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We Didn’t Start The Fire Billy Joel
This song & its title was the answer to a recent Final Jeopardy — only one person got it right – question was (paraphrased) “What 1980′s song do history teachers praise for its educational value.”
Never could understand all the references on Billy Joel’s song — fortunately, with this VIDEO, given the picture(s), we now can “see” what our “ears” couldn’t.
Anyway, someone checked to see purpose behind the song. Apparently, it’s Joel’s homage to the 40-years of historical headlines since his birth (1949).
Wish we could have appreciated the depths of this song when it was released. Twenty years later, it’s amazing what Joel was able to put into music and lyrics lasting only a few minutes.
Here it is, set to pictures. It’s a neat flashback through the past half century. Turn up volume, sit back and enjoy a review of 50 years of history in less than 3 minutes! Thanks to Billy Joel, someone from the University of Chicago with a lot of spare time, a software program, and Google.
Top left gives you full screen….top right lets you pause. Bottom left shows the year. The older you are, the more pictures you will recognize. Anyone over age 65 should remember over 90% of what they see. But it’s great at any age.
http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html
I’m not sure if this is parody or not… but I’ll take it as gospel, just as it is!
The Census Bureau recently reported that 48% of our population is either poor or low income. I do not believe it. The Census Bureau has added commuting, medical, and other living costs to estimate those who are poor or low income. Why were these elements added at this time, who determines them, and for what reason? If any organization can determine what numbers will be used in determining an outcome, then the door is wide open for anything. This seems to be another example of this administration trying to convince us that we not the greatest country in history. Unfortunately there are enough people who are willing to go along with this farce. The Great Society was implemented by President Johnson in the 60′s and since then trillions of dollars has been transferred from producers to non-producers. Now we are told that 48% of us are poor!
Think about it, does anyone really believe that almost half of our population is poor? Again, it goes to the definition of what is poor. What our government describes as poor is generally in the middle class in most countries. If almost half of the population is poor, then why are so many people trying to come to this country? It seems that the government has established a dollar value for determining who is poor. That is not valid because the cost of living varies depending on where one lives. The cost of living in San Francisco, Boston, or New York are much higher than areas in the south. When I was on active duty, living costs in Newport, Rhode Island and Washington D.C. were much higher than Jacksonville North Carolina, but I received the same pay. My family merely adjusted to how we spent our money.
When the government describes the poor, it seems to think that they are a constant group of people. That is not true. Most of the people in the lowest 20% (quintile) do not remain there. In fact a sizeable percentage move into the highest 20% over a period of time. That is the greatness of our economic system and our country. Most of us started at the bottom of the economic ladder and over years of hard work and dedication we moved up. That is life. There is no way that nearly half of our population is poor. It is obvious that the government’s definition of poor is wrong.
