Day: June 26, 2022

Who Won The Week — 06/26/22

Fandango15 Comments

The idea behind Who Won the Week is to give you the opportunity to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.

This week I am reluctantly awarding my Who Won the Week designation to conservative Christians. When I say reluctantly, it’s not because I have a grudge against conservative Christians. I believe people should be free to practice whatever religion they want to. Hey, whatever floats your boat, right?

That said, when conservative Christians insist on trying to float other people’s boats, I draw the line. But that’s what happened this week when six conservative Christian U.S. Supreme Court justices handed conservative Christians (and Republicans, most of whom are conservative and Christian) the gift they’ve been fighting for for nearly fifty years. The Court overturned Roe v. Wade, giving states run by Republicans the ability to ban abortions and to make criminals of women who choose to have abortions, doctors who perform abortions, and even anyone who aids or assists a woman who seeks an abortion.

And this purging of religious freedoms and personal liberties is just beginning, as conservative Christian’s are buoyed by this favorable Supreme Court decision by targeting the overturning of other decisions that prohibit states from making the use of contraceptives illegal, by banning gay marriage, and by removing equal protections for the LBGT community.

What’s next? Requiring kids to recite the Lord’s Prayer in public schools? Banning the teaching of evolution in science classes and mandating that Creationism be a part of the educational curriculum? How long before the Supreme Court reconsiders the First Amendment, which prohibits the Congress from making a law “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”?

This provision of the U.S. Constitution later expanded to state and local governments, through their incorporation of the First Amendment. But just as the Supreme Court has now empowered the states to pass laws banning abortions, who’s to say it won’t also return to the states the power to make laws establishing Christianity as the official religion of any state run by run conservative Christians?

So congratulations conservative Christians. The pendulum has certainly swung your way. All I can say is stay the fuck off of my boat.

What about you? Who (or what) do you think won the week?

If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.

Image credit: Hanna Barczyk for The Lily

Song Lyric Sunday — Hidden Gems

Fandango23 Comments

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme, Jim has enlisted Amy, aka E.M. Kingston. Amy suggested Hidden Gems: great songs that missed the top of the charts. I have become a big Pink Floyd fan, even more so now than when they were in their heyday back in the late sixties through the early eighties. And that’s why I chose this song, “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd.

“Comfortably Numb” was composed by English rock band Pink Floyd’s guitarist David Gilmour, and the lyrics were written by the band’s bassist Roger Waters. It was a track from Pink Floyd’s eleventh album, The Wall, and was released as a single in 1980. The song, arguably one of Pink Floyd’s most recognizable songs, never even made it on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. And yet in 2004, “Comfortably Numb” was ranked number 314 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2017, Billboard ranked the song number four on its list of the greatest Pink Floyd songs. And Gilmour’s guitar solo on the song has been ranked as one of the greatest of all time on a number of online lists.

The Wall was a concept album about an embittered and alienated rock star named Pink. In “Comfortably Numb,” Pink is medicated by a doctor so he can perform for a show. Waters said part of the song was about the time he got hepatitis but didn’t know it. Pink Floyd had to do a show that night in Philadelphia, and the doctor Roger saw gave him a sedative to help the pain, thinking it was a stomach disorder. At the show, Roger’s hands were numb “like two toy balloons.” He was unable to focus, but also realized the fans didn’t care because they were so busy screaming, hence “comfortably” numb.

But Walters has also said that the lyrics were about what he felt like as a child when he was sick with a fever. He explained: “I remember having the flu or something, an infection with a temperature of 105 and being delirious. It wasn’t like the hands looked like balloons, but they looked way too big, frightening. A lot of people think those lines are about masturbation. God knows why.”

Here are the Lyrics to “Comfortably Numb.”

Hello? Hello? Hello?

Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone at home?
Come on now
I hear you're feeling down
Well I can ease your pain
Get you on your feet again
Relax
I'll need some information first
Just the basic facts
Can you show me where it hurts?

There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain you would not understand
This is not how I am
I have become comfortably numb

Okay
Just a little pinprick
There'll be no more, ah
But you may feel a little sick
Can you stand up?
I do believe it's working, good
That'll keep you going through the show
Come on it's time to go

There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
I have become comfortably numb

FOWC with Fandango — Robbery

Fandango15 Comments
FOWC

It’s June 26, 2022. Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “robbery.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.