Thursday, July 07, 2005

"When I asked the Lady what was the future we had chosen this She laid in my hand. I wept." June 19, 2005. LONDON CALLING London calling to the faraway towns Now war is declared - and battle come down London calling to the underworld... London calling, now don't LECTURE us... London calling, see we ain't got no swing 'Cept for the reign of that truncheon thing The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin Engines stop running, but I have no fear Cause London is drowning - I live by the river London calling to the imitation zone Forget it, brother, you can go at it alone London calling the zombies of death Quit holding out - and draw another breath... Selected lines from LONDON CALLING by the Clash, probably written by Joe Strummer (Dick could probably correct me on that if I got it wrong.) 12:33:20 PM    comment []

FROM THE BBC: Large numbers of casualties have been reported after at least six (make that seven) explosions on the underground network and a double-decker bus in London. The last blast (so far) occured at 10:14 London time. I woke up around 6 this morning (CST) to NPR mostly giving the BBC feed. I have to admit the first person I thought about was Dick Jones, of Patteran Pages. I'm rather unclear on exactly where he and his family live in England, but I don't think it's all that close to London, but still, like a typical human, I worry about the people I know first. I switched on the tv, and surfed 'round the dial. All three local morning "news" shows were acting as if nothing had happened. They ran their local road and weather reports, and even ran some pieces on the G8 summit, including a piece on "controlling the violence of the demonstrations" at the G8 meeting. Nothing at all about the explosions in London. The broadcasts were running 6 or 7 hours after the first explosion in London, so they had to know about it. Disgusting. I probably shouldn't say this, but I lay all this at George W. Bush's feet. I just wish someone would hold his feet a bit closer to the fire. This is what comes of mucking about in other people's countries, spending lives and billions of dollars to create another classic quagmire, instead of attending to security matters at home. If I lived in any major metropolitan area in any developed country on Earth (I'm not sure Tulsa counts) I would be seriously considering investing in life insurance, in case I hit the Al Qaeda Jackpot. 7:12:51 AM    comment []