Classic Rant #1,044 (September 18, 2013): You Can't Please Everyone

I am sure that I mentioned this some time back, but I am on the committee which has been tasked with creating a Reunion for the 50th anniversary of my beloved old neighborhood, Rochdale Village, South Jamaica, Queens, New York.

When I got into this, I really didn't think there would be too many problems. I would do my part, and everybody else would do their part, and everything would be hunky dory.

Little did I know ...

Forget about the stuff behind the scenes, which I am not going to get into here.

The stuff in front of the scenes has been enough to alert me to never get involved in such a project again.

I have learned that you really can't please everyone.

If it is not one thing, it's another.

We have had people complaining about the food--our caterer is Italian--with people wanting us to offer a less fattening menu, have dishes for people who are intolerant of one thing or another, etc.

We have had people question our attendee list, because they don't see certain people on there--and I don't mean friends, necessarily, but certain "types" of people, let's say.

We have had people think that even though the deadline for payment has passed, they can send in their payments at any time.

Heck, we had one woman who yesterday, clearly several days after the September 15 deadline, alerted us that she was sending in her payment from Alaska and that it would take at least 10 days to get to us in New York.

There have also been people who have questioned the validity of what we are doing, don't care for certain people, and have given us hell about it.

There have been so many other things thrown our way--and thrown my way, personally--that I really have to ask myself if it was even worth it for me to get into this thing in the first place.

This is supposed to be a happy, pleasant occasion, when people are going to see others that they have not seen in decades.

Yet, many still bear grudges that have lasted for eons.

One guy actually told me that he has held a grudge against me since 1965, and honestly, I barely know the guy!

But with all the nonsense, this thing is taking off like a rocket to the moon.

We have about 150 attendees all lined up, and even with all the nonsense, this thing appears to be the social event of the year for this group of people.

The committee--the four of us--have worked hard to put this thing together, and it appears as if our work has not been for naught.

But all the constant carping and complaining gets to you after awhile.

I, personally, have had my fill.

I know it is going to be a great occasion, but enough already.

I now know, for a fact, that you can't please everyone, or anybody, for that matter.

And I guess that that is a lesson that I will never forget.

Rant #2,398: Free Me

Happy Wednesday,

Today is hump day, and we have to get through today, the middle of the week, to get to the end of the week on Saturday.

But really, hump day signifies the middle of the work week, and we have to get over today to get to the end of Friday.

Yes, we all work for the weekend, unless we have to work on the weekend, which my wife does this coming Saturday.

Happily, she is off on Sunday, but having one day on and one day off does nothing to soothe the senses.

So, happy hump day and happy Juneteenth.

Ehh ... Juneteenth ... what the heck is that?

It is amazing to me that I just discovered this holiday, that today, June 19, is a very important day in the annals of this country, but I did, and I will bet that most of you have no idea that this holiday existed, either.

Simply put, Juneteenth, which is also known as Freedom Day or in its longer form, Juneteenth Independence Day, is an American holiday that commemorates the announcement on this date in 1865 that slavery had been abolished in the state of Texas, and more importantly, the emancipation of slaves throughout the former Confederate States of America.

Juneteenth is actually recognized as a state holiday, or at least a day of observance, in 45 of the 50 states of the union, but I don't think those states include New York, because I honestly never heard of this holiday until today.

According to Wikipedia, the day is observed in local celebrations, and traditions include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, the singing of songs that were popular with the slaves, and the reading of writings by popular black authors.

The date is also celebrated with street fairs, family reunions, and cookouts.

Nope, I never heard of this holiday before discovering it just the other day and deciding that I would write about it when the day came.

Perhaps blacks in my neck of the woods know about this day more than I do, because Juneteenth, obviously, might have impacted their ancestors directly,

One of the reasons that the American Civil War was fought was because the north was pretty much against slavery and the south was not, but let's be very 2019 here, the reasons for the War Between the States had much more to do with other factors, many of them economic, than it had to do with freeing those bound by slavery. Slavery was certainly part of the equation, but while it is nice to say that President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, he did do that, but as a byproduct of the North winning this war.

Whatever the case, when Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Northern forces on April 9, mechanisms were put into place to join the two warring factions into the union it had previously had, and the slaves were emancipated as part of that deal. That kind of simplifies the whole thing, but within the context we are working with today, that is pretty much what happened.

In many places, slaves danced in the streets at the announcement of their newly won freedom, and this is how Juneteenth really began, as a celebration of this freedom, and a remembrance of the toil and blood spilled leading up to this magic moment.

Again, perhaps some of my readers of color know well more about this holiday than I do, but I also read that there is a movement to make Juneteenth a national celebration with a Congressional declaration.

So, happy June 19, happy Juneteenth, and have a good day. I hope you learned as much as I did about this day, and I will speak to you tomorrow.

Here comes summer!

Classic Rant #1,043 (September 17, 2013): Missed America

So what do you think of the new Miss America?

Me, I never understood the allure of this contest.

As a man--and as a self-avowed male chauvinist pig--I never understood why the prettiest girl never wins this contest.

And quite frankly, who cares about her brains?

But the latest Miss America has sparked plenty of controversy, and in the same breath, has put the pageant squarely in the news once again.

The latest Miss America is from New York, which should be news itself. Aren't most of the winners from the western part of the country? Yes, I did some research, and the last two (including the newest) Miss America are from New York, but isn't this some type of anomaly?

But the thing that has gotten a lot of people's goat is that the winner, 24-year-old Nina Davaluri, is Indian American.

She is not white, she is not black, she is not Asian, she is the first Indian American to have won this pageant.

A lot of people do not like this, and have made racist comments, saying that she is a terrorist.

Why they are equating her heritage with terrorism is beyond me, but I think that these people are scared people, thinking that minorities are taking over the country.

The woman was born here, by the way, debunking a lot of people who are saying that she is a foreigner taking away one of "our" pageants.

There is a lot of hate out there, but 30 years ago today, there was a lot of hate thrown at another Miss America winner.

Remember all the brouhaha over Vanessa Williams being crowned the first black Miss America? Today is the 30th anniversary of her coronation.

The same things that Davaluri is going through Williams went through, and Williams went through them a bit worse.

Racists said that Miss America could never be a black woman, while some blacks even said she wasn't "black enough" in her features to be considered one of them.

Oy vey!

Williams couldn't win any which way, but about a year into her reign, she was taken out for good by those nude photos of her that appeared in Penthouse magazine, photos that were taken of her a few years before the pageant.

She was "stripped" of her crown, and went on to have quite a nice singing and acting career, one of the few Miss Americas who had successful show business careers after her reign.

And let's not forget that years and years before this, Bess Myerson, the first Jewish Miss America, also went through hell because of who she was, and she, too, had a pretty successful career on television.

The term "Miss America" should mean just that, and if the winner is black, white, green, purple, Indian, Jewish, or just plain WASP, it really shouldn't matter.

And is this pageant really that important anyway?

I wonder if people also think that the competition was rigged, so that the Indian American girl won, just so the pageant would get the press it has not had in the past number of years.

I could go along that line much more, but the people who think that "white bread" women should be the only winners of this pageant are really out of line.

I never got this pageant, anyway, and after the latest episode, I still don't.

Rant 2,397: Baby You Can Drive My Car

New York, the Empire State, has proven once again what a real lemon it is by passing the so-called "Green Light Law, " which gives illegal aliens the right to hold a valid state driver's license.

The Democrat-backed bill barely passed in the state senate by a 33-29 margin, and those legislators representing certain areas greatly impacted by the flow of these people into their environs--such as Long Island, where MS-13 members, almost all of them here illegally, have disrupted normal life in the usual placid environs--voted against the measure, but to no avail.

Proponents of this legislation state that the ability for illegal aliens--who they so ceremoniously call "undocumented immigrants" so it lessens the blow, in verbiage, of who they really are--to get a valid driver's license will make the roads safer, will boost the economy, and will allow illegals a clearer path to citizenship.

Baloney. And put the baloney on rye, with mustard and a pickle.

All that this legislation has done is to give illegal aliens more rights than they deserve, and it goes against the very meaning of what the word citizen means.

More importantly, it opens up a can of worms that will never be closed, as New York becomes even more of a "sanctuary state" than it already is.

And that is treasonous, I do believe.

New York State has now opened the door for further fraud perpetrated by people who break the law and do not belong here, and for citizens, it is an abridgment of our rights as Americans for the state to be doing this.

First of all, illegal immigrants who have been here for days, weeks, years and decades, are breaking the law by even living here. They never bothered to go through the process of citizenship, so really, why are they here in the first place?

And by giving them driver's licenses, you are legalizing their behavior, which makes things that much worse, including for those aliens who have gone through the process and have become full-fledged citizens of our country.

What do you say to them?

Well, pretty much you spit in their face.

Look, illegals who refuse to become citizens generally do plenty to cement themselves in this country.

They steal names, Social Security numbers, and other valuable information so they are not found out, and try to wiggle out of having a stolen ID if yours has been stolen by these ingrates.

Proponents of the law state that these people will now have to do everything that citizens who own driver's licenses do, including having insurance.

Do you really think that people who have skirted the law by even being here are going to possess valid insurance? You just know that there will be plenty of fraud related to that, too.

Polls, for whatever they are worth, state that more than 50 percent of New York citizens are against illegals having driver's licenses, and this is in an ultra-liberal, treasonous state that welcomes illegals as if they were native sons and daughters.

If even the citizenry of an ultra-liberal state like New York is wary of such a law, why do our legislators embrace such legislation, against their constituents' desires?

Well, as I have said time and time again, you get what you pay for, and by constantly voting in Democrat after Democrat--whose backing of illegal aliens in every way of life is so obviously a ploy to get votes, future and otherwise--this is what you are going to get.

Could New Yorkers expect anything else, in particular with Governor Andrew Cuomo at the helm?

Funny, he even had reservations about the legislation, but for all the wrong reasons.

He said that by giving illegals (no, he doesn't use that term) the right to have driver's licenses, you would not only be giving them the right to drive legally in New York, but you would be creating a database of illegals that could be used by the federal government to launch mass deportations.

Cuomo--one of the all-time two-faced ego-driven political phoneys, just like his father was--said that the only way he would sign such a bill is if the information generated by these driver's licenses could be kept away from the federal government, a further treasonous act.

New York is a leader in illegal immigrant rights. The governor has proposed giving these people free college educations, and he has vowed never to cooperate with the federal government in the immigration process.

By allowing illegals to hold driver's licenses, New York State has crossed the line, gone through the stop sign ... you can use any metaphor you want, but the main thing that the state has done is slap its citizenry right in the face, and told those who have legally gone through the process that they have done so for absolutely no reason.

My grandparents--three of the four--came here 100 years ago to make a better life for themselves and for their families. if this latest nonsense isn't a slap in the face to their legacy, I don't know what is.

One can only conjecture what is next for the state to give illegals, perhaps the right to vote, the right to further use our resources in whatever devilish ways they want, because New York State has now become a place where illegals will gravitate to, since they actually have numerous rights here.

This is opening a Pandora's Box of problems that we can't even imagine yet, but my fellow New Yorkers, you deserve what you get because you constantly vote in legislators who do not care about the actual citizens of this state or country.

The only way to stop this is to vote these cretins out of office when their terms are due.

It is as simple as that.

We need reasonable legislators in New York State and in this country, those who will put the needs and desires of actual citizens above those who just stroll in here and want everything given to them on a silver platter.

Enough is enough.

Classic Rant #1,042 (September 16, 2013): I Don't Like Mondays

Looking back at Yom Kippur this year, I can say it all very briefly:

I fasted, I cleaned up my daughter's old room, and I broke the fast like there was no tomorrow.

Moving on ...

I could have slept today, I really could have.

It was a cool night, and I was very comfortable in my bed.

The problem is that I have work, my wife and son also have to get up to go to work and school, respectively, and the day must move on.

I don't like Mondays.

After two days where I can sleep late, Monday is the day that sets the tone for the rest of the week, where I have to get up early.

On Monday, I have Friday on my mind, and I am working for the weekend.

The brings up two old songs, the first by the Easybeats, the second by Loverboy, and I could go on and on with similar songs about the week, including "Monday, Monday" by the Mamas and the Papas.

But there was another tune, this one not a very big hit in the U.S. but huge overseas, that really spelled out, to the extreme, the stigma that Monday, the first day of the work week, has for many people.

Remember the Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays"?

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if you didn't if you live in the U.S., because the song barely got into the Hot 100 here, making #73 during early 1980.

Elsewhere, the tune was a #1 record, including in England, one of a slew of hits the Irish band--led by Bob Geldof, later of "Live Aid" fame--had there during that period of time.

The song was very American, though, or at least the subject was.

The song was about a San Diego, California, teenager, Brenda Spencer, who one Monday in 1979 decided that she would get out a gun and start shooting people for no apparent reason.

When she was asked why she would do such a heinous thing--she ended up killing two innocent people--she replied, "I don't like Mondays."

Well, most people don't like Mondays, either, but we would never go to that extreme, would we?

Monday is supposedly the day that the most work gets done, as opposed to Friday, when the least work gets done.

I guess people get hyped by going back to work, but by Friday, they are all tapped out.

So have a good Monday. Pace yourself as you get closer to Friday.

And don't do anything rash, like the Spencer girl, who I haven't heard about in years.

I guess she is spending her days in jail, where I would assume the days of the week kind of blend into each other.

Happy Monday!

Rant 2,396: Purple Haze

I overslept today, which was understandable based on the circumstances of this past weekend.

To celebrate Father's Day, we had a barbecue at my house, and a houseful of people to feed.

And I did just that, with the food flowing like water out of a park fountain.

Food, food and more food, and then some more.

And the weather held up, which made the day even better.

Weather forecasters had warned us that this Father's Day would be a wet one, but we got lots of rain early in the morning and then nothing until the early evening, so there was plenty of time to have a great time outdoors.

And it went so well, and I am so pooped right now, that I am going to proclaim that yesterday's barbecue is my final large barbecue. I am getting older, and I simply cannot do it anymore.

It was very difficult on not only myself, but my wife and my mother, and while we will continue to have smaller barbecues--like the one I plan to have on July 4--I think the days of the larger barbecues are over.

Starting with my father, my family has always had large barbecues dating back to the early 1970s, but after nearly 50 years of doing these things, I think the time has come for me to hang up my utensils, and just have smaller ones, intimate ones for the immediate family only.

This might be famous last words, so I won't rule out such bigger events altogether, but I think that this one is it.

Heck, it was such a good barbecue at least I can say that I went out with a bang!

And yes, today I am in something of a "purple haze" because of it.

But how does "purple haze" figure into all of this to begin with?

I have been a fan of Jimi Hendrix since as far back as I can remember, even before my family started doing barbecues.

I have to tell you, to me, growing up when I did, I didn't even have to hear his music--this guy was so out there, so odd looking, so different than what I was used to seeing as a kid, that I was drawn to his look before I was drawn to his music.

And then, when I heard his music, in particular on his first album, "Are You Experienced?," I was hooked for good.

He put out other albums during his short lifetime, but that LP stands head and above anything else he released, in my humble opinion.

And when he died, along with the death of Janis Joplin, I remember that in my school, there was a big mural of the two of them painted on the wall, honoring them for what they were and, I guess, for what they could have been.

So how does this fit into Father's Day?

Let the "wind cry Mary" ...

My wife is a smart lady, and she always gets me nice gifts on the occasions that demand such things.

Yesterday, to honor Father's Day, she got me a nice card, a nice eBay card, and a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt, which I wore yesterday as I was cooking away.

(And my kids got me nice gifts too.)

I got some comments on the T-shirt--it is really nice, a color caricature of Hendrix on a black background--and it got me to talking about Hendrix and his legacy with some of our guests.

So, yes, in spirit, I guess that Jimi Hendrix was with us yesterday while I was cooking away.

Where is the shirt now?

Well, because of the "fire" and the sweat and toil that I practiced yesterday, it is in the washing machine, ready to be cleaned and made new again.

If I took it out, I think it would smell so much that it would put me into a 'manic depression."

So you are just going to have to rely on my recollections about the shirt to go with right now.

And I hope everybody had as good a Father's Day that I did, but now, it is time to get back to the grind of the workweek.

But thanks to my wife, thanks to my guests, thanks to Mother Nature--the real "foxey lady" of this whole deal--and thanks to Jimi for making everything just right yesterday.

Classic Rant #1,041 (September 13, 2013): Yom Kippur

Tonight, at sundown, begins the most solemn day on the Jewish calendar.

When the sun goes down, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, begins, and it also begins a period of fasting, to show Jews' dedication to the Jewish way of life.

You are not supposed to wash, drive your car, shave, or do much of anything that day, but you are supposed to "doven,"or pray, in your synagogue.

Believe me, it is much harder to fast when you are in synagogue, and all the getting up and down makes it that much worse.

The fasting, and the praying, is to show God that you are worthy for another year, and you are showing your devotion to God by your participation.

As I said during Rosh Hashanah, my family does not currently belong to a synagogue, but yes, I do fast, and I honor the holiday and God my own special way.

I am the only one in my family who can actually get through the fast, so I continue to do it, although I really shouldn't do it, because I do take pills for my cholesterol on a daily basis.

But I do get through it the best I can, and yes, I have to say that I do feel better after the fast is broken, as not eating kind of clears my body, and soul, of a lot of stuff I don't really need.

And it is only until sundown on Saturday, when the holiday ends, so it really isn't that bad.

This year, with the beginning of the holiday on Friday and the bulk of the holiday on the Sabbath on Satruday, it really is the "super holiday," if you will. When this happens, extra passages are added into the ceremony, and I do remember days in synagogue where I would hear women crying because they could not eat. Having the holiday on Saturday will make the fast more difficult for some.

Anyway, we traditionally break the fast at my sister's home, and she usually has all sorts of goodies to fill my stomach after 24 hours of having nothing in it.

To all my Jewish friends, have a good holiday and an easy fast.