ICE deports man who came to U.S. for political asylum; has autistic child

Augusto Raymundo Jesus tried to do it the right way.

He really did.

Twenty-two years ago, Jesus' mother sent him away from his native Guatemala. His brother had just been killed in a car bomb during a civil war there and she feared for her young son's life.

Her money got him to Mexico. Jesus walked across the country -- it took him about a year -- to the United States border where he sought political asylum. It was granted and for the next 21 years, he worked hard.

Until three weeks ago, he was the owner of Ray's Quality Framing, a commercial and residential construction company in Cedar City, Utah, that last year provided 10 jobs for the community.

Isn't the First Amendment for everybody?

OK, so I like to study a lot of political viewpoints, I like the give-and-take of political debate. I like having my opinions challenged in scholarly or friendly discussion.

That's why I am so disappointed in a FB group I joined, and just now left.

It's called The Liberal Library. It is supposed to represent progressive political thinking, but there was a post this morning about how a Wisconsin union has banned Republicans from marching in a Labor Day Parade.

9/11: 10 years later the images are still painful

We're about three weeks out from the official 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Already, the news media is running stories about that horrible day.

The first one I saw was a piece about how the Associated Press photographers made it through that incredibly traumatic assignment, how they put aside their emotions to do the job at hand and cover the news before breaking down.

The story was good, the accompanying photographs were not.

The images were painful reminders of the tremendous loss of innocent lives.

I am sure that on Sept. 11, 2011 we will be inundated with powerful photos and videos from that day.

I am just happy that I am where I am and won't have to endure too much of that.

The anniversary of the terror attacks is newsworthy and if I was in my old capacity as news editor of a daily newspaper, I would be pushing my staff for stories with a local perspective from that day.

But, I would also lobby hard to not run the disturbing images.

They are too painful, too powerful, too emotional. There are family members, friends who carry around enough reminders of that day

Rock 'n' roll never forgets Pt. 12 -- Hall & Oates

Going back through some old music recently I rediscovered Hall & Oates, a band that broke during the mid-'70s and had some legs that carried them for more than a decade.

It was never a stadium, or hockey arena act, but the guys sold a lot of records and did well on the tours it tackled.

They were one of those "blue-eyed soul" bands, a term originally used by R&B guys who took the Righteous Brothers into their musical family back in the '60s.

Daryl Hall fronted the band, Johnny Oates was his writing partner and guitar player. They were always backed by some of the best session players in the business; guys like guitarist G.E. Smith, drummer Jerry Marotta, bass player Kenny Passarelli and a ton of other great players.

I reviewed one of their shows -- a pretty good outing at the old Universal Amphitheatre. It was, then, an outdoor concert theater and the venue publicist always had a big bag of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies she shared with the rock press when they came to see show.

I saw a lot of good acts under the stars there -- from David Bowie to

Woodstock

On this day in 1969, in a field on a dairy farm in upstate New York, more than a half-million people gathered for three days of peace, love and music.

It was the largest gathering of its kind, closing down the New York thruway. It was the touchpoint of a generation. It was the best we could be.

There was a war going on, there was social foment in the streets, there was racial inequality. And, there was the music. Back then, it always came back to the music.

It was relevant, important, the rhythm of our hearts, souls.

We all couldn't make it to Woodstock, of course, although if today you asked the surviving hippies if they were there, you'd probably get an answer that would have pegged attendance at the festival at more than 3 million.

Woodstock was news. Big news.

Mainstream media was curious about the hippies back then, but they were not terribly objective in their reporting when it came to the dope-smoking counterculture. They couldn't see beyond their myopic focus, looking for everything wrong with the young people of that time instead

Rock 'n' roll never forgets Pt. 11 -- Farm Aid

Down here in Mexico,  the meat looks different, tastes different.

It's organic, clean, not shot up with antibiotics and growth hormones. 

The produce is fresh, ripe. 

I hadn't had a really good fresh tomato since the ones my mom grew in the backyard many years ago.

Fruit is tree ripened, not picked early so it can age in the back of a truck on the way to the market.

I forgot how good fruits and veggies can be until we got here.

That's because in the United States, the family farmer, who used to lovingly grow our food, raise the cattle and keep the Great Plains fertile, is a dying breed.

They fed us through wars, the Great Depression; they fought through the Dust Bowl and floods; they put their lives and livelihood on the line

U.S. credit rating downgraded

People like to be in the public eye. It makes them feel important.

They like to be a part of history.

Well, congratulations, Congress.

You made history. You will be remembered as the first legislators in United States history to allow the country's credit rating to be downgraded.

Standard & Poor, the agency that lowered the rating, cited the current political atmosphere in Washington, D.C. as a reason, issuing a statement saying the rating was because "of the difficulties of bridging the gulf between the political parties" over a credible deficit reduction plan.

So, thank you, Speaker of the House John Boehner, for your loyalty to your party rather than your country. In an attempt to sway voters away from the present administration in 2012, Boehner, his fellow Republicans and the renegade Tea Party members stonewalled a measure to hike the debt ceiling. They dragged their feet in writing the bill, picking away at philosophical issues rather than real world urgencies.