http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/katray4704/A thinner, transformed version of my long running, U.S. blog - The Beat Goes On. This version will beat on with news commentary, social and political perspective. It will also include journal type postings and photography. Everything appearing within the lens of my thoughts...:) Thank you for reading! Raye hourly12000-01-01T12:00+00:00http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/katray4704/602157Whilst reading articles about the financial mess, bonus/greed fiasco currently playing out, I came across this poem last night which was posted in a comment section on Slate. I find it extremely powerful and calling; a few or many may disagree with some of the thoughts, but the awareness of...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/katray4704/595233In any armed conflict, my b.s. antenna is raised whenever one side is consistently presented as justified and/or endowed with rights higher than those they are fighting by virtue of being a certain religion, race or culture. Native Americans were invaded, had their lands stolen, were slaughtered...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/katray4704/510006Borrowing today...:) This letter is so timely yet timeless, I couldn't resist posting it..Truly a beautiful message. Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/katray4704/506683I read everything I could find relating to geopolitics, hierarchies of power - historical and recent, pertaining to the U.S. and globally, justifications for past wars, extremism in religion and governmental structures. I began noticing in some of the bolder publications, opinions, etc. threads...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/katray4704/506273Misery oft seems to travel in pairs or triplets, ever notice, dear readers?..Stress builds a box one needs to escape; a walk brisk and head clearing usually energizes such freedom, except if your head is drowning in a virus that embarks on a journey of it's own throughout a poor body held...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/katray4704/505630A companion piece to a post in this blog: Trails An Iraqi Kafka (Excerpt from Time, Inc.: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1602359,00.html ) That font of wisdom, American "intel," somehow gains the impression that the British prime minister, about to make an uplifting visit to the war...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/katray4704/505471Money an' oil weigh more than Blood plunder, pillage, tear life asunder money an' oil weigh more than Blood avert soul, look past the spillage money an' oil weigh more than Blood But careful a flood is rising drowning into money an' oil Blood always stains permanent US, Iraq Deal Sees Long-Term...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/katray4704/504953I spent most of the week-end with a five year old boy, that's why, methinks..:) Potty jokes and wrestling matches on the mind, so when I finally had a chance to sit down and write, quite pleased at first with my new word find - noctiluscence - I soon worried it might sound too close to...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/katray4704/504649Well actually, I have had clues hinting that something strange was going on with my computer - sluggish connection, being inexplicably kicked off the internet, difficulty in getting back on, such was the case again this morning. I did the usual routine, rebooting my machine first, scanning for...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/katray4704/504571Tragedy.. A young, single mother, fragile emotionally due to substance abuse issues - strongly encouraged by the red state mentality of her family to keep about her person a loaded handgun, for safety purposes, even though she lives in a quiet, low crime area and has never been attacked or felt...