29 years ago today John Lennon was shot in the back five times with a handgun.

[onehandle]

It was 29 years ago today that music legend and peace activist John Lennon was shot dead outside his New York apartment.

Lennon gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles.

His last solo album Double Fantasy was released in November 1980.

Just one month later Lennon was shot dead by Mark Chapman.

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/mirror-images/2009/12/post-7.html

[mdmc]

1. God bless John Lennon!

[crim son]

2. If only he'd been packing he'd be alive today.

Not. Sorry, had to say it.

[Kolesar]

6. Or had been in England

:P

[michreject]

10. At least took the SOB with him nt

[Johonny]

19. Or eyes in the back of his head I guess

lol guns protect you from being shot in the back :eyes:

[WolverineDG]

43. I remember arguing with someone on just that point

might have been last year's Lennon thread...who knows....but every year, someone says that Lennon would be alive today if he'd been carrying a gun, despite the fact that he was shot in the back & it happened so fast, no one knew what was going on until it was over.

dg

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

24. Be careful those strawmen catch on fire easily.

[SteveM]

30. Did you have a fevered brow when you thought of it? Purring? (nt)

[gorfle]

42. On staying alive.

Like a seat belt, a firearm does not guarantee success in protecting oneself, it merely gives you the ability to try to do so.

[The Straight Story]

50. If we had better mental health care he might be alive, but blame guns cause it is easy for you

Ban items, but let the people who use them in bad ways off the hook.

Sloppy, lazy, easy, emotional way out to make one's self feel better.

Millions own guns, few use them in a bad way - but it is hard to go after the few so go after the many.

Jeebus.

[crim son]

55. Jeebus was armed?

I didn't know.

[The Straight Story]

62. Actually he was in a way

He could have called up a legion of angels, yet did not.

[Kolesar]

69. "let the people who use them in bad ways off the hook."

Really? American policies let our armed criminals "off the hook"?

[stevebreeze]

61. so if Lennon had a gun he would have heard Chapman and quick drawed him

like a John Wayne western?
yea right

[Tim01]

85. Dupe. nt

nt

[Tim01]

86. Not being shot in the back.

Lennon had a chest full of bullets before he even knew somebody was trying to kill him.
Even if he had been good with a gun I doubt he could have done anything different.
Sometimes the badguys win.

[LibDemAlways]

3. One of the greats. RIP John.

[SteveM]

31. Yessir.

[edbermac]

4. Heard it from Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football

Talk about adding insult to injury.

[Kolesar]

13. I liked Howard Cosell...eom

[chemp]

21. Patriots/Dolphins

Cried my eyes red.

[KamaAina]

26. Possibly the low point in "Patsies" history

Lennon died AND they blew a playoff spot. :eyes:

[jaksavage]

23. His peace work

is why he was killed, by a kid with Bush ties.

[crazyjoe]

25. what bush ties? i never heard that

[jaksavage]

29. connection

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x411083

[spanone]

5. all you need is love.......

[Kolesar]

7. Yoko Ono is a great peace activist...eom

[onehandle]

54. Yes, she is. nt

[rd_kent]

91. and a horrible singer!

and she broke up the beatles!

:sarcasm: about breaking up the beatles.

[Soylent Brice]

8. .

RIP

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. Sad thing is, what's in some right-wingers so-called minds is...

"So, dirty hippie fag dies because there's guns. And you call that a BAD thing?"

[SteveM]

33. Couldn't resist, could you?...

How'd you like his Revolver album?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

37. You seem to be on the lookout for anti-gun posts. Mine isn't one.

It's against Lennon-haters and leftist-haters in general.

Really, I shouldn't have to explain this.

[SteveM]

38. You founded your remark on guns; please review...

I AM on the lookout for posts about firearms. Many who want to severely restrict the Second Amendment complain that when they post gun-related OPs, they are removed from whatever forum (usually GD) to the "gungeon." But they post elsewhere anyway, probably to get in some "free" time before their arguments are moved then sliced & diced; hence, my discovery of your remarks.

Please be informed that Second Amendment rights are liberal and progressive, and shouldn't be associated exclusively with the "right."
I shouldn't have to explain this. Really.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

39. You

are wound up a bit too tightly. Sorry. I will not debate any further because (1) This is not what my post was about, and (2) I AM NOT A GUN GRABBER.

Goodbye. Drink some passion-fruit juice -- it helps with the stress.

[SteveM]

40. I just had a big meal, am listening to flute music in a veggie cafe -- relax-x-x-x

and finished yet another 8.5 hr. sleep, and am looking forward to that spliff. I'm not sure what you mean by being "wound up a bit too tightly." Projection, perhaps?

You may not be a gun-grabber (I rarely use the term, myself), but you should have used some better metaphors (that is why I pointed out the Beatles' mid-60s album). I like all kinds of juices, esp. those passionate types which help with stress!

Hope to hear from you in the future.

[SteveM]

41. I just ate a pile of pizza and now am listening to flute music in a veggie cafe...

after completing yet another 8.5 hours of sleep. Gotta love that stress.

You may not be a "gun grabber" (I rarely use the term myself), perhaps your choice of metaphors in your posts could be improved. I'll try some passion fruit; not for the stress but for its description! Hope to hear from you soon.

[joeybee12]

95. Thatis some foul foul logic there....liberal and progressive my ass...

...The Second amendment was intended to be very limited in scope...nothing about personal owenership...it's judicial activits and historical revisionists who claim the Sceond Amendment to be something it is not.

[walldude]

44. LMFAO... I'm not involved with this gun debate but REVOLVER

had nothing to do with guns... pssst... come close... {whispers} it had to do with drugs..

[SteveM]

51. Well, you know how these metaphors work...

I was responding to a poster who claimed his remarks were not about guns, but about the far-right's hatred of Lennon, etc., yet he used guns to flesh out the far right. That is when I mentioned the "Revolver" album in an attempt to point up the foibles of the wrong metaphor.

The LP album cover I saw, BTW, depicted a straight-on view of a revolver's cylinder. You think the Beats did this to hide their drugs message?

[walldude]

52. This is the Revolver album cover:

Maybe you saw a reprint or something but the only other cover I could find had a picture of 2 guns on the front but it was an album of covers, had nothing to do with the actual Beatles.


I'm not sure if they were actually trying to hide the message, I think what they did was use subtle lyrical and musical hints that would be understood by people who did the same drugs as they did. It worked for a number of bands the most prominent being Pink Floyd...


BTW I am not a gun guy but I am pro- second amendment as long as there are some limitations. I really don't need my neighbor having a tank in his front yard :)

[SteveM]

60. Maybe it was that "album of covers;" Christ, it's been 44 years...

Hell, a tank in the yard is just plain ugleeeee! Anyway, it wouldn't pass muster with local zoning, and doesn't really fall under the protections of 2A ("arms" being something held & fired by one's hand).

In the 50s, one of my relative's friends -- retired Army Air Corps -- had his home in Tampa ringed by 500 lb bombs, each painted in a unique and gaudy color. They weren't armed. Thanks for the conversation. And along comes Mary-y-y-y...

edit: trying to get rid of the strike-out line.

[Ter]

56. Why would anyone call him a "fag"?

[earcandle]

11. John would be speaking out through his music and many of us continue to do, but the pap music

radio shows and record stores won't make our stuff available
because they know it will cause massive shifts in
consciousness and attitudes about what you need to (be, do,
have) to matter.  Any body know any renegade marketeers who
have found their way through the maze to the listeners?  I'd
like to talk to them.  

I adore John, and Yoko is looking very cool these days keeping
up the good work. 

[DoBotherMe]

12. Still miss him

"Now we're left cold and sad
By someone the devil's best friend
Someone who offended all." Harrison

Too sad. Dana ; )

[cascadiance]

14. Darn, I wish my dad could have hung on until today instead of yesterday...

He just passed yesterday on Pearl Harbor Day early in the morning. Would rather have had him share the 8th with John Lennon instead. It raining heavily yesterday here in San Diego seems to match my moods now...

[Arugula Latte]

15. I'm so sorry about your Dad.

:hug:

[TuxedoKat]

22. So sorry for your loss

[Mad_Dem_X]

16. We need more people like him around today.

I would have loved to hear what he would have said about W!

God bless ya, John.

[Romulox]

17. A working class hero is something to be...

RIP John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njG7p6CSbCU

[chill_wind]

28. Great cite.

:thumbsup:

[avaistheone1]

49. Well said.

[Le Taz Hot]

65. One of Lennon's best.

I'm not sure how many youngbloods have ever heard this. Thanks for posting.

[City Lights]

18. Declare peace.

RIP, John.

:cry:

[asdjrocky]

20. I remember the night so well.

I was playing in a band at the time called The Illusions -I know stupid name, wasn't my pick- and the lead guitarist and myself were working some stuff out on acoustic guitars while the Monday night game played in the background. Both of us stopped when we heard Howard Cosell mention John Lennon's name, and then we heard the news.

Without deciding on a tune, without even looking at each other, we started playing Revolution.

I still get chills when I think about it, I still tear up, I still miss him.

Thanks for posting this. I think it's time to pick up my guitar.

[KamaAina]

27. Unanswered question

The perp had supposedly come from Hawai'i. How did he get the gun on the plane? Or did he get it in or around NYC?

[slackmaster]

34. You can transport an unloaded firearm in checked baggage on a plane

You have to declare it at the check-in counter.

Or did he get it in or around NYC?

Possibly. Mark David Chapman was prohibited from possessing a firearm after he was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital following a suicide attempt in 1977, but there is certainly a black market in guns in and around NYC as there is everywhere.

[Vinca]

32. I'm still mourning him. What a loss.

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to some of his music and wondering what he might be writing today.

[proteus_lives]

35. Why you'd change the title?

Anti-gun spin?

[Kolesar]

48. Don't cry...eom

[onehandle]

53. Only LBN requires the original title.

It's been 29 years since John Lennon was shot in the back five times with a handgun.

So, no LBN.

[pipoman]

63. Them there handguns have a mind of their own, huh?

Here I thought all this time he was shot in the back 5 times by a crazy fucker..with a handgun..

[nolabear]

36. Memorial from a couple of years ago.

Strawberry Fields

The horse, the driver told us,
always tried to go left, to avoid the hill.
We huddled under the purple robe
drawing in winter air, the trees
and thickets bare, offering no early spring
against the backdrop of street and old stone,
a hint of mausoleum over the park.
We took the long ride, the one that took us
past the fountain where men declare their love,
and sometimes ride home alone, and then here,
the little rise, the earth's homage, mosaic surrounded
by bushes that in summer would unfurl again,
now just complicated, a tangled frown
of sticks and caught brown leaves.
It’s funny they call it Strawberry Fields, the driver said,
just the word IMAGINE on the ground,
and all that woven stone
like a scar covered with roses and winter rain.
Over there, where the big lamps flicker, that’s where
It happened. The widow lives there still.
All around, the benches are held down
by the spent bodies of old men,
and it’s hard to tell if this is communion
or just a place to have a smoke.
And I wonder, over the urgent cacophony
of the English Sparrows in the trees,
what melodies still play like lullabies
in their tired and wounded heads.

[dflprincess]

57. When I have been in New York

I have to go to Strawberry Fields and sit by the Imagine mosaic for a while. I find it very peaceful. Must be some vibe coming from John's spirit.

On 9/11 while sitting safe and snug in Minneapolis, I had such a longing to be at Strawberry Fields. The friend I'd been to NYC with had the same urge. Later, on TV, we saw that that was where a lot of New Yorkers went.

I keep a picture of the mosaic on my desk at work.

[walldude]

45. We'll be playing Imagine at band practice tonight

same way I honor him every year. Immeasurable loss.

[carlyhippy]

46. RIP dear friend

Carly

[SidDithers]

47. Rec'd...

thanks for posting.

Watched the movie "The Killing of John Lennon" a couple of weeks ago. It was very well done.

Sid

[dflprincess]

58. Have you see"The U.S. vs John Lennon"?

Also very good.

[SidDithers]

59. Not yet. I'll check it out...

thanks for the heads-up :)

Sid

[Liberation Angel]

90. Leads me to still believe it was a political assassination.

Where were Cheney and Bush I that night??? Probably working on plans to get Hinkley to take out Reagan which happened not long after that as I recall, since they had gotten one step closer to their unholy Fourth Reich takeover by planning and implementing the removal of one of the most effective peace advocate-musicians in history.

[dysfunctional press]

64. and you'd think that people would be over it by now.

:shrug:
there's a weird fascination with celebrity in this country.

[Le Taz Hot]

66. John Lennon

was much more than a celebrity. I'd elaborate but you still wouldn't get it.

I'll chant for your enlightenment.

[dysfunctional press]

67. you do that...

:eyes:

[AngryAmish]

96. Just like Ol' Dirty Bastard

The fifth (my how time flies) anniversary a few weeks ago. America is still in mourning.

[Kolesar]

68. John Lennon was a peace activist, not just a "celebrity"

He was relevant like Dr. King and Robert Kennedy.

[dysfunctional press]

70. i certainly wouldn't put him on a par with rfk or mlk.

i wouldn't even put him on a par with bono, activism-wise.

[Le Taz Hot]

71. I seem to remember that great peace activist Bono

snuggling up to the Bush Administration. Lennon was on Nixon's Enemies List and was refused re-entrance into the U.S. where he had made his home. Funny that you relegate Lennon to "just a celebrity" but Bono is the Great White Savior. :eyes:

[dysfunctional press]

72. 'Great White Savior'...?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

could i get some fries with that 'intellectual dishonesty'...?

please- indulge me- tell me where i said anything of the kind? i didn't even refer to bono as a 'peace' activist.

you're a real riot...:rofl: :rofl: (btw- i'm not laughing with you...) :rofl:

[Le Taz Hot]

73. Intellectual dishonesty

is claiming Lennon is "just a celebrity" and then touting Bono in the same post. And you can indulge yourself. Here's a towel for the clean-up.

[dysfunctional press]

74. it wasn't in the same post. and i never even said 'just a celebrity'

so you know what you can do with your quote marks.
:eyes:
some people apparently THRIVE on their intellectual dishonesty.

[Le Taz Hot]

76. And some people thrive on

idiotic pissing contests. I'm done here.

[dysfunctional press]

77. boo-hoo...

you were shown to be wrong and now you have to stomp off...

go light your candle.

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[Name removed]

79. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dysfunctional press]

81. good for you.

:thumbsup:

[Kolesar]

92. you're still on the list

[dysfunctional press]

93. oh dear...how will i ever be able to sleep tonite...?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
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:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Kolesar]

94. with a ring

of vaseline around your sphincter, I would guess

[dysfunctional press]

99. wow- you must have some pretty fucked-up sleep habits...

something as perverse as that would never occur to me. :shrug:

[Kolesar]

78. You said he was just a celebrity

"and you'd think that people would be over it by now.

there's a weird fascination with celebrity in this country.
"

[dysfunctional press]

80. where is the 'just a'...???

oh- i see it- it's in the subject line of YOUR post(s). twice.

:rofl:

[tmyers09]

84. "there's a weird fascination with celebrity in this country"

It doesn't matter if you wrote "just a" before celebrity or not. Saying that this country has a fascination with celebrities equates him as being nothing more than a Lindsay Lohan or Kate Gosselin. I would find it hard to argue with your point - too many people here obsess over what Brad and Angelina's relationship status is, or who checked into rehab. But using it in this context is just wrong. We're talking about John freakin' Lennon here. A member of arguably the greatest band of all time. An inspiration to millions of people all over the world. A man whose message of peace stays in our hearts, and a man who was senselessly struck down in cold blood way before his time to go.

I'd say this "fascination" is well warranted.

[dysfunctional press]

87. not everyone was or is as fascinated with him as you appear to be.

but that's certainly your prerogative. :hi:

[Kolesar]

88. A man whose message of peace stays in our hearts--well said, my man

Well said!!

[Name removed]

82. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dysfunctional press]

83. what thread would that be...?

:shrug:
about the only threads i 'unrecommend' are the ones by the idiots who complain about the unrecommend feature.

(btw- i think that you meant to say 'you're' in your subject line of yore...:hi: )

[Echo In Light]

75. Agreed. And if he was so inconsequential to the establishment, why did they try to get him deported?

[Liberation Angel]

89. I took my kids (15 and 20 years old) to strawberry fields last night in Central Park

it was very moving.

We happened to be in the city trying to help in the revival of Theater 80 in St Mark's Place (lower east side, greenwich village) to prevent NYU from demolishing the building and putting up apartments or other crap (they have been buying up old theaters etc. and demolishing them) Theater 80 (at 80 St mark's Place) is revivinging itself as an indy movie theater so check out their website and go if you are ever in NYC)

When we heard what day it was I knew I should bring them their (my daughter with her boyfriend and my son who all love Lennon mostly because of the wonderful film "Across the Universe".

We went to the Dakota where the horror occurred and we discussd how it may have been a right wing assassination with mkultra possible motivating...

But mostly it was just about the love. About 150-200 people were there singing Lennon songs in the crisp cold central park memorial to Lennon and to peace.. Then we rode home listening to Lennon and versions of his songs, especially imagine, all the way home. Avril Lavigne does a pretty sweet version which really really surprised me...But my kids are hip enough to know such things and teach me too...

[Taverner]

97. RIP John

[RyboSlybo]

98. Well good to remember him but...

He was the least talented member in the band. At least Paul (the most talented) is still alive and kicking!

I never could stand Lennon's voice, he really brought down the band and it was his selfishness that was the death of the Beatles. Still sad his life ended the way that it did.