Grateful Dead

WELCOME BACK!!!! I missed you and you posts!

Appreciate the thumbs-up... As always, I'll try to find the good and just plain old new current events out there to comment on, especially with a Grateful Dead angle. But, as usual, it'll end up being a far greater ratio of gloom & doom. Wish it were otherwise!

Hey folks! Not to butt in, but I'm new here and I had a quick question. I work for Brookvale Records; we are the independent record label out of Long Island, NY releasing the Dick's Picks Series on vinyl. I'd like to start sharing info on here about our latest releases. But of course I wish to do so in an appropriate manner. Before I started posting about Dick's Picks Vol. 3 & 4 on sale and info on the upcoming Vol. 5 release, I thought I'd check in here. I'm certainly aware of community guidelines around forums like this acting as a fan, but I'm curious what the guidelines are for me as a "business." I'm not able to start new threads yet, correct? Am I permitted to post photos or links to our Store page, etc. within reason? If so, what specific forums would be appropriate for that? Don't want to be shunned for spamming! Thanks very much!!!

Correspond with dead.net webmaster marye. She'll set you right.

Granted, this is the fog of war and who the hell knows what is really happening but the video sure looks convincing. Sarin nerve gas. Ugghm, I don't know but when weapons of mass destruction are being used in the Middle East (or anywhere) it seems like things are getting really bad. Can Americans do anything alone? No. Nor can we afford not to act, giving AQ another country of anarchy like Yemen and Somalia in which to base operations. I pray for those innocents caught in the crossfire. Can the evil be stopped? Only when good leaders cooperate.

was yesterday, commemorating the 93rd anniversary of the certification of the 19th amendment which granted women the right to vote. ( Doesn't the word "granted" just make you feel special?) However, The current US Labor statistics states that only 3% of all currently working women in the US are making the same, or more, than their male counterparts in the workplace. 97% of women currently make less, or substantially less, than their male counterparts in the exact same job. And all of this in the good ole US of A. Travel to much less socially-conscious countries and women still have the common role of domestic slave and, if they're lucky, have second-class social status. So ladies, yesterday was YOUR ONE DAY of equality. Hopefully you didn't miss it, but if you did, no one would be surprised.

In a June 13 2013 post, reader Anna rRxia wrote, "Senator Leahy is the only Senator Deadhead in Congress and big on civil liberties." Sorry, Harry Reid was there first. I would refer her to my story "Senator Deadhead" in the Reno News & Review, September 3 1996, which quotes Mickey Hart: "Harry, he got the message and he was able to act on it," referring to Reid's advocacy of giving music therapy coverage under federal health insurance plans. Hart, Theodore Bikel and Oliver Hart testified at Reid's invitation at a hearing on the issue.

...would Senator Reid be caught 'dead' at a concert? Pun intended. Reid does not strike me as the Dead 'type' (if there is one) I could be wrong. To be an advocate for an issue dear to a member of the band makes one a Deadhead not. I'd bet Franken is a bona fide Deadhead, too but I agree with Anna, Leahy was likely there first.

Does not constitute one as a deadhead. Harry Reid may be more enlightened than the average senator but I agree -- he doesn't strike me as the kind who has the Dead in his musical rotation when he kicks back to relax. Senator Leahy is a kind man. One only had to witness his bullying by Cheney during the dark years and Leahy's non-negative reaction to know he gets it.

President Obama will speak in front of the Lincoln Memorial and though he is a good to above average speaker he isn't going to electrify anybody. He'll point out some well known facts and offer some solutions but they will be nothing more than platitudes and odes to a truly great leader of African-American people. This isn't to say that Obama hasn't challenged the black community, especially black males, to do better. He has. What he should do is something truly provocative, like propose a bill for reparations. Not that that would have a snowball's chance in hell of being passed.

You can't turn on the news without hearing the drumbeat for military action against Syria. This has not been a rush to judgement as in the Iraq war and Assad has truly crossed a line of no return with his use of chemical weapons. The problem is that Assad HAS crossed the line and there is no deterrent for him and his regime. If we lob a few cruise missiles at high-value targets it makes no difference. The choice is still between defeat and sure death for Assad or victory. Remarkably, Syria still has Iran, Russia and to a lesser degree Iraq as allies in his corner. If there were a country who would take Assad and his family and higher-ups into exile it would present an alternative but there is no such country. World markets are roiling, this time with good cause. There are no good choices in this conflict for the US. A war-weary nation is not about to occupy Syria and stay until democratic elections can be achieved. The US is not even willing to expend treasure to keep up an air blockade. This is frightening on many levels.

If only we weren't still licking our wounds from the war in Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq, and the general collapse of our economy....

The Entergy Corporation announced the closure of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear power plant in Vernon, VT. at the end of the 2014 power cycle. While there was a massive citizen's movement against this plant and nukes in general, it wasn't people power that brought Entergy's caving-in, leaking nuclear plant to shutting down. It was the competing low price of natural gas. Of course, if you want to know the story, follow the money. The bad news? The NRC (Federal nuclear oversight agency) gives all nuclear power plants in the decommissioning process up to 60 years to dismantle plants. And, the NRC has no Federal Waste Depository for on site used nuclear fuel rods piling up on site past the time of decommissioning (at all sites in this country).

President Obama is not showing his cards and is noticeably passive with the dire situation in Syria. Potential consequences are very serious to ponder. Johnman's former employer has positioned several assets in the Mediterranean: when will the Tomahawks lift?

I don't think we have the cards to play this hand. It hurts to watch the evil ASSad has brought upon the Syrian people,but I would hope for a much larger coalition of countries be willing to get involved before any military action is taken. A large coalition could also help bring about a diplomatic solution.

In the wake of the 1993 hangover resulting from faulty intelligence that suckered them into the Neo-cons war in Iraq, the British Parliament yesterday dealt a striking blow to Cameron on a watered down version of a vote that some type of force must be used to punish Assad. Labor was the main mover behind the vote but many in the Tory (conservative) side of Cameron's coalition bolted. It's too bad we don't have some senators with enough cojones to match that. Instead we have clowns like Ted Cruz. Having said that, while I am in favor of taking out Assad, there are no good options for the US in Syria. Had we not gone to war in Iraq one could imagine a transference of US military assets in a "coalition of the willing" from a far more successful Afghan campaign to a boots-on-the-ground Tom Clancy-like invasion of Syria. That ain't gonna happen. Assad and the Chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are threatening Israel if the US attacks in any way. Israel is silent and and quietly gloves-up with chemical gear for it's entire civilian population. Bottom line: No matter what anybody does, Assad has nothing to lose. The genie is out of the bottle. The latest news is he napalmed a school in Aleppo, Syria's second largest city yesterday. The sound bites from the BBC were horrific, people with burns screaming to be let into hospitals...

I wonder if we would be going after Assad with that first cruise Tomahawk? If we miss will Assad unleash chemical weapons attacks all across Syria? If Assad falls do we have a hundred thousand troops or so ready to go into Syria to find and secure their chemical weapons? Will Israel decide this is a good time to go after Iran's nuclear program? Should we risk our national security to get involved in another countries religious war? I guess these are just a few questions we should be asking our leaders. God bless our leaders with wisdom and I hope y'all have a great Labor Day weekend.We will survive !

God knows May Day and Labor Day are the only holidays for us working folks!

The Senator from Boston had his jaw clenched with righteous indignation. WE KNOW the facts behind this war crime. HISTORY WILL condemn us if we fail to act. Fuck John Kerry! The US was the first nation to use weapons of mass destruction -- Throwing Small Pox in the blankets of native Americans in the first known instance of germ warfare known to mankind. While all perpetrators of crimes involving weapons of mass destruction should be held accountable, I wonder if John Kerry considers the first atomic weapons needlessly dropped on Japan (The Japanese were ready to surrender but not unconditionally: They wanted to preserve their Emperor - that was their sole condition) weapons of mass destruction? Endless indignation from clench-jawed politicians who don't know their history make me puke! This country will reap what it has sewn, no matter how many petty tyrants we cut down along the way.

After the presidential succession for the last 30 years has usurped the War Powers Act more and more suddenly a stunning revesal of fortune has come from the Obama Administration in the form of letting the Congress debate and vote on the issue of military action against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad of Syria for the worst chemical weapons attack by a dictator against his own people since 1988. The Joint Chiefs have assured the president the window is open to a vast array of responses that seem little attached to a time table of any significance. Truly war-torn and weary nations suffering attacks and massive refugee camps like Turkey would like the Administration to think a little less and bomb a great deal harder but Obama seems to want to put every member of Congress on record if things go South. If those 200 cruise missiles and drones start hammering away ineffectively at Syrian targets of strategic importance? Israel becomes embroiled in a war that America feels morally obliged to come to Israel's defense against invading Syria, Iran and Russia. This time it will be boots on the ground (and tanks). Every veteran's mouth goes dry with the swallowing of the necessary 8 more pills to ward off the inevitable adrenaline and PTSD build-up rush.

Confusion, Anger and Mockery After Obama’s Decision http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/02/world/middleeast/overseas-concern-follows-obamas-new-approach-to-syria.html

- It smells like WWIII...

wow, what a world, we give this guy everything he needs to kill everyone in the area and then we get pissed when he does, what did you expect? You know being king is a great gig, and most anyone would do whatever it takes to hang on to that job and don't think for one second that the same thing wouldn't happen in this country if the powers that be felt that their little gigs might end.

I think the local burghers in my town would let go with the mustard gas found in the old pre WWI horse stables if they couldn't taze anybody they wanted with impunity... Like employees who didn't show up for work on time because they had to drop their kid at daycare. Well, maybe I'm being a bit harsh. But consider this from the NY Times: "In 2006, former Iraqi general, Georges Sada, who served under Saddam Hussein before he defected, wrote a comprehensive book detailing how the Iraqi Revolutionary Guard moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria, before the US-led action to eliminate Saddam Hussein’s WMD threat, by loading the weapons into civilian aircraft in which the passenger seats were removed. As reported in the New York Sun on January 26, 2006: “‘There are weapons of mass destruction gone out from Iraq to Syria, and they must be found and returned to safe hands,’ Mr. Sada said. ‘I am confident they were taken over.’” “Mr. Sada’s comments come just more than a month after Israel’s top general during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Moshe Yaalon, told the Sun that Saddam ‘transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria.’ SO, I don't believe the US gave El-Assad 1 or 2 (father Hafez or son Bashar) his weapons -- I think it is evident he got them from Hussein, but we won't know till we see the shell markings. El Assad is officially listed as President and secretary of the local Baath Party. Just another Jack-Muslim who makes a point of paying for his I-Tunes. (This whole thing is getting rather bizarre)

Do you have any supporting documentation for your statements on Japan? I could not find any. Thanks.

The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, set up by the War Department in 1944 to study the results of aerial attacks in the war, interviewed hundreds of Japanese civilian and military leaders after Japan surrendered, and reported just after the war: "Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey's opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November, 1945 Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated." ***** You could stop here but read on for the real pertinent facts: ***** But could American leaders have known this in August of 1945? The answer is, clearly, yes. The Japanese code had been broken, and Japan's messages were being intercepted. It was known that the Japanese had instructed their ambassador in Moscow to work on peace negotiations with the Allies. Japanese leaders had begun talking of surrender a year before this, and the Emperor himself had begun to suggest, in June 1945, that alternatives to fighting to the end be considered. On July 13th, Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo wired his ambassador in Moscow. "Unconditional surrender is the only obstacle to peace..." Martin Sherwin, after an exhaustive study of the relevant historical documents concludes "Having broken the Japanese code before the war, American Intelligence was able to, and did, relay this message to the president, but it had no effect whatever on efforts to bring the war to a conclusion." If only the Americans had not insisted on unconditional surrender -- that is if they were willing to accept one condition to the surrender, that the Emperor, a holy figure to the Japanese, remain in place -- the Japanese would have agreed to stop the war. Why did the United States not take that small step to save both American and Japanese lives? Was it because too much money and effort had been invested in the atomic bomb not to drop it? General Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project, described Truman as a man on a toboggan, the momentum to great to stop it. ******* ******* ******** My editorial: We've been fed a line of crap for decades about the saving of millions of lives, mostly American, in the invasion of the Japanese home islands. My father, a WWII Pacific Theater veteran, repeatedly made this argument to me in a defensive way. We knew. They knew. It was about scientific study of the types of atom bombs dropped, even with intelligence that American prisoners of war were turned into shadows in Hiroshima (which WAS NOT a military target) and Nagasaki. There were also other factors more in the nature of conjecture.

After meeting with the President at the White House today, McCain and Grahm acted like men who had to sell their constituents a crappy bill of goods. Selling war is their specialty. The war economy floats their boat. Eternal war without end. Their pretension that Obama's actions are inadequate or wrong is odious. Put them all on record and let the American government act with one voice. Notice I said government, not people. We are a Republic and I for one don't want another bomb dropped in my name, which I will have to answer for at the time of my death, on anybody.* "The Middle East is a powder keg and the fire is coming... nobody knows what will happen..." Bashar el-Assad in an interview today in the French major daily La Figaro *This expresses my conviction that if you pay for the bombs with your taxes you bear some responsibility, to a lesser or greater degree.

> "The Middle East is a powder keg and the fire is coming... nobody knows what will happen..." It's coming up on 1000 years since the Catholic Church first launched the Crusades in the year 1095. The Middle East has always been a powder keg, the fire is always coming, and nobody ever knows what will happen. It's a holy war and it's probably going to continue until Jesus and Mohammad come back to duke it out for once and for all. In the meantime, things will pretty much remain same as they ever were.

I sincerely hope you're right Mike. He is backed into a corner and has already proved intent.

It's good to have you back, Anna. I taught two short term classes this summer, so I didn't have much time for posting, and with you traveling, there wasn't even very much to read around here.

Hafez Assad, Bashar's father, was a brutal dictator who crushed all resistance against his regime. He killed 10,000 in Homs in 1982 alone. Bashar's brother was being groomed for his father's slot as head dictator and "president" for life, but he was killed in a car accident. Bashar was called home from the Western Eye Hospital in London where he was working as an eye doctor. He went through the Military Academy in 5 years, attaining the rank of colonel. Upon his father's death in 1980 the Parliament in Syria lowered the age of majority for president to 34 in Syria, which just happened to be Basha's age. Bashar really wanted to reform Syria and clean out corruption but cronyism among his father and brother's old friends made that impossible. Boy, karma is a bitch!

May you roast in hell (RIH) Ariel Castro.

Enough rope to hang himself. I'll bet not one guard got reprimanded for that. Sociopaths don't last long in jail. Good riddance Castro and Jeff Dhamer.

I'm currently watching a sad documentary on hydraulic fracturing in the U.S and abroad. I can't believe this shit happens in so called civilized societies, such as our own. It's happening in Canada to folks. Australia also. it makes me want to cry and puke at the same time. So many factors in this industry equal our end. Maybe there is something better than concrete to use in these wells? I'm really at a loss for words right now. When the Mayor of Dish TX picks up and moves to another state, you gotta know, it's pretty fucking bad.

They're doing it in China, too...I hear they're starting to research a new process called 'waterless fracking' as well. I guess it's supposed to be cheaper according to industry insiders. Wonder what kind of holy hell it'll raise.

sounds rather acidic! Now, about fracking -- you gotta drive off the interstate down the main road in some small agricultural hick town in Nebraska. All the good jobs are gone. All the family farms making to 100k profit a year and taking care of the whole extended family are gone. You stop at a diner for breakfast after staying in a crummy $40 a night hotel and pick up the local paper and read how people don't want fracking but they damn well need the jobs that fracking is bringing, preserving the family name for future generations. What is a green deadhead to do? Tell them, they really want to know!

Has anyone read the article on Jerry Brown in the latest issue of Rolling Stone? I skimmed it yesterday with plans on reading it for real, but it sounds like he's actually proving that green energy is sustainable as well as profitable. I mean, he's rescued California from the brink of bankruptcy, so he must be doing something right, right? Y'know, more and more, I see the setting of "Mad Max" in our future....

Well, maybe it took "The Red Panda" Ed Snowden to wake up the American Left. But from the signs I'm seeing at demonstrations in Augusta, Montpelier, Concord and Albany it certainly looked like the citizens of this country were united in saying "NO!" to another millitary intervention somewhere in the world. This isn't ideological. This is weariness. The American working class has figured it out. The don't want to see another house in a long row with a Gold Star on it, meaning there is another Gold Star Mom inside who's had a military van with two impeccably groomed non-coms. inside come knocking on their door with a perfectly folded American flag and some last effects from their deceased son or daughter, if they were lucky. John Kerry and Obama and McCain look ridiculous spouting their platitudes about a red line that was drawn in the sand almost 100 years ago during WWI that hasn't been crossed since, except for the Japanese using them against US Marines and Koreans and the Chinese. Except for the US using napalm during the Vietnam War Except for Hussein using them against the Iranians and the Kurds.... So just what exactly the hell is the rationalization here? The rationalization is that we moved to a war economy since 1934 and the American people don't have any say in who fights and dies and who profits from that war economy and when Obama and Kerry or Hillary and Joe Biden or whatever Republicans become the flavor of the month next election year and win the presidency, we will say "How High?" When they command "Jump! Bitch!" The thing is, you and I, we can't say no to them (insert label here), ever. Because we passed the Patriot Act, our representatives did, without reading it. The Patriot Act had nothing to do with 9/11 and everything to do with tightening corporate choke collars around our throats, We had a chance to sunset these laws, but our representatives did very little, almost nothing. The same old military families now realize how little they are cared for by the VA or the rest of the American people. They do not want to fight anymore. These are the people who are holding the signs, urging the US against military intervention. And how will our Congress vote? To spend more money on missiles and drop them on other people. We have to be scared. We have to pay more taxes. We have to drop more bombs and kill more people. Unless you just say "NO!" (Gasp!) ~ Sometimes I feel like a motherless child A long, long, long way from my home! ~

Obama does a 360 degree turn once again, this time using the Russians to cut a deal with El-Assad to count his stockpile of sarin-tipped missiles, which the Syrians inherited from Saddam Hussein. If he snatches victory out of the jaws of defeat after this fiasco of bringing the vote to the Senate and House he has done the greatest rope-a-dope move since Muhammeded Ali floated out of a brain-dead fuzz to victory over Joe Fraizure. In the future we need our president willing and able to charge up San Juan Hill as Teddy Roosevelt supposedly did in Cuba. That is, we need our president ready and able to bring the country to war when the stakes are a country with weapons of mass destruction and the leader of that country starting to use them on a regular basis. It will be an interesting speech this evening by Obama. Lets hope it is a memorable one.

Rather, a cynicism that fairly leaked out the top of his head in asking for a postponement of the vote in the Senate on 9/11. Even the rich symbolism of what happened one year ago in Bhenghazi and what happened 12 years ago in NYC was mot enough to move the 20% gap in the Congress. One should have listened very closely to the President. He is giving up none of his prerogatives as he realizes this will be one of the defining moments of his presidency in foreign policy. The UN and Russians and have about two weeks to resolve the matter by destroying the collection of stockpiles of nerve agents and destroying the weapons delivery systems. Look for Obama not to utter another word before he gives the order to pull the trigger. No president will allow the American people to tell him what to do. Not unless it is the richest directors of corporations in interlocking directorates. Those people pay for politicians to get elected.

Most of us who voted and worked for Obama wanted a US President who would consult with allies and form coalitions and generally follow after alternative methods to war. We certainly got that with Barak Obama, the one who won the Nobel Peace Prize upon taking office. What we got last night was as an uncertain commander-in-chief who seemed unsure as to what to do in that face of a difficult situation such as he now faces in Syria. Faced with the desertion of our British "Cousins" and the will of the people themselves in the form of their representatives in our Republican form of government, the President was faced with an historic choice and it sure felt to me like he picked the wrong way. It seems unlikely that Syria will give up it's entire chemical weapons arsenal with the help of Putin and the Russians. Putin's interests lie in the continued sale of arms to the Middle East, including to the Syrians. It would seem Putin wants to push out every contract for arms he can before somebody in the US with some balls decided to strike boldly and force the issue. This is one of those types of issues that pits left against right in a game where the scales weigh up the least amount of dead bodies in the end.

I saw my first pro-fracking commercial this morning when my wife turned on "The Today Show," and it reminded me why I stopped watching television. Reminds me of the anti-corn syrup commercials that quickly turned into pro-corn syrup commercials, only the lasting health effects are much, much more devastating. And I'm sure, like the good little sheep they are, the American base will start supporting fracking as the answer to cheap energy. Flammable tap water has to be better than another oil spill in the ocean, right? Right...?

Doesn't it seem like some sort of evolving picture of hell? Mad Max doesn't begin to describe it. We have earthquakes and waste water and benzene clouds and old mine cave-ins. It seems like 1/3 of our country is in the path of this demonic fuel repository. I hate fracking. It's terrible. But I've been through some of those towns where people can't put a roof over their heads or provide for their kids because there is NOTHING for them. Are we supposed to condemn them? Tell them to move away from their families? Are we, who are more fortunate, supposed to say: "Don't work there, It's bad for the Earth! I hate fracking and greedheads who make money off of it. But I can't bring myself to say to them: "Don't take the only work in town!"

Most of us contribute to polluting the environment in some way and I won"t state the obvious. But what sickens me is the poor families living anywhere near a well that have to pick up and leave (if they can afford it) without any compensation for having too. It's just sort of a "tough luck, kiss my ass" approach that these companies are using simply because they know these people can't fight back. Not right Who has hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight for whats theirs? These companies aren't only destroying the land, they're also getting away with murder. Many people are dreadfully sick because of these bastards. I just don't get how they're allowed to destroy peoples lives. I guess there aren't enough Erin Brockovich's on the planet. Anyways...it's hard not to think that we are most definitely, doomed. Sooner rather than later. I'm really not a pessimist, by nature. It's just hard to see a any of this changing.

Because the Constitution protects property and contracts rather than people.

Last year and again this spring, it was ravaging forest fires consuming beetle-kill evergreens. Now it's raging floodwaters washing out the mountain canyons and inundating cities and towns from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins. Let's hope the rains let up and people get a chance to clean up.Furthur arrives at Red Rocks next Thursday....

In a surprise move, the The US & Russia have announced from Geneva that Syria will inventory it's chemical stockpile within one week and destroy them within the rough timeline of mid-2014. While the US has stopped posturing militarily, Obama has clearly stated that he reserves the right to unilaterally strike militarily if the Syrians deviate significantly or the Russians fail to live up to their commitments in pushing the Syrians. If it works it is a significant diplomatic coup for the Obama team. If it turns into months of foot-dragging without a clear ending then nothing will have been accomplished and Putin gets to have a distribution center to sell conventional weapons all over the Middle East.

My views on drugs are very liberal. What one does to their self is their own business. But, this day care center in The Bronx that was a front for a major narcotics operation is just wrong. 1 kilo of powdered cocaine. 180 grams of crack cocaine. 1,000 oxycodone tablets. 1 loaded handgun. $180,000 cash. In a facility that serviced 15 children everyday. Definitely a moral interlude with those people.

Has been lost and we continue to pay a ridiculous price every day, whether it be the innocents we put at risk or the tax dollars we vacuum up or the corruption that seeps it's way into every corner of every city. I'd rather just give a needle and junk to a junkie who refuses every form of help then allow the current status quo to keep blowing through our land.