I'd never been in a parade before...

Until 7-13-2024, that is.

Seen parades on TV and in person in the past...but I'd never marched in one until last week.

I'm on a couple of committees at our church, and one of the things we wanted to do was take part in this year's Heartland Pride Parade.

And I'm glad I participated alongside thousands of other people.

I mean, for all the many, many things that make us unique individuals, we're still one...we're still members of the human race.

Who says House Democrats haven't done anything since retaking the House?

One of the biggest claims to come out of this rapidly-concluding 2019 is that, since becoming the majority party in the US House eleven months ago, the Democrats haven't done a cotton-picking thing.

Don't believe it.

For even one millisecond.

Besides turning Donald Trump into just the third chief executive to get impeached, the Nancy Pelosi-led House of Representatives has passed the following bills:

*HR 1 (the For the People Act of 2019)
*HR 5 (the Equality Act)
*HR 7 (the Paycheck Fairness Act)
*HR 8 (calling for background checks on gun sales)
*HR 9 (the Climate Action Now Act)
*HJ Resolution 37 and SJ Resolution 7 (both directing the removal of Uncle Sam's forces from unauthorized fighting in Yemen)
*House Congressional Resolution 24 (calling for the Mueller Report to be made public)
*House Resolution 183 (condemning anti-Semitism and condemning anti-Muslim intolerance and bigotry against non-Caucasian people)
*HR 259 (the Medicare Extenders Act of 2019)
*HR 271 (to condemn Trump's efforts to take health care away from rank-and-file Americans)
*HR 375 (amending the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 to reaffirm the Interior Department's green light to take land into trust for indigenous tribes)
*HR 986 (Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act of 2019)
*HR 987 (designed to strengthen health care and lower prescription drug costs)
*HR 1500 (Consumers First Act)
*HR 1585 (the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019)
*HR 1644 (made to save the Internet)
*HR 1994 (SECURE Act/Gold Star Family Tax Relief Act)
*HR 2480 (Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act)
*HR 2513 (Corporate Transparency Act)
*HR 2722 (the Securing America's Federal Elections Act)
*HR 4617 [the SHIELD Act...drafted to make sure what happened (namely, Russian interference) in the 2016 election doesn't take place again]
*On 12-19-2019, the House passed the USMCA agreement (the replacement for NAFTA), 385-41.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

By 11-15-2019, the House had passed almost 400 bills (resolutions excluded)...but when you add this country's Senate to the equation, you find that in total, Congress had, by said date, passed just 70 bills.
 
Most of the bills still stalled in the Mitch McConnell-run chamber are common-sense ones. What's more, legislation such as background checks, 'Net neutrality, and a reauthorized Violence Against Women Act has gathered proven bipartisan support.

McConnell's Senate thinks nothing of confirming 150 of Trump's nominees to the federal judiciary.

It's all because Senate Republicans are unwilling to take the tough votes Pelosi's House has made...and laid out there for the upper chamber to take up.

And...yes...USMCA now awaits a Senate vote, too.

Much of the information you're reading came from Ella Nilsen's 11-29-2019 article on https://vox.com, "House Democrats have passed nearly 400 bills. Trump and Republicans are ignoring them." 

We'll see what happens with these bills in the months to come as vanloads of Senate Republicans (including Moscow Mitch himself)

fight to save their hides as they come up for reelection.
 
 

 

"I Didn't Even Know It Was Sick!"

Last week, I received my copy of the Old-Time Music Preservation Association's newsletter, The Old Piano Roll News. And, unlike previously copies of this quarterly publication, this quarter's edition came in two pieces.

The first piece was the actual newsletter. (This time, the main article in there sang the praises of this year's World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival.)

The second piece was a letter from the man who cooked up the Memorial Day weekend event, none other than Ted Lemen. 

It was a good news-bad news situation.

The bottom line was: OTPP, which just got through having its 40th iteration (and first at the Embassy Suites in East Peoria, IL), is gasping for breath.

When I read Ted's letter, I felt stunned.

I didn't even know the contest was sick...let alone on its death bed. 

Attendance was down from 2013 (the second and last year the C&F took place at Peoria's Sheraton Four Points Hotel), not as many people attended the Saturday night event called "Dinner with the Champion" or the Monday morning Red, White, and Blue Brunch, and not as many people purchased contest T-shirts or other OTPP souvenirs.

But revenue was down from last year...and that was enough for Ted to take emergency measures to rescue this one-of-a-kind event.

He's looking for solutions to take to the OMPA board next time the association convenes.

If you've got any answers to making sure there'll be a 41st annual Old-Time Piano Contest and Festival (and MANY more), call Ted at 815 922-3827 and/or send him an email at hi_jeanx@yahoo.com.

If you love old-time piano, now's your chance to let 'em know!

Sussex 235

This record debuted on Billboard's Pop chart and R&B chart next week in 1972 (its R&B chart debut was 4-29-1972).

It spent 19 weeks on this country's Billboard Pop chart and left the magazine's Rhythm & Blues chart (then known as "Hot Soul Singles") after spending 17 weeks on it.  

On 6-24-1972, the song displaced Bobby Womack's "Woman's Gotta Have It" at the top of this country's R&B chart, staying that chart's leader for an entire week...and did even better as a pop song, making it to Number One on said survey on 7-8-1972, the day it kicked Neil Diamond's "Song Sung Blue" out of the Hot 100's driver's seat (and enjoyed a three-week run as the most popular single on Billboard's Pop list).  

This song proved so durable that the 1980s dance/disco group Club Nouveau put its own spin on it (Warner Bros. 28430)...and in early 1987, Club Nouveau made it a smash all over again- bringing the number to the top spot on the Pop chart and to Number Two on the Billboard R&B survey.

It's been a staple at contemporary worship services ever since at churches everywhere.

It's the song its composer (Bill Withers, the man who had the original recording, on Sussex Records) is most associated with.  

The ditty's message is timeless and universal.  

And until very recently, I've had so many doubts about whether that timeless message has ever had any REAL meaning for me.  

You see, at the time "Lean on Me" came out, I was still in my teenage years and fighting to survive life with an alcoholic mother...the exact same fight my younger brother was engaged in.

One thing about it, after being told by Mom that "I WISH YOU'D NEVER BEEN BORN!" I just couldn't count on coming to her for any sort of support for any reason.

I didn't dare seek support from any adult relative. (A cousin telling me I'd have to learn to cope with this or that situation was the closest I could come to receiving any support from kin at the time.) 

Had better luck at school...but even then, I had to be very, very careful about who to tell my troubles to. 

Lately, however, I've been giving "Lean on Me" another chance in my life...and fighting the temptation to go back to saying: "I don't need anybody!"

Way down inside, we DO need each other.