The Weathermen was a group of 17 protesters that were a militant segment of the Students For A Democratic Society. They were a small segment of the membership and yet with the leadership of Mark Rudd, David Gilbert and Bernadine Dohrn they were able to take control of the Students For A Democratic Society organization. They changed what was a group of students who were peacefully protesting the government and the Vietnam war, into an organization whose tactics included bombings, jail breaks and riots. The new name of the peaceful Students For a Democratic Society became The Weathermen Underground Organization.

“Days of Rage”
One of the first things the Weathermen did upon splitting from SDS was to announce that they would hold the "Days of Rage" that fall. The event was advertised with the slogan "Bring the war home!" Hoping to cause chaos on a level able to "wake" the American public out of what the group saw as its complacency with the slaughter of the Vietnamese people, the Weathermen wanted the event to be the largest-scale protest the decade had seen. Although the October 8, 1969 rally in Chicago had failed to draw as many participants as they had anticipated (originally expecting 10,000), the estimated two to three hundred who did attend shocked police by leading a riot through the Gold Coast neighborhood, smashing windows of a bank and then those of many cars. They also blew up a statue dedicated to police casualties in the 1886 Haymarket Riot. That night, six people were shot and seventy were arrested. Two smaller violent conflicts with police followed the next two nights.

Less than 300 students wreaked such havoc that the nation was shocked. Lines were drawn and the violence escalated. They were responsible for bombings in:

13 February 1970 - Several police vehicles of the Berkeley, California, Police Department are bombed in the police parking lot.
16 February 1970 – A bomb is detonated at the Golden Gate Park branch of the San Francisco Police Department, killing one officer and injuring a number of other policemen. No organization claims credit for either bombing.
March, 1970 – Several underground WUO members become federal fugitives when they unlawfully flee to avoid prosecution; warrants are issued in connection with their failure to appear for trial in Chicago.
6 March 1970 – 34 sticks of dynamite are discovered in the 13th Police District of the Detroit, Michigan police bombing. During February and early March, 1970, members of the WUO, led by Bill Ayers, are reported to be in Detroit, during that period, for the purpose of bombing a police facility.
6 March 1970 – Another group blows themselves up when their "bomb factory" located in New York's Greenwich Village accidentally explodes. WUO members Theodore Gold, Diana Oughton, and Terry Robbins die in this accident. The bomb was intended to be planted at a non-commissioned officer's dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey. The bomb was packed with nails to inflict maximum casualties upon detonation.
30 March 1970 – Chicago Police discover a WUO "bomb factory" on Chicago’s north side. A subsequent discovery of a WUO "weapons cache" in a south side Chicago apartment several days later ends WUO activity in the city.

While the Weatherman Underground Organization did not appear to have any connection to the Kent State protest that resulted in the death of 4 students and the injury of approximately 30 more, how much responsibility do they bear for creating a climate of violent terrorism rather than peaceful demonstration? No easy answers here are there?

I would like to think that this type of violence can't happen again, but we've become desensitized to violence in the last 37 years. It's become a daily part of our lives. It's on our favorite television programming, it's prevalent in the games our young people play. It's in the movies, and we hear violence in every rap song that our kids listen to. Our children have resorted to shooting each other in schools, disgruntled employees go to work carrying guns and shoot their coworkers. Where will it all end? Why is this all on my mind?

Recently, Whit posed a question regarding patriotism. Like most of his thought provoking questions this one created in me a desire to learn more. So, of course I was surfing the net looking for information. I came upon a site that was discussing the March antiwar rally in Portland, Oregon. It included the following picture which upsets me. What part of supporting our troops in a war that we don't like is this?



When I brought this to his attention, he attempted to give me a perspective regarding it and I appreciate his effort. He pointed out to me that this was only 30 people out of 15,000, and this should ease my mind. Except that my mind is also aware of what happened in 1968 when 17 militant members of a peaceful organization of 10,000 created a climate of death and terror that lasted for 4 years until the end of the Vietnam War. The WUO still existed after 1972 but with no further involvement on our part in Vietnam they took their terror elsewhere until they faded away in 1975. One thing I've learned in my 57 years is if we don't pay attention, history has a tendency to repeat itself.

Our Congress is using the Iraq War as an election platform. Much of what they are doing right now is grandstanding. It's smoke and mirrors designed to make the citizens who voted them into office think that they are trying to fulfill the mandate. All of the new democrats we elected are junior members and while they may be truly interested in bringing an end to the war, they don't have the clout. Lets give it to them. Instead of complaining to each other lets start a letter writing campaign. Write your Congressmen and Senators and tell them to stop dilly dallying and get down to business. Get an exit strategy in place and BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW.

I had to go off line in a real hurry last night. Not only that, I missed Dancing With The Stars. I was getting ready to go watch it when the National Weather Service announcement that a Severe Thunderstorm was headed our way. I love those announcements. They warn you to get to sturdy shelter because the storm is spawning winds of 60 miles per hour and golf ball sized hail. It gives you the track of the storm and the time it's expected to hit your area and everything. Of course, since I live in a mobile home, 60 mile an hour winds are something I don't want to hear. Especially when you are all ready 5 minutes past the expected event time.

Naturally, because I'm trying to get off line and shut down the computer so I can unplug it, it decides to do it's slower than molasses in January thing. I'm so thrilled with little hour glass figure when it appears at a time like that. It probably isn't there more than 10 seconds, but that ten seconds can feel much longer than that when you have just a few minutes to complete the project and insure that the equipment is safe by unplugging. I'm just getting my ISP shut down when the first rumbles of thunder begin.

Then the little hour glass comes back, and although I adore the pic on the desktop screen, I don't want to be looking at it when the computer gets fried because the lightening has all ready started. It was close, plus it was making the lights flicker. So, don't you know the computer decided it has never done a shut down before so I have to wait through 2 or 3 Ending Program screens? At this point the wind is beginning to pick up, plus the lights are flickering. Finally the computer shuts down and I'm at the wall reaching for the plug when BAM...The lights went out.

I was standing there with the computer plug in my hand when lightening struck the tree that's 50 feet away from the window I'm directly in front of. There was a bolt of lightening very similar to the picture I found on line this morning and it hit that tree. I've never seen anything like it. It didn't catch fire, but it blew the bark right off a section of it. You could see that in the flash created by the lightening. Things were raining down on my home and in the light created by the flash I witnessed bark swirling in the wind. This morning, in addition to the mess left by the prior tenant on that lot, there is bark and tree twigs all over the place.

The prior tenant moved out this past fall and abandoned everything. The park removed and tore down the mobile home because it too was left behind. It was too late into the fall to finish the cleanup of the lot so the 2 sheds and some other items are still there. Clean up will commence in May when the ground has firmed up some because the heavy equipment is needed for this. In the meantime I will be looking at this mess, which includes a shed listing to the left, and a chest of drawers that was knocked over in the storm. Plus the bark, small limbs and twigs.

I don't think the winds reached 60 miles an hour as predicted, at least not here, but after what I'm looking at this morning, I'm glad about that. From my vantage point this morning, which is one of not sustaining any damage in last nights storm, I can say it was an awesome experience. I can also say I really don't want to experience it again. In the future I think I'll pay more attention to the weather report and shut the computer down and unplug it an hour before they predict thunderstorms in my area. I'd rather not rely on the National Weather Services two minute warnings which arrive five minutes too late. Once was enough.

A friend has warned me that placing a bird feeder in my yard would also attract squirrels. I haven't seen any getting into the feeder, so I haven't been too worried about them. I'm not sure if I have become so used to squirrels being around that I don't really notice them, or if they just haven't been around. Sometimes in the normal course of events, you just don't see what's under your nose. This morning I happen to notice something out of the corner of my eye and when I went to take a look, this is what I saw.



Now I find that to be a little unusual, but didn't really worry about it until I saw this.



So, now I am really paying attention and checking out the window to see what is new in the area of the birdfeeder when I saw some movement in the grass. A closer look uncovered this.



I went outside to do battle and nearly stepped on this.



One of my neighbors cats rescued me from the squirrel army and has chased them away for the moment. Fortunately the birds had gone about their regular routine and avoided the unpleasantness at my place. My friend was right, these guys mean business. I guess I'm going to have to consider putting up a squirrel feeder too. Oh boy, I just had a nasty thought, what's going to happen when the skunks come back?

I have this nasty habit of reading. I'm one of those people who read the cereal box while I'm eating breakfast. Even when I read that box yesterday. It's a habit I guess, because I doubt that any new information would be added to that box overnight, yet I still will put my reading glasses on and read it. When I was a kid, I used to love going on Sunday drives because then I could read the Burma Shave signs. There were usually 6 signs that would have part of a funny slogan on it and you had to read all of them before you knew what it was. Since they were advertising signs the last sign always said "Burma Shave".

A peach / looks good / with lots of fuzz / but man's no peach / and never was / Burma-Shave
Does your husband / misbehave / grunt and grumble / rant and rave? / shoot the brute some / Burma-Shave
Don't take a curve / at 60 per / we hate to lose / a customer / Burma-Shave
Every shaver / now can snore / six more minutes / than before / by using / Burma-Shave
He played / a sax / had no B.O. / but his whiskers scratched / so she let him go / Burma-Shave
Henry the Eighth / sure had trouble / short-term wives / long-term stubble / Burma-Shave
Grandpa's beard / was stiff and coarse / and that's what / caused his / fifth divorce / Burma-Shave

I probably read them in hopes that they would say something different. Maybe I read them to make sure I didn't miss one, although I don't remember what I thought might happen if I did. I remember that I never stepped on sidewalk cracks for fear of breaking Mothers back, but I don't remember any such catastrophe attached to a failure to find and read all of the Burma Shave signs. It can't be that I'm addicted to reading because I can stop reading anytime. I control it, it does not control me. The trembling in my hands has nothing to do with not reading, I'm just nervous. I can't lie to you good folks, I admit it, I'm addicted. Is there a 12 step program for this? My name is Sherry's Cherries and I am addicted to reading. I read everything I can lay eyes on, I can't stop. I need help.

I read everything, even essays I don't agree with. I read blogs that I don't comment on, kids blogs, adult content blogs, political blogs, food blogs and religious blogs. I even read the comment strings, when there are any. Guess what I found out? I have discovered that we have folks here that are suffering from multiple personalities. Either that or their lying about who and what they are. They pretend to have something in common with every one they comment to.

It's like this folks:

If you are an atheist, I sincerely doubt that you're a devout church goer, and you're definitely not Catholic.

If you're only 16, I don't believe you have adult children.

If you speak fluent German you should be able to recognize words like "liebchen".

If you're a member of AA, you have had a drink or two in your life and it will take more than one small glass of wine to make you drunk.

If you tell one person you hate popcorn, is it your alter ego that loves Movie Popcorn?

If you have never heard of a particular artist, how is it you own all their CD's?

If you live in the woods in a log cabin with no near neighbors, how is it that you have to worry about your neighbor stealing your parking spot? I take it the raccoons in your neighborhood have drivers licenses? Take a picture will you? This I'd like to see.

One of the reasons I am myself when I come to the stream is because I don't have the time, the energy nor the memory to do this type of thing. I'd get caught in a heartbeat because I'd forget what I said and who I said it to. These examples don't come from one blogger with multiple identities either. They each come from individual bloggers who contradict themselves. How many other bloggers see this contradiction I guess would depend on how many of us read comments. If you people are losing "friends" this might be why. I'm just guessing here.

I don't believe that they mean any harm to anyone. They seem to need attention and want friends. The problem here is, why would we want to be friends with someone who lies? Badly, I might add. Pretending to be someone you are not can't make you feel better about yourself, because you know who you really are, and you probably think we won't accept you if we knew. You want to be different, special maybe? I don't really know why you do the things you do. I do know that I won't pay any attention to you from now on. You all will get treated with kindness, but I'm not interested in your drama, nor in your life. It's your life, take the steps you need to help yourself deal with it. I can't and won't do it for you. I also am not going to identify you because it's not necessary. Your own tall tales will do it for you sooner or later.

After speaking with other bloggers who, like me, use the equivalent of an internet dinosaur called dial-up; I have decided to leave off the graphics in my Blog Fever Posts. When you come here on Saturday nights, I want you to be able to enjoy the music, and sometimes too many graphics prevent a full download, so you can't. Dial-up just doesn't stream, so even I have to sit and listen to short excerpts followed by long pauses when I'm playing the music as well. The fewer graphics there are, the shorter the pauses. One time I couldn't download the plug-n-play on anothers site, so I know what PolarB meant last Saturday when she thanked me.

I said to someone a couple of weeks ago that I had lived through 5 decades of rock music. I've listened to the changes that have occured. In the styles, the singers, even the lyrics. Unless you've done that, you don't realize just how much has really changed. I admit to a preference for rock from the 60's, 70's, and 80's, simply because each of my favorite tunes has an event or a memory that I can connect to when I listen. I enjoy that, it makes the music special to me, but I do listen to the more current tunes as well. Fewer memories, less joy.

I have decided to feature one tune from each decade in my playlist. I started with women and how they sang about lost love. Everybody wants to be loved, but love can elude us. Sometimes when we think we've found love, it doesn't always work out. Songs that express this have been written from the beginning of time. The times they are a changing, and how lost love has been sung about changed with the times. From sorrow over being done wrong examined by the whimsical voice of Judy Collins to the rage and pain of Alanis Morrisette, or Evanescense, the loss is the same. What has changed is how we express it in our music.