Will racial bias cost the President the election?

Here's some interesting campaign math: If the white vote constitutes 74 percent of the total vote, as it did in the last election, and Romney receives at least 61 percent of that white vote, Obama must either improve on the 80 percent non-white vote he received last time – and maintain the same turn out levels, or Romney wins.  Polls estimates are that Romney leads Obama among likely white voters 60-37. Can it really be true that 60% of white voters disagree with Barack Obama over policy? Or is there something darker that is being rejected?

What's My Line hosts a macabre Halloween visitor

A macabre Halloween visit with Alfred Hitchcock -1954

Will The Willow shutter FEMA? The daily update and a history lesson

During a debate at the height of the GOP primary, Mitt Romney was asked, in the context of the Joplin disaster and FEMA's cash crunch, whether FEMA should be shuttered and states required to take over responsibility for disaster response. His response?

A musical playlist as Sandy's waters rise behind us

AS HURRICANE SANDY MAKES HER INROADS ON OUR SHORES, A MUSICAL WISH THAT ALL REMAIN SAFE, WARM AND DRY WITH SHELTER FROM THE STORM STARRING MAMAS AND PAPAS, JIMI, JOHN AND PAUL, NEIL, BRUCE AND FEATURING THE FATHER OF MOTION PICTURES, THOMAS A. EDISON

John Franklin Stevens Open Letter to Ann Coulter

As many of you no doubt know, self-styled pundit and provocateur Ann Coulter recently indulged in her penchant for the insult when she tweeted the following of the President:

Ann Coulter ‏@AnnCoulter                                                                             October 22, 2012

I highly approve of Romney's decision to be kind and gentle to the retard. 

She responded to the ensuing hue and cry with her predictably graceless flair:

Remember these Oldies But Goodies On The Big D?

The Beatnik DJ himself, Dick Robinson with some anonymous has-beens or 

never were in the first place fellers. 

John Keats' Ode to Autumn

Ode to Autumn by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Mitt's foreign policy revealed: Cowboy up! Oops!

ETCH-A-SKETCH UPDATE: Oh great! Yesterday I was ready to grab my 10 gallon hat, boots, spurs and rusty cap gun and saddle up for Team Romney to play Sheriff to the world just like back in the good old Bush days when oliver sudden morphs into a peacenik and pulls the plug on the whole shooting match. All that fretting and fuming over whether Mittens was gonna steal the nuclear code and hit the button right there on the debate stage and it turns out all he wants to do is give peace a chance. Fooled me again, slick.

Keith Jarrett playing in the Autumn Leaves

Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette playing in the Autumn Leaves.

(introduction) 

Mitt Romney, Robert Bork and abortion

It is now days before the election and we are still expected to peer behind a mask of obfuscating slogans in search of the very few clues we can find that tell us which way the Willow will bend when the winds blow and what it is that he will risk mussing his hair to fight for.

On one issue at least, help is here, courtesy of Politifact.com which has compiled Romney's abortion positions over the years, step by circuitous step.

Tim Buckley is Alive

Tim Buckley (1947-1975) was a soaring vocalist who stretched far beyond his origins as a folk-rock artist. His oeuvre is stylistically varied, often confusing and ultimately frustrating, but his commitment to allowing free rein to his imagination and exploring the limits of his art is unquestioned.

Song to the Siren - Monkees TV show - 1968

Fred Neil's The Dolphins 

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman serenade this lovely Autumn

If I could borrow one singer's voice to sing one song just once in my life, that singer would be Johnny Hartman. The song would be Autumn Serenade. And my band would be The John Coltrane Quartet.

George McGovern - A Tribute

As George McGovern's life draws to an end after 90 years and another Presidential election looms, it is time to reflect upon and remember the legacy of this man who carried himself with dignity and grace and inspired a generation to revere and strive for peace. 

Romney's Vietnam- The Tale of a Fortunate Son

A Fortunate Son

In 1966, Mitt Romney was a freshman at Stanford at a time when the campus was roiled by anti-war demonstrations.  Romney, like his father, was an ardent supporter of the war. Mitt's campus contribution? He joined a counter-protest urging his fellow students to abandon their protests. That's him in the upper right corner of the photo. 

The Art of Politics

“Politics is the art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other” Oscar Ameringer (1870-1943) American Socialist.

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken (1880 – 1956).

Bob Dylan with God on his side - 1964

Oh my name it is nothin'

My age it means less

The country I come from

Is called the Midwest

I's taught and brought up there

The laws to abide

And that land that I live in

Has God on its side

The Days Grow Short As We Reach November

No month that I know of has more beautiful songs written about it than the month of September.  Here is a selection of wonderful September Songs.

Tom Jones swoons over the Autumn leaves

I'm not a real big fan of the "dream boat" types and always thought Tom Jones was miscast in that role. It would have been more interesting to see what he could have done with an R&B based career but apparently he preferred Vegas where he could out Humper the other dinks. 

Anyway, he was kinda like Elvis in that you could give him any song to sing and he could deliver. Here he is, back in the day, swooning over The Autumn Leaves - Ladies, get your panties ready for the one, the only Mr. Tom Jones!

Another Mass Kiss Off for Mitt the Man With No Home

Coda: When it was over and he was soundly beaten, Mitt Romney delivered a concession speech that revealed himself to be a gracious, decent and honorable man. Unfortunately for him, he never learned to run a gracious, decent and honorable campaign.

The Next to the Last Great Debate

UPDATE: How do you debate someone who never takes a consistent position on anything and when he is called out on any one of them, denies that was ever his position in the first place? I've been listening to this guy for 18 years and still haven’t got the slighted clue what be truly believes in. The last time this country bought a bundles of surprises like this it was gift wrapped by Richard Nixon. The last time we elected an actor this skilled, his name was Ronald Reagan, right down to the Brylcreem. If that’s your cup of tea, take a swallow. But first, ask yourself this: who is it you are voting for and what is it that he is going to do for you, especially if you are among the 47% who, when behind closed doors, he dismisses as freeloaders? And how does he propose to reach across the aisle when he’s got the right wing of his party ready to smack him down every time he tries it right on down to the next Supreme Court Justices? Etch-a-Sketch is the name of the game alright. PS You balanced the budget in Massachusetts because it is a constitutional requirement, sport.

UPDATE: BOOM! 149 MINUTES INTO DEBATE #2 AND ... Barry O. hits Mittens with "47%" for the final blow. That's 47% people. Remember, folks, Mittens said it behind closed doors surrounded by $$$. Are you or your loved ones in that 47%? If so, what's left to decide? One guy is a poseur in an empty suit under a coiffure and the other is the present and future President of the United States of America. VOTE!

Nat King Cole understood the beauty of Autumn leaves

Nat King Cole understood the beautiful melancholy of the falling Autumn leaves - 1957

A Boat, Beneath a Sunny Sky

Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There’ is dedicated to the ten year old girl who was his muse and inspiration, Alice ‘Pleasance’ Liddell.  ‘A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky’ is an untitled poem that appears at the end of the book.  The poem is an acrostic in which the first letter of each line read downward, spells out the name of the author’s muse.

A Boat, Beneath a Sunny Sky

by Lewis Carroll

Poem In October

Poem in October

BY DYLAN THOMAS

It was my thirtieth year to heaven ...

Van Morrison is haunted by the sound of leaves falling down

When the leaves come falling down - live

When the leaves come falling down -studio recording

I saw you standing with the wind and the rain in your face

And you were thinking 'bout the wisdom of the leaves and their grace
When the leaves come falling down
In September when the leaves, come falling down

Neil Young Celebrates the Harvest Moon

I would not have cast that old brooding loner Neil as the care free, swinging leading man but, playing against type. he carries the part off with charm and aplomb. 

Proof positive that, from time to time, 

Neil Young actually has fun. 

On the Way Home/Tell Me Why - 1971

A Moondance 'neath the cover of October skies is a fantabulous time

No other musician I know of is more in tune with Autumn (or any other season for that matter), than Van Morrison)

A Moondance in Ireland -1979

Moondance for the very first time - 1970

Ali vs. Frazier; The Thrilla in Manilla

Ali v. Frazier - The Thriller in Manilla

"Lawdy Lawdy, he's a great champion" - Joe Frazier.

On this day in sports history, October 1, 1975 Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier met for the third time and final time in the “Thrilla in Manilla”, considered by many to be the greatest fight in the history of boxing. October 1, 2012

This link is to the most stirring account of this legendary fight, written by Mark Kram for Sports Illustrated. "Lawdy, Lawdy, He's a great champion"