Monday, 22 September, 2014 – CBC News Headlines:

Monday, 22 September, 2014  -( 49˚F / 9˚C –  & raining @ 8:30 am in Ithaca )-

{ We’ve been doing this because we believe the CBC may be more honest and more respectable than Media in the U.S.A., & not a lot of people in the U.S. may know that or have access to anyone who might point them toward the CBC & their web site. }

{ & again, these are not links. If you want to read these stories, listen to sound clips, or see any video -if there is any video- go to CBC dot CA/news.— & You can also find a link to the web cast of the most recent broadcast of “The National” the CBC’s ‘flagship nightly newscast’ under the “Must Watch” heading on their main page. — Thanks. ———djo——— }

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Quote of the day? Song lyrics from the flower child days: “Love is but a song we sing – /Fear- a way we die / You can make the mountains ring / -Hear the angels cry” – by Dino Valenti – It was performed by the old Kingston Trio, by Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, HP LoveCraft, The Youngbloods, and Jefferson Airplane and then I lost count. It was called “Let’s Get Together” before the Youngbloods released it as “Get Together” And the Dave Clark 5 released a version as “Everybody Get Together”

 

Leaders of the five political parties involved in today’s provincial elections in New Brunswick. Left to right: David Coon – Green Party, Dominic Cardy – NDP, David Alward – PC party, Brian Gallant – Liberal, Kris Austin – People’s Alliance party.

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Lead Articles:

-Updated- Suspect in Clinton businessman shooting arrested, charged with 1st-degree murder   {  }

Storm leaves 23,000 cusomers without power across N.S.   {  }

Ebola death toll now at 2,792 in 5 African nations: WHO   {  }

Male teen charged in death of Surrey, B.C., teenager    {  }

Canadian in Syria blocked from bringing husband home to safety   { Another headline to the same article: “Ottawa blocks Canadian from getting Syrian husband out of danger.”  —djo—  }

-Analysis- People are drinking the drugs we take   { * This one’s scary: “What happens when the excreted drugs get into drinking water?”  —djo— }

-New- Downsizing: When hitting the road hurts like hell   { * This is a series about a large reporter trying to lose weight.   —djo— }

 

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“Offbeat”

No new offbeat news?  😦

 

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“Most Viewed”

ISIS audio urges attacks on ‘unbelievers’ in Canada   {  }

High winds in Nova Scotia leave 50,000 in the dark   {  }

Nude celebrity photo leak: More images posted to online forums   { Repeat? or are there more since yesterday? & Why should we care?  —djo— }

Rockefellers to join in divesting $50B of oil fortune to fight global warming   { They’re probably buying up gold and silver in the belief that their manipulations are about to hit the fan and drive down the economies of everyone in the ‘free world’.  —djo— }

Justin Trudeau’s abortion policy keeps people talking   {  }

-17 photo slide show- People’s Climate Marches around the world   { Yesterday I got email and told you about the Conservative sector of the ‘Main Stream Press’ getting snarky and trying to undermine the sincerity of marchers around the world.  —djo— }

 

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Other:

5 Things to watch for in New Brunswick’s provincial election   { 1. Does election coverage interfere with the season premier of ‘The Black List’? 2. Does it interfere with the season premier of ‘Sleepy Hollow’? * My turn to get snarky– —djo—  }

The story behind Justin Trudeau’s abortion strategy   { * How about the story behind headlines that try to make a political strategy look like cold hearted manipulation?  —djo— }

Unpaid academic internships ‘taking advantage’ of students, critics say   { And over the weekend an article in the Huffington Post suggested that banks were changing their strategies to make it harder for middle class people to get mortgages etc, while making it easier for the top small percentage of the richest segment of the population to cash in on everybody else’s difficulties.   —djo— }

No word on when Mayor Rob Ford will exit hospital   {  }

Cost of policing continues to climb despite reduced cri, study finds   { * Well, heck, somebody has to pay for all those shiny new military weapons and vehicles every police force in the world wants to show off –   —djo— }

Government’s plan to revoke passports raises human rights concern   { ‘A new passport order gives Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander the power to deny passports on the grounds of national security, – “revoking and refusing passports to those going abroad to take part in terrorist activities.”- ‘  * The trouble is, there have been too many cases of people who have been thought to be terrorists because they have a Muslim name. The man who used to be Cat Stevens was denied entry into the USA a couple years back because the Muslim name he took with his new religion also belonged to someone they believed was a terrorist. At least one Canadian citizen was taken from a plane in the USA and shipped off to a country where nobody questions their torture methods and tortured for a couple years. I think he sued the Canadian Government for a lot of money when he released. And if I remember right, there were three or four more cases that were almost identical in their legal system. ** So the kids I went to school with, who used to blurt out, ‘In the Future, the US will be more like Russia and Russia will be more like the USA-‘ -whatever their sources were, were right? And Canada is following the USA down the road to totalitarianism?  —djo— }

Pioneer of mixed-race prom seeks funds for Museum of Human Rights visit   { A teenager “from southern Georgia who planned her high school’s first mixed-race prom last year is raising money to visit Winnipeg after being honoured by the newly opened Canadian Museum for Human Rights.” * And what has me worried is: – Aren’t Museums places where you go to look at things that have gone extinct or out of style? Would the Museum of Human Rights be a place where we might go to celebrate the idea that we once had Human Rights?  —djo— }

Student suspended for selling banned Pepsi takes business to sidewalk   { * Well, heck, the kids who have been addicted to intestine-rotting GMO ‘modified corn sweetener’ in popular soft drinks have to get their suicidal fixes somewhere- * Me being snarky again.  —djo— }

NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft reaches orbit around Mars   {  }

-Must Watch- Worldwide climate change rallies   { ‘Climate change’ is probably more accurate than the ‘global warming’ headline I saw somewhere else. —djo— }

& The Editor’s Picks are left over from yesterday.

-World- 130,000 Syrians flee to Turkey in 4 days to escape ISIS advance   { * Up 30,000 from yesterday? Ever wonder who might want to stay up all night dreaming up new ways to make sure you’re nervously believing the world might explode into terror attacks and war exploding everywhere at once?  —djo— }

-World- Australia seeks broad anti-terror powers after foiled beheading plot   { * When I was a kid in the late sixties, early 70’s we had an exchange student from Australia come talk to us in school and while people in the USA were starting to doubt the war in Vietnam was us trying to make the world safe for everybody else, Australians seemed to be genuinely concerned that the Red Menace -Communists- who had replaced the -Yellow menace- -Japanese soldiers during WWII- might just swoop down and take over and rape all those nice pure white girls. Australia might be a little more susceptible to propaganda scare tactics than areas more removed from international hot spots. ** Um, anybody got any ideas on how we can reverse the barage of fear mongering b.s. scare tactics that are aimed at out hearts and minds? —djo— }

-World- Visiting Afghan soldiers go missing from Cape Cod military base   {  }

-Politics- Korean president to talk trade during Parliament Hill visit   {  }

-Politics- Tories revive union bill that provoked Senate rebellion, move to limit debate   { * Quick, somebody move to limit the Tories grasp on power-   —djo— }

-Health- Why Winnipeg? How a Canadian lab became an Ebola research powerhouse   {  }

-Arts & Entertainment- 2014 CBC Poetry Prize winner announced   {  }

-Arts & Entertainment- Happy Birthday Leonard Cohen: Q opens the vault   {  }

 

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“Local / New Brunswick”

The five party leaders in today’s election.

5 things to watch for in New Brunswick’s provincial election   { Here’s their list :  1. Alward’s shale gas strategy – * Can conservative party lies that fracking is safe and necessary for the economy blind enough voters to give the unholy [ censored ]’s another win? * 2. Can Brian Gallant hold lead? * Can the Liberals pull in enough votes to win this one – after they pointed out that, all the time the Conservatives were telling everybody that Fracking meant jobs and prosperity, 3,000 actual jobs disappeared and campaign promises met half their goals- 3. Possible NDP breakthrough – Dominic Cardy did well in the debates after having moved his party a little closer to the centre of the political spectrum, recruiting ex-Liberals and ex-PC members to switch to the NDP banner and ‘pitching the party as the one that takes fiscal matters seriously’.  4. Green Party Leader David Coon – There was a tweet yesterday that Jim W sent me – A poster that was seen in University campus windows that said, “99% Less Bullshit”, showed David Coon’s smiling face- and listed web sites, twitter accounts, and facebook pages-  5. New riding map creates tight races – 55 voting districts were reduced to 49 – They don’t mention People’s Alliance candidate Kris Austin under #5 but his photo is there – *** Okay, I’ve probably done enough damage here- let’s move on to another headline.  —djo— }

New Brunswick: A different kind of election night   { ‘Elections New Brunswick is using vote tabulators to quickly count the votes in Monday’s provincial elections.’ & Link >>—-> http://indigostarcrystalradio.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/how-could-anyone-hijack-a-us-presidential-election <—-<< Jim W has a link to a recorded interview from the aftermath of the 2004 US Federal elections where-in a lawyer has explained how the Republicans stole the election to fraudulently put G.W. Bush in the White House for a second term – the second time he did not win an election legally, but found his butt in the seat of power. —djo— }

8 ridings to watch in the New Brunswick election   { ” 1. Fredericton South- “could be the closest race in the province on election night.” Green Party leader David Coon is running against Progressive Conservatives’ Craig Leonard, NDP’s Kelly Lamrock, Liberal Roy Wiggins and Independent candidate Courtney Mills.  “2. Saint John Lancaster” where former Liberal MLS Abel LeBlanc bolted from the Liberal Party in favour of the NDP. “3. Miramichi” Where ridings/districts were rearranged so sitting MLAs are running against each other. And a former PC MLA is also running in this riding as an Independent. “4. Memramcook-Tantramar ” is another riding in which two sitting MLAs are running against each other.  “5. Carleton-Victoria” Where the Liberal candidate was first charged with fraud in connection with a business he was a partner with, and then the charges were dropped. “6. Saint John Harbour” Where Tory Carl Killen won his race in 2010 by either 7 or 8 votes, depending on which paragraph you read here.  “7. Moncton Centre” The change in ridings/districts here has pitted two MLAs against each other who were famous for launching blistering partisan attacks at one another in New Brunswick’s ‘Question Period’ “8.  Fredericton West-Hanwell” where NDP leader Dominic Cardy is trying to win a seat that could be the NDP’s first seat in the legislature since 2005. ”  —djo— }

2 men stabbed at Esgenoôpetitj First Nation   {  }

New Brunswick election 2014: Voters head to the polls today   { Redundancy R Us? —djo— }

 

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“Aboriginal”

RCMP investigate claim officer made derogatory Facebook post   {  }

Assembly of First Nations says its proposals on missing women ‘tossed aside’ by Ottawa   {  }

NDP forces Commons debate on murdered, missing indigenous women   {  }

Only 3 First Nations candidates running in New Brunswick election   {  }

’60s Scoop adoptees find ‘some kind of belonging’ at national gathering   {  }

-Sadly it looks like every article on this page is a repeat-

 

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{ 11:14 am – Checking for typos and colorizing the headlines.    11:45 am— Almost ready to hit the ‘Publish’ button ———djo——— }

Thursday, 21 August, 2014 – CBC News Headlines –

Thursday, 21 August, 2014  -( 77˚F / 25˚C & thunderstorming in Ithaca @ 12:50 pm ET )-

{ & again, these are not links. If you want to read these stories, listen to sound clips, or see any video -if there is any video- go to CBC dot CA/news. —Thanks. ———djo——— }

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{ I’ve been really busy tracking down leads and ‘tweets’ about journalists being, at least, threatened by police and other officials. Sorry I’m later than usual with this. }

 

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The Lead Story has a photo of James Foley staring at me. a related story reports: “James Foley profile: A ‘committed and brave journalist’ Aug 20” { There  may be video with this. }

 

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“Lead Stories”

Ontario police say motorcycle deaths could hit 7-year high   {  }

New rules on mechanically tenderized beef take effect   { Because there may be an increased risk of bacteria resulting from this form of ‘tenderizing’ – the packaging must contain a warning that the beef must be properly cooked to a certain temperature that I couldn’t find while reading the article. }

RCMP investigate double homicide near Montaque , PEI   {  }

American doctor infected with Ebola recovers in Atlanta   {  }

Interpol says co-ordinated effort needed against ISIS   { A couple years ago, remote viewers told us the U.S. would become involved in a war with Syria. Maybe just ‘in’ Syria. I’d rather see a war against disinformation and government manipulation of the truth in order to manipulate the population. Remember- Governments killed more of their own people in the last century than all those horrific wars we went through- combined. }

Fighters traveling to conflict zones pose terror threat   { Buzz word = terror- Be careful- They’re trying to pull something over our eyes. }

U.S. says troops tried to rescue James Foley in Syria   { See above comment.  }

Hamas says 3 military leaders killed in Israeli airstrikes   {  }

U.S. AG tells Missouri he understands mistrust of police   { ‘AG’ = Attorney General }

Protests in Ferguson smaller with no tear gas fired   {  }

-Analysis- A ‘great training tool’ for police chiefs: How Ferguson botched crowd control   { Before Ian Punnet had to leave Coast to Coast am because of the ringing in his ears, he interviewed a retired police officer who believes that part of the problem with people seeing what they believe is inappropriate use of force by police officers- is that the officers have been trained to believe that they must ‘maintain control of the situation’. That advice sometimes leads to the officers going a bit too far. We need to rethink this. }

How Ottawa’s $24M ad campaign to sell Keystone in the U.S. fell flat   {  }

B.C. woman with dementia leaves final right-to-die plea   { I found out she died while I was reading another headline farther down the web site.  }

 

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“Offbeat”

Tooth fairy pays premium for teeth in Atlantic Canada   { This report estimates that kids in Atlantic Canada receive an average of $3.46 per tooth? Kids in Ontario receive an average of $2.80? }

Historic Thunder Bay buildings rendered in Lego   {  }

Killer whale tosses ‘sea lion’ 6 metres into the air   { There is a video. I have issues – #1- They’re Orcas- stop calling them ‘killer whales’. #2- I don’t want to see anything being tortured or killed. #3- If we showed video of beef cattle being slaughtered, do you think we’d all become vegetarians? }

Giant Rubber Duck sails into L.A. port   { Okay, now this one I’d probably like to see. }

 

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“Most Viewed”

Jacinda and Janika Hodder get mystery illness diagnosed in U.S.   { It took 20 years and $50,000.00 in donations for 2 sisters from Newfoundland to learn the diagnosis for a ‘brain disorder’ they’ve been suffering from all this time. Their disorder is called ‘Cerebellar Ataxia’ – ‘damage, degeneration, or loss of nerve cells in the cerebellum- the part of the brain that controls muscle co-ordination. They were hoping they’d find out it was something there might be a cure for. }

Liberals edge back from the brink under Justin Trudeau   { For the last couple days, I’ve been seeing headlines that seem to be aimed at undermining the electorate’s confidence in Justine Trudeau’s chances of being elected Prime Minister. Okay, Canadians do not elect a Prime Minister directly. They elect Members of Parliament, and the ‘Leader’ of the party with the most Members of Parliament gets to be Prime Minister. If no party has more than half the members elected to Parliament under its banner, The one with the most members elected will still get to ‘form the government’ and their ‘Leader’ is then the Prime Minister, they call this a ‘minority government’. Under a minority government a lot of compromises have to be made, and if a ‘confidence vote’ is called for and the minority government does not win that vote- it will be time to have a new federal election.  To say that Liberals were almost at the ‘brink’ -you’d have to forget that in the 1993 election the ‘Progressive Conservative’ only party ‘won’ only 2 seats. }

Iceland volcano: Bardarbunga volcano remains poised to erupt   { Last night on teevee news somebody said that there have been earthquakes related to the volcano, but no lava was seen as coming near the surface, yet. }

{ The rest of the reports here are repeats from “Lead Stories” above. }

 

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“Other”

-Analysis- Justin Trudeau fulfilling Liberal hopes ahead of 2015 election  { Okay- I don’t see any ‘loaded’ words in this headline. -I am not a Liberal- I am not a Conservative -I am an independent (small i) Nobody floats my boat. I used to have a bumper sticker, “Don’t Vote – It only encourages them.” My boss made me get rid of it because he was afraid somebody might see me get out of my car in uniform and associate the uniform with the bumper sticker. I would really like to see a politician appear from anywhere that I could believe in. Maybe not in this life. The Conservative party of Canada has already run commercials featuring unflattering photos and video of Justin Trudeau. They are trying to portray him as an irresponsible youngster who couldn’t be trusted to head a government. I thought these commercials were remarkably mean spirited. But, apparently-  the Conservative Party of Canada is still afraid that Justin might be popular enough to unseat them. The people I trust to look ahead have told me they’re confident the Canadian electorate will see through the Conservative Party, will see the ‘Leaders’ of this party for what they are and hand them their walking papers. I don’t know- but for now, I can only hope that the campaign, and the pre- campaign shenanigans, do not paint either party as junior high school bullies who never grew up, pointing their finger at their opponents and making faces and sticking their tongues out and acting like barely pubescent boys (and girls?) I mean, jeeze- acting like a twelve year old while accusing your opponent of not being mature enough to take your job away from you is just plain silly. }

Transport Canada’s lax safety practices go beyond rail   { Transport Canada is the victim of the current government’s attempt to make it impossible for Transport Canada to enforce its regulations because the current government is in bed with big business and wants to take all oversight away- period. They want to convince us that Big Business will be able to ‘police themselves’ better than any government regulatory body. We saw how well that worked last year in Lac-Mégantic. And then, at the press conference, yesterday, they tried to make it look like Transport Canada was at least as guilty as the MM&R railroad. If the government won’t allow Transport Canada the funds it would need to hire enough qualified inspectors, how in hell could they expect TC to do their job effectively? It’s the conservative agenda: un-fund programs, then tell the world those programs aren’t working, try to disband those agencies that protect the population from unscrupulous corporations and other businesses- and then what? Hide in your bunker while the world falls apart? -Hold the bloody government responsible. They’re lying to you. Investigate what they’re really up to and do not believe their argument that they can’t tell you the truth because national security is at stake. Their security is at stake. If you knew what your government is up to, you’d go nuts and try to rip their heads from their shoulders (without any form of pain killers being offered them). Oops, somebody help me down from this soap box?  }

5 Ukrainian troops, 2 civilians killed as fierce battles reported   {  }

-New- Have Alward’s Torries been ‘proven through fire’? N.B. voters will decide Sept. 22   { Alward’s Conservative government is banking on the belief that they can convince a lot of people that ‘Fracking means jobs for you’ and ‘We should let Big Business cut down any tree they want to, because they have our best interest at heart’ and ‘You really don’t want to protect the water you drink from being poisoned, because we need to ‘Frack’ for jobs, and let mining waste ooze into your drinking, cleaning and recreation waters because those nice people who are fleecing you of your natural resources shouldn’t have to be careful about the toxic sludge they leave behind in their quest to frack you where it hurts’- -Anybody remember the newest incarnation of ‘Battlestar Gallactica’? remember what they meant when they used the word ‘Frack’? -Don’t bend over in front of a mother fracker- I saw video that Jim W took in which a First Nations elder said that the elemental beings -like leprachauns- that we’ve been sharing this planet with allalong started the fires that burned several old police vehicles while the police were arresting protesters at anti-fracking roadblocks last year. -I saw the vehicles and was ready to believe that the police set their own aging vehicles on fire to both get new vehicles and make the protesters look bad. I wasn’t there, I didn’t see who did or did not set any fires. Jim did nothing with his video because one of the First Nations people in the background looked up and said he did not want to be in any video. Fracking is dangerous to your health. It really looks like fracking is part of a plot to destroy your ability to live anywhere that has been fracked. Somebody has an agenda.  }

‘This country is capable of change,’ U.S. Attorney General says in Ferguson   { Can I quote a folk rocker? “Nothing is quite as sure as change-‘ John Phillips, -of the Mamas & Papas }

Neanderthals, humans may have coexisted for thousands of years   { Maybe we interbred to the point where we’ve become one race? Maybe they’re hiding somewhere, waiting for the humans to self-destruct? }

Air Canada accused of discriminating against Muslim man   {  }

 

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“Local” / “New Brunswick”

New Brunswick election: Voters challenged to choose on resources, jobs   { They want you to choose between having safe drinking water, clean water to swim in and wash yourself and your clothes in — and allowing big energy companies to frack for natural gas, ruin your environment to make a couple fat cats richer than they already are? Do Not Believe that fracking will do anything but make your life more miserable. }

Government cancels First Nation tax and gaming deals    { Brilliant- Looks like the current N.B. government doesn’t believe they need the votes of any First Nations People. }

McCains Pizza sale leaves Grand Falls wondering about jobs   { ‘McCain sold their pizza plant to Dr Oetker- the new owners say they will keep all the current employees, operate under the McCain name for two years and then switch to the ‘Dr Oetker’ name on their packaging’  –  Jim W -in his email message asking if I was sick and needed him to do this today. }

Blogger feud continues with Fredericton City Hall   {Chris MacPherson, Fredericton’s chief administration officer, asked Google to shut down a blog because thate blog contained ‘inaccurate and hurtful content about Fredericton police.’ Charles LeBlanc, the blogger, says he never accused the Fredericton police of being pedophiles, merely asked a question and said, ‘somebody is’. & “I’m just shooting back what they did to me. They’re the one that started this, not me.” He said that if he had received an apology from the police department he would have removed the posts that upset the police and the local government. – In 2012, officers seized computer equipment from Charles LeBlanc’s home. An independent review later found that police misused a request form for that raid, used a form reserved for child exploitation offenses. No charges were ever laid against Charles LeBlanc. }

 

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{ Ack! This isn’t supposed to take me all day- it’s 3:45 pm, I had to get up and answer the phone several times, get my night-time ‘day job’ stuff done and here we are-  double ‘Ack’ I finished checking for typos and colorizing the headlines and now it’s 4:24 pm.  ———djo——— }

A Song That Jim Wrote —

Saturday, August 2, 2014. ( 10:30 pm in Ithaca, NY )

((( I do not believe the following deserves to be hidden away at the bottom of an archive of old poems from a literary magazine that is still more or less floudering along, now on our websites, then in hard copies we used to print out on the best printer we could get our hands on, or our files into.

I checked the archives of the magazine and noticed that Jim had added a song he wrote way back when.

I remember I asked him to sing it. He said he can’t sing, he has a weird problem with a ‘deviated septum’ that makes it impossible for him to regulate his voice box and stay on tune. I pressed, he tried. He played his Ovation guitar and sang, and I thought he did a good job, but he gave up, not even halfway through the full song that’s listed here.

He had more or less spoken many of the words and they sounded fine to me. I remember thinking this was a song about how my daughter had saved my life by needing me when I thought I’d hit rock bottom and had nothing left to live for. He told me it was a song that was supposedly written by the main character in his ‘Great Un-Amerikan Novel’ about the counter culture in the 60’s and 70’s and the main character who had supposedly written the song couldn’t make up his mind as to whether the song was written about a composite image of a couple women who had been in his life or was it about God? And he wasn’t sure where the title had come from.

I can remember him playing his guitar and singing parts of this and thinking he really had something there. )))

———djo———

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I think this might be a song I tried to write on a piece of cardboard that came inside a new shirt.

—–>

 

“To a Waterfall” You kept my love alive— Sometimes the slightest thought of you Could tear my crazy soul in two When I’m — too far gone to cry But you You kept my love alive You you kept my love alive I saw you in another time when I was lost inside my mind you shook me to my hidden roots and on that day my love came loose— Ah you— you kept my soul alive you you kept my love alive The night sails away and time flashes free then the world of man took it all from me my dreams all died the world went mad I tried to believe I was all I had But you- you kept my soul alive you you kept my love alive I found my wings I loved the sky alone I flew I thought I knew why From time to time I looked your way I felt your tears and flew away The higher I flew the deeper I went the more I knew I was nowhere yet I watched you stumble I watched you fall You screamed in the night I heard it all And you- you held my fire for me- you— you kept my love— alive— I stood in the wind I heard life begin I watched through the rain closed my eyes to pain And you— you kept my soul alive You— you kept my love— alive— a million years fall away in an instant and all the earth opens to my heart one word rushes in like a flood from a trumpet I see life end —and start—- Again And you- You kept my soul alive You you kept my dreams alive I knew you from a timeless dream I didn’t know what you would mean to me I asked the sky what everything means -saw the universe die in one violent scream And you- you kept my love- alive You- you taught my soul to survive Out here where there’s no life to be seen you die in your own ashes or live your own dream the dreams you resurrected led me straight to you I don’t have to tell you that I didn’t know what to do- But you— you kept my soul alive you- you kept my love alive and me— I was running from day to day feeling empty and starved I turned to you in the dark – no one there I closed my eyes and I saw you smile On the edge of a cliff I took the plunge through life and the cold past caution and fear to the bottom of the lake with no hope of ever reaching fresh air…. But I rose somehow and I saw you there And you you laughed my soul Awake You— You kept my love alive You needed me you know I needed you and, no- we were both afraid of fear we were terrified of love but you you took my hand and cried and you- you brought my love to life- and where? from deep inside you where? When your life was hell from where did you find the strength to try in a world so ungrateful why? cast your lot with the dying? why do we keep on trying? why when everyone’s lying– why did you look at me and smile? You might have saved both our lives with that smile- Times haven’t changed they’re getting worse you ask for a blessing they give you a curse all these lost crazy humans we’re all dying of thirst and your brought them your water and a smile full of grace and the way that they thanked you was a slap in the face But you- you kept my dreams alive you- you kept my love alive I hear you crying once again in a dream your soul is on fire and your mind wants to scream your wings are unfolding there’s a light in your eyes and I know you are ready for the view from the sky And You! You kept my soul alive you- you kept my dreams alive You! you taught my heart to survive You- make my pain feel like nothing You taught me magic is growing You! You kept my love Alive!” ……….Jim Wellington (duh- I think I started trying to write this in the early 70’s and wrote it out in this form on that piece of shirt cardboard around 1989.)