chomp<br />And chomp<br /><br />Till our dentures<br />Drop dead—it’ll be<br /><br />A real blast.vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14515165428574974933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-80153508955375686842016-07-04T10:49:29.914-07:002016-07-04T10:49:29.914-07:00Thanks for the Creeley. He reminds me once again t...Thanks for the Creeley. He reminds me once again that America is the leading brand among nations--a Coke without a Pepsi. And god help any nation like Russia that vies even for Pepsi's Number 2 spot. Coke never gets colder than when it its fighting branding cold wars between the One-And-Only Cola and all other un-colas. Robert Creeley got this exactly right back in the 1960s. I think Olson also said, "We are the last People." I have lived with their sense since Vietnam and I am shocked at the surprise people express when the World's Preeminent Cola doesn't know what to do when some angry Muslims wants to turn Brussels, Paris and New York into Baghdad and Benghazi in a low-budget counter-terrorism that so effectively mirrors and mocks our own. Remember "shock and awe"? They do. They matriculated in the ruins we made of their countries. Now Isis is creating campuses for nihilism worldwide. Yet some of my friends chide me for saying I will not vote for Hillary--the next nihilist-in-chief. I refuse to vote for one more war criminal. I still remember her rising off her chair, applauding with all the men, when Osama was gunned down on closed-circuit TV. Maybe you should post Ed Dorn's "Sousa," also. Again, thanks, for providing sanctuary.<br />David Federmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08436365678466879799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-34911619616929255272016-07-04T06:24:34.321-07:002016-07-04T06:24:34.321-07:00Sort of like an "anti-July 4th" then?
A...Sort of like an "anti-July 4th" then?<br /><br />As a boy, I lusted after firecrackers, which we managed to scrounge one way or another. We never did anything bad with them, or fantasized anything evil. It was all just slightly naughty fun. <br /><br />It wasn't an harbinger of gun fascination or anything like that. <br /><br />As a small child, I had been terrified of loud noises. Crossing the old Richmond-San Rafael Ferry, I was always frightened of the boat whistle, which was blood-curdling, and hid down behind the rear seat of our old '49 Ford with my hands on my ears. My parents always thought this was worth a laugh. <br /><br />During the 1960's and '70's, I didn't go to rock concerts because I couldn't stand the decibel level. Today, I still have sensitive hearing. Whenever the trains hoot down on 4th Street, I have to hold my ears, or I'll experience a literal physical agony at the intensity.<br /><br />Happy Independence Day.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.com