A stick-in-the-mud would simply dismiss 'Love' as unnecessary. "Why try to improve on perfection?" he or she might say.
A optimistic adventurer might celebrate the application of 21st Century mash-up aesthetic to the 20th century's richest trove of pop music treasure. Especially when Sir George Martin's legendary hand guides the project.
A cynic might note Sir Paul's and Yoko's recent legal bills.
But who could have dreamed how aggressively the project could diminish the Fab Four, underscoring a reality that most of us never really were aware of - that some of the gems they generated contained interchangeable parts.
JPG&R are ,in fairness, also elevated, in a back-handed sort of way, by the end product. No track on this ridiculous disc merits a second listen. No new insights, no brilliant (or even smart or clever) ideas appear. We simply see that, much as we hate to admit it, the stick-in-the-mud is (at least this time) both prescient and entirely correct. Each track is simply a reduction of a work of genius to a work of Muzak.
If you own this, burn it in the 20th century fashion - with fire.
I Can't think of a worse post with which to say Hey! I'm Back! But ...
U.S. Iraq War Toll Passes That of 9/11 NEW YORK (AP) - In a span of a few hours, 2,973 people were killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In a span of 45 months, the number of American troops killed in Iraq exceeded that grim toll as the war continues.
The milestone in Iraq came on Christmas, nearly four years after the war began, according to a count by The Associated Press. In announcing the Monday deaths of three soldiers, the toll from those fighting the war surpassed the toll from those killed by terrorists in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
As you can see, the tree here at GT12 is fully loaded and ready for Christmas. Mr. Dan and I are off to the newly democratized state of Ohio and Christmas with my family.
I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and thank you for stopping by and visiting throughout the year.
Special thanks to Mr. G. Baker and Mr. JK for inspiration, support and focus.
Peace to you all and we’ll talk again on the 26th.
U2 singer Bono granted knighthood by British Queen
Dublin- Bono, lead singer with the rock group U2, has beenawarded an honorary knighthood by the British queen, the Britishembassy in Dublin said Saturday.
The 46-year-old Irishman - whose real name is Paul Hewson - wasgranted the honour for "his services to the music industry and forhis humanitarian work."
These people created quite a stir in their community by hanging a wreath that endorsed the anti-Christmas sentiment of Peace On Earth. No really, it pissed the neighbors off.
Tony Hendra reminds us that both Evangelicals and Atheists are waging war of the root of Christmas.
Of course GT12 would like to point out that non-dysphoric atheists really don't spend much time, energy or worrying about this.
Anyhooo, this defense of Jesus from both his enemies and from his followers courtesy HuffPo (and we certainly have no war with Hendra's point of view):
In a way both atheists and fundos agree on the Christ they see in Christmas. The former may want to abolish it and the latter make it more 'Christian', but the Christ they're talking about is the same cartoon.
For the abolitionists, Christ is and has been the cause of incalculable bloodshed over the last two thousand years, as well as the oppression of women, the brutalization of the poor, the genocidal enslavement of people of color - any color - and environmental devastation. (The list is a lot longer than that, but it'll do for now) For the atheists it's Blame Christ First.
To do them justice they've got a point. Because that Christ is also the Christ of the fundos. The fundo Christ is only The Man of Mercy, Gentle-Jesus-Meek-and-Mild for the fundos themselves. The rest of us he hates. Anyone from gays to Muslims to feminists to commies to astrophysicists and biologists to you, me, Arianna, Susan Sarandon, George Clooney and especially Jimmy Carter. The fundo Christ will arriving here any day now, to butcher all of us by the billion. A Christ of vigilante justice, vengeance and prejudice: a Christ dedicated to the shedding of blood, oceans of it, the more barbarically the better. In short a non-Christ, a pseudo-Christ, an anti-Christ.
The Christ the fundos want to put back in Christmas.
...Here's the uncomfortable truth, one Christians have spent seas of ink and forests of paper, trying to get around: there is no way that someone who calls herself or himself a Christian, who believes in Christ's words and emulates his life and actions, can fight in a war, support a war, carry a weapon, pack heat, shoot back, or take revenge.
That's why Christmas - the birth of the man who preached this intensely radical idea - is called a time of peace. And why Jesus is often called the Prince of Peace. (Not a title I like much since all the Princes I know are blithering inbred twits, but I can live with it for now).
But that doesn't mean peace is over, once Christmas is. Or that the other 364 days of the year Jesus is the Prince of War. For real Christians peace is non-negotiable.
How much Christ is there really in Christmas. Even famed atheist Sam Harris has a Christmas tree.
From The NY Times today:
From the very beginning Christians have always had a tenuous hold on the holiday. The tradition of celebrating Jesus’ birth on the 25th of December was invented in the fourth century in a proselytical move by the Church Fathers that was almost too clever. The pre-Christian winter solstice celebrations of the rebirth of the sun, especially the Roman Saturnalia and Iranian Mithraic festivals, were recast as the Christian doctrine of the re-birth of the Son of God. Like many such syntheses, it is often not clear who was culturally appropriating whom. Certainly, throughout the Middle Ages, Christmas festivities like the 12 days of saturnalian debauchery, the veneration of the holly and mistletoe, and the Feast of Fools were all continuities from pagan Europe.
For this reason, the Puritans abolished Christmas. As late as the 1860s, Christmas was still a regular work and school day in Massachusetts. ... It is telling that, in the making of Santa Claus, it is the English Father Christmas, derived from the pagan Lord of Misrule, rather than the more Christian Dutch St. Nicholas that dominates.
... Secularists did not distort or steal Christmas from Christians: in America they made it together. What’s more, as the cultural historian Karal Marling shows, the festival’s most compassionate aspect, charity, came mainly from the influence of Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol,” which, however, drew heavily on the largely invented accounts of a romanticized Merrie Olde England by the American travel writer Washington Irving.
Think Christmas has it bad? You don't hear Jews complaining about the War on Hanukkah. December 19, 2006
THERE IS A WAR on Hanukkah. I know this because, even by late last week, I had absolutely no idea it was Hanukkah. Usually my grandmother sends a card, or the radio plays that Adam Sandler song, or one of those Chabad people in a Mitzvah tank picks me out on the street as Jewish and hands me candles, causing me to worry that I'm balding and short and my nose is too big. Apparently, disseminating self-loathing is a mitzvah.
... Meanwhile, as Christmas piled up victory after victory, the city of Fort Collins, Colo., refused to display a 9-foot-tall menorah next to a Christmas tree in its town square. Instead, it sits in CooperSmith's Pub & Brewing. There's nothing sadder than watching a 9-foot-tall menorah drink away its pain.
These should be good times for Hanukkah and the Jews. After all, the Christmas story offers nothing besides a guy who erases all our sins, but the tale of Hanukkah centers on a magical, super-efficient oil that causes an eightfold decrease in carbon emissions. But instead of this being our year, we had the worst run-up to Hanukkah in 62 years: Iran hosted David Duke at its Holocaust denial conference; Mel Gibson got a Golden Globe nomination; Jimmy Carter equated Israeli policy with apartheid; Ehud Olmert — the least-smooth Jew since Jerry Lewis — accidentally admitted that Israel has the bomb; and the subtext of "Charlotte's Web" is that pork is irresistible.
... So until the world backs off on its war against Hanukkah, we're not going to play your reindeer games. We may not have enough Mitzvah tanks, but we do have other weapons just as annoying. Until Hanukkah gets its proper respect, we're pulling our singers from Christmas albums. No more Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow.
[We could do without Babs, Barry and Neil - GT12]
You'll quickly find you don't have many entertainers of your own when you're at Banana Republic listening to that one Kristin Chenoweth album over and over.
Is he going to change his mind? I received this Christmas Card this week:
We wanted to take just a moment out of your busy holiday schedule to wish you and your family a happy holiday season and best wishes for a new year full of hope, health and happiness.
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley -- who rarely endorses candidates and who last went with a pre-nominated Presidential candidate with Al Gore in the 2000 race -- has decided to endorse Barack Obama for President, if he chooses to run.
On one level, the endorsement is not surprising -- and was predicted on this site weeks ago -- because Daley is running for re-election in 2007 and is looking to round up all the support in the African American community he can get. He's also had a strong relationship with Sen. Obama, going back to his days in the State Senate, and the two share a top political advisor in David Axelrod.
But Daley does not get involved in contested primaries often. Furthermore, much of Chicago's top political talent was with Sen. John Edwards in 2004 (while Daley himself quietly favored Howard Dean.) The Mayor also has very strong ties to Hillary Clinton and Al Gore.
The timing is interesting because it comes days after Sen. Evan Bayh bowed out of the race. Bayh has long been a Daley favorite and his presence in the race could have been enough to keep him neutral throughout the primaries.
I have albums and songs that, while not of the holiday variety, will always be Christmas albums because they are so tied emotionally or nostalgically to this season.
How 'bout you? What non-Christmas music is holiday-music-by-accident?
My List:
Herman's Hermits On Tour - My first Rock and Roll album, delivered by Santa 12/25/65. It was many many many many years before I learned that 'For Your Love', 'End of the World' and even 'Henry The VIII" were not originals.
Rubber Soul - Delivered by my parents ten days later on my 8th birthday. My first Beatle album and possibly the single most influential album in my life. Also, arguably, the best product ever from the suddenly no-longer-lovable-Mop-Tops.
The Beatles -First appearing in my life in 1970, defining my listening and playing for several years and then ReAppearing in '76 when everyone in my college dorm discovered it.
Fillmore, The Last Days - I will never forget watching, in both horror and stunned admiration, my mom and dad jitterbug to The Dead's version of Johnny-Be-Good on Christmas Eve, 1972.
Born To Run - Night upon Night upon Snowy-Drunken-Night driving all over the backstreets (well, back roads) of NW Ohio as Christmas lights reappeared after several years of energy-crisis driven hibernation. And then there's all those chiming glockenspiel parts....
A Night At The Opera- Well ... Weren't Freddy's multi-tracked vocal extravaganzas just our generation's Harry Simeone Chorale? And, with 'I'm In Love With My Car' we had yet another great anthem for those backroads, bongs and brews.
According to a new CNN poll, Democrats appear to hold an advantage at this point for 2008 presidential campaign, with 52% of respondents saying "they would either definitely vote for a Democrat or are leaning in that direction. Thirty-two percent said they were leaning toward the GOP or would definitely cast their ballots for a Republican candidate. Thirteen percent said they were not leaning toward either party."
We know that kids subjected to abstinence only education do not succeed in delaying pre-marital sex and, when abstinence fails, neglect to take the necessary steps to prevent pregencay or STD's.
But all this sex (to say nothing of HIV and other diseases), it's the fault of the '60's and the sexual revolution, no?
Most Americans Have Had Premarital Sex By DAVID CRARY (AP National Writer) From Associated Press December 19, 2006 8:53 PM EST
NEW YORK - More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, according to a new study. The high rates extend even to women born in the 1940s, challenging perceptions that people were more chaste in the past.
"This is reality-check research," said the study's author, Lawrence Finer.
"Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades."
... Finer said the likelihood of Americans having sex before marriage has remained stable since the 1950s, though people now wait longer to get married and thus are sexually active as singles for extensive periods.
The study found women virtually as likely as men to engage in premarital sex, even those born decades ago. Among women born between 1950 and 1978, at least 91 percent had had premarital sex by age 30, he said, while among those born in the 1940s, 88 percent had done so by age 44.
"The data clearly show that the majority of older teens and adults have already had sex before marriage, which calls into question the federal government's funding of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for 12- to 29-year-olds," Finer said.
Under the Bush administration, such programs have received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.
"It would be more effective," Finer said, "to provide young people with the skills and information they need to be safe once they become sexually active - which nearly everyone eventually will."
So we have kids raised by kids and genital drip because some sexually twisted Jesus-Jumpers want morality to replace reality.
Mr G Baker sends us this clipping from one of our local papers. It reminds me why I spent so much of my wishing that I was Keith Richards.
Beast of burden
Now it can be told. In the Daily Telegraph, in London, Pete Townshend of the Who tells this story about running into Mick Jagger somewhere: "I said, 'How's it going?' and he said, 'Er, all right.' I said, 'How's Keith?' 'All right.' 'How's Ronnie?' 'All right.' And I said, 'So how are you?' And he said, 'Well, I'm still doing [bad word] everything!' Pete added this: "Mick does actually organize every little detail of the tour, while Ronnie and Keith just have to decide whether they're going to get drunk or not, that's the big decision of the day."
(Extra cautionary lesson: NEVER sell a good guitar. That '73 Fender Precision would be worth 3-4 times what I paid for it. And that doesn't count the pain I have from missing it)
Kid Rock and the Turkish foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, were among hundreds of mourners who paid tribute yesterday to Ahmet Ertegun, a co-founder of Atlantic Records, at his funeral in Istanbul, his birthplace. “He could not sing, but he was music personified,” Kid Rock told the state-run news agency Anatolia. Mr. Ertegun, who helped shape the careers of Ray Charles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and many others, died on Thursday in Manhattan at 83. He was buried at an ancestral family site near a Muslim religious lodge on the Asian side of Istanbul, The Associated Press reported. “The one thing he loved more than music was Turkey,” Anatolia quoted Lyor Cohen, the chief executive of the Warner Music Group, the parent company of Atlantic Records, as saying. Mr. Gul said Mr. Ertegun had done much for the country. “Nobody has, or ever will, do what he did for Turkey in the United States,” Mr. Gul said. “He has left a large void.”
Ronnie Wood gives us a tour of his tour supplies. Having been a follower of Woody since 1971 (He is and always has been the best dressed man in Rock ) I was moved to tears (really) the first time I found myself in the same stadium with that 3 pick-up Zemaitis.
For Conservative Christan groups, this year's hot gift is a weapon for fighting back in the "War on Christmas," be it a button, a bumper sticker or a memo with advice to the troops.
The Mississippi-based American Family Association says it has sold more than 500,000 buttons and 125,000 bumper stickers bearing the slogan "Merry Christmas: It's Worth Saying."
The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal aid group that boasts a network of some 900 lawyers standing ready to "defend Christmas," says it has moved about 20,000 "Christmas packs." The packs, available for a suggested $29 donation, include a three-page legal memo and two lapel pins.
And Liberty Counsel, a conservative law firm affiliated with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, says it has sold 12,500 legal memos on celebrating Christmas and 8,000 of its own buttons and bumper stickers.
Leaders say demand for the goods -- which are pitched online and through e-mail to supporters -- is driven by what they view as a coordinated effort to secularize Christmas.
Alliance Defense Fund, American Family Association, James Dobson's Colorado-based Focus on the Family, and Concerned Women for America have banded together for a 2006 Christmas Project. Chief on its agenda is a list of "nice" retailers that use the word "Christmas" in their stores and catalogues and "naughty" ones that do not.
"It's a way to fight back against the secular progressives and promote the real meaning of Christmas," [Commerce - GT12] said Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association. "They make a statement to anyone who looks at them and reads them that the person wearing them wants to keep Christ in Christmas."
Because public debates over decorations and celebrations attract media attention, Christmas is a good time for Christian advocacy groups to attract potential supporters, said Anita Staver, president of Liberty Counsel.
"When its an issue affecting Christmas people will sit up and take notice," Staver said. "Then they may look at the other issues we're involved in," including church-state disputes, gay marriage and abortion.
Critics, however, say the advocacy groups are profiting from a divisive and unnecessary brouhaha. "It's just a fund-raising scam," said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. "And it's a scam in the worst sense -- it's fighting something that doesn't even exist."
By its own accounts, 2006 has been a very good year for the American Family Association. Through mass e-mails and other forms of public pressure, the Mississippi group says, it "forced Wal-mart ... to stop donations to homosexual groups." AFA also says it convinced the television network NBC to pull "the anti-Christian program `The Book of Daniel"' and cut a scene from a televised concert in which pop star Madonna sings from a crucifix.
...Wildmon, while declining to give specifics, said the products brought in a "slight profit." The project was so successful, he said, he plans to make Easter buttons this year.[Say No More - GT12]
Many geniuses are doubted and many have had little success in their own lifetime (Van Gogh, Seurat). Of course these geniuses were dangerous only to themselves.
Our dauphin is seeming more and more like a third world dictator from a bad Woody Allen rip-off.
Support for President Bush's management of the war in Iraq has dropped to a new low as he ponders a change in the U.S. strategy there, according to a new CNN poll.
"Monday's poll results suggest the widespread dissatisfaction with the Iraq war may be dragging down public approval of Bush's handling of anti-terrorism efforts as well. Support for his management of that issue plunged to 42 percent, down from 50 percent in a poll taken Oct. 13-15, while the percentage of those who disapproved rose from 47 percent to 55 percent -- the first time more than 50 percent have registered disapproval on that topic."
Chastened for our neglect of the Ahmet Ertegun-signed most influential members of the monumental anti-soul movement that was Progressive Rock, GT12 presents our fave:
And You And I from Yessongs (yesfriends that means Rick Wakeman)(Oh, and that opening shot of Steve Howe? that's exactly where I stood when I saw the band do this. They were much louder than you would ever assume):
Alfred Kinsey conducted serious empirical research in this area and two researchers recently went through the data and published a paper in the peer-reviewed Archives of Sexual Behavior. Here's the abstract:
The relation between sexual orientation and penile dimensions in a large sample of men was studied. Subjects were 5,122 men interviewed by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction from 1938 to 1963. They were dichotomously classified as either homosexual (n = 935) or heterosexual (n = 4187). Penile dimensions were assessed using five measures of penile length and circumference from Kinsey's original protocol. On all five measures, homosexual men reported larger penises than did heterosexual men. Explanations for these differences are discussed, including the possibility that these findings provide additional evidence that variations in prenatal hormonal levels (or other biological mechanisms affecting reproductive structures) affect sexual orientation development.
Ahmet Ertegun, the music magnate who founded Atlantic Records and shaped the careers of John Coltrane, Ray Charles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and many others, died today in Manhattan. He was 83.
A GT12 Favorite, Joe Tex
Mr. Ertegun was the dapper son of a Turkish diplomatic family. He was equally at home at a high-society soiree or a rhythm and blues club, the kind of place where, in the 1950s, he found the performers who went on to make hits for Atlantic Records, one of the most successful American independent music labels.
Atlantic was the House That Ray built
He was an astute judge of both musical talent and business potential, surrounding himself with skillful producers and remaking rhythm and blues for the pop mainstream. As Atlantic Records grew from a small independent label into a major national music company, it became a stronghold both of soul, with Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, and of rock, with the Stones, Led Zeppelin and Yes.
Mick and the Boys sing their first Atlantic single
Along with a partner, Herb Abramson, Mr. Ertegun founded Atlantic Records in 1947 in an office in a derelict hotel on West 56th Street in Manhattan. His initial investment of $10,000 was borrowed from his family dentist.
The Coasters
By the 1950s, Atlantic’s records had developed a unique sound, best described as the mixed and polygamous marriage of Mr. Ertegun’s musical loves. He and his producers mingled blues and jazz with the mambo of New Orleans, the urban blues of Chicago, the swing of Kansas City and the sophisticated rhythms and arrangements of New York.
Solomon Burke and The Stones
In 1954, Atlantic released both “I Got a Woman” by Ray Charles and “Shake, Rattle and Roll” by Joe Turner. (Mr. Ertegun was a backup singer on “Shake, Rattle and Roll”). The songs had a good beat, and people danced to them. They were among the strongest roots of rock ’n’ roll.
Aretha, the Queen of Soul:
By the 1960s, often in partnerships with local labels like Stax in Memphis, Mr. Ertegun was selling millions of recordings by the leading soul musicians of the day, among them Ms. Franklin and Mr. Redding. Ms. Franklin had recorded previously for Columbia Records, but her hits for Atlantic — which merged her gospel roots with an earthy strength and sensuality — were the ones that made her the Queen of Soul.
Otis:
The Ertegun brothers and their partner, Mr. Wexler, sold the Atlantic label to Warner Brothers-Seven Arts in 1967 for $17 million in stock. Four years later, the brothers took some of the money and founded the New York Cosmos soccer team.
Solomon Burke
But Mr. Ertegun kept making records. When the Kinney Corporation — a conglomerate of parking lots, funeral parlors, rental cars and other unmusical enterprises — completed the acquisition of Warner Brothers-Seven Arts in 1969, he and his label kept going.
Neil Lets the Weenies join him
Mr. Ertegun was now a rock mogul. Atlantic Records signed the Stones, Led Zeppelin and Crosby, Stills and Nash, who became Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young after Mr. Ertegun persuaded Neil Young to join the group. The corporations changed — Kinney turned into Warner Communications, which became Time Warner — but Atlantic and its founder still flourished.
Feedback to the creator of the video (posted below):
brian38383838 December 10, 2006you are a lying scumbag, you are everything the demo-rats represent. You liberal jackass
johnnyjohnny (3 hours ago) I love their family. I wish I was related. Looks like you envy them quite a lot as you took the time to look up some history on each in the picture. That's the kinda thing that's creepy to me...I think you're a serial killer.
Spectres (2 minutes ago) Patrioit cocksucker...why don't you do a video on the Kennedy Klan?I wish painful death to all you anti-Americans. I pray for the draft to be reinstated so your sons can be beheaded by one of your Muslim friends.You libs are so out of touch with this countries real problems. It's>>>YOU...and your support of faggot rights and the breakdown of the family.Die you motherfuckers.
smakkkkk (16 minutes ago) This video was made by communists.
mth71 (1 hour ago) Liberal Fag - you are a disgrace to America.
... Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That's why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today's rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products. (Most babies are bottle-fed during some part of their infancy, and one-fourth of them are getting soy milk!) Homosexuals often argue that their homosexuality is inborn because "I can't remember a time when I wasn't homosexual." No, homosexuality is always deviant. But now many of them can truthfully say that they can't remember a time when excess estrogen wasn't influencing them.
.... The reason Augusto Pinochet was universally hated by leftists and many academics worldwide was not because he was so brutal or killed so many people (he hardly figured among the 20th century’s most prolific political killers, admittedly a difficult company to get into) but because he was so successful. There is no doubt that there was indeed much brutality and hardship in the wake of his coup, but unlike the much less reviled military dictators of Argentina and Uruguay, he actually achieved something worthwhile, namely the prosperity of his country. - Anthony Daniels, author of Utopias Elsewhere
Augusto Pinochet enjoys a reputation outside of Chile that is the reverse of the adage about a prophet in his own country. Enlightened opinion elsewhere, he is loathed: the butcher of human rights; a reactionary speed bump delaying social progress in Chile and Latin America for a generation.
In Chile, it’s a bit different. Human rights did suffer under Pinochet. And Chile spent years under Pinochet recovering from his predecessor Salvador Allende’s mad dash to a Soviet style command economy. It has also lately been shown he was personally corrupt. Finally, at least for Americans, there was the small matter of the caudillo’s secret services committing murder on the streets of Washington, D.C. - Roger W. Fontaine was a National Security Council staff officer in the Reagan administration
Pinochet's coup d'etat and the murder of Salvador Allende along with 3,000 or more suspected opposition members, were perhaps the worst thing that has ever happened to Chile, just as the Cuban Revolution was the worst thing that ever happened to Cuba. - Roger W. Fontaine was a National Security Council staff officer in the Reagan administration
But there is one vital difference between the two. Once he consolidated power, Pinochet worked hard to protect the bases of a modern progressive democracy. Castro, by contrast, made it his business to ruin those in his country — and now a new generation of Latin American leaders fondly dream of walking in his footsteps. - Maria Loyola a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies .
Augusto Pinochet was a tragic figure. Instead of being remembered for saving Chilean democracy from a communist takeover, and starting the country on the longest-lasting economic expansion in Latin America, which he did, he will be remembered mostly for carrying out a brutal campaign of human-rights abuses. -Otto J. Reich - served President Bush from 2001 to 2004.
Krugman (12/08/06 NY Times) reviews who was right in their predictions about Iraq:
Former President George H. W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, explaining in 1998 why they didn’t go on to Baghdad in 1991: “Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.”
Representative Ike Skelton, September 2002: “I have no doubt that our military would decisively defeat Iraq’s forces and remove Saddam. But like the proverbial dog chasing the car down the road, we must consider what we would do after we caught it.”
Al Gore, September 2002: “I am deeply concerned that the course of action that we are presently embarking upon with respect to Iraq has the potential to seriously damage our ability to win the war against terrorism and to weaken our ability to lead the world in this new century.”
Barack Obama, now a United States senator, September 2002: “I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.”
Representative John Spratt, October 2002: “The outcome after the conflict is actually going to be the hardest part, and it is far less certain.”
Representative Nancy Pelosi, now the House speaker-elect, October 2002: “When we go in, the occupation, which is now being called the liberation, could be interminable and the amount of money it costs could be unlimited.”
Senator Russ Feingold, October 2002: “I am increasingly troubled by the seemingly shifting justifications for an invasion at this time. ... When the administration moves back and forth from one argument to another, I think it undercuts the credibility of the case and the belief in its urgency. I believe that this practice of shifting justifications has much to do with the troubling phenomenon of many Americans questioning the administration’s motives.”
Howard Dean, then a candidate for president and now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, February 2003: “I firmly believe that the president is focusing our diplomats, our military, our intelligence agencies, and even our people on the wrong war, at the wrong time. ... Iraq is a divided country, with Sunni, Shia and Kurdish factions that share both bitter rivalries and access to large quantities of arms.”
A member of the Durham Police Department Selective Enforcement Team escorts a child to use the bathroom after serving a search warrant at a suspected drug house. Working closely with the police department's Gang Units, SET is responsible for making high-risk entries into dwellings to serve search warrants. Gang Unit Two made two controlled buys, or drug purchases, from the home with the help of an informant, giving them probable cause for a search warrant.
Jefferson wins La. runoff despite federal probe Opponent unable to capitalize on bribery allegations against fellow Dem
NEW ORLEANS - U.S. Rep. William Jefferson easily defeated his fellow Democratic opponent in a runoff election Saturday, despite an ongoing federal bribery investigation.
In complete but unofficial returns, Jefferson, Louisiana’s first black congressman since Reconstruction, received 57 percent of the vote over state Rep. Karen Carter, who had 43 percent.
Carter was unable to capitalize on a scandal that included allegations the FBI found $90,000 in bribe money in Jefferson’s freezer.
In a concession speech, Carter embraced family members and pledged to work with Jefferson, especially on the area’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
“I guess the people are happy with the status-quo,” she said.
Funny (or something) how when you analyze the practical aspects of moral issues, the right thing to do is also the smart thing to do.
Not Funny that our country has not learned this lesson. George Washington knew it. George Bush, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and, most appallingly but least surprisingly, most leaders of what has become the public face of Christianity in America have not.
Andrew Sullivan, who if nothing struggles to be both smart and a follower of Jesus, found this:
"Now I'd like you to use your imagination for a second. Let's assume the unthinkable: that America had embraced Mr. Bush's "Program" in the Second World War; that German, Italian and Japanese fighters had been waterboarded, subjected to the cold cell and techniques like "long time standing." Do any of you think for even a second that these nations would have been our allies and friends in the following generations? Think of how much darker, colder and more hate-filled our world would be than it is today...
A short time ago, in Germany, I spoke with one of the senior advisors of Chancellor Angela Merkel. I noted that a criminal complaint had been filed against Donald Rumsfeld and a number of others invoking universal jurisdiction for war crimes offenses. How would the chancellor see this, I asked? There was a long pause, and I fully expected to get a brush-off response. But what came was very surprising.
"You must remember," said the advisor, "that my chancellor was born and raised in a totalitarian state. She cannot be indifferent to questions of this sort. In fact, she views them as matters of the utmost gravity and they will be treated that way. The Nuremberg process happened in my country. It was painful for us. But we absorbed it. It became a part of our legacy. An important part of our legacy. We will not forget it. But I have to ask you: why has your country forgotten?"
- Scott Horton, in a speech at the New School, on the significance of December 7 in American history.
In Years Past, and, we're sure, in years future, this is the day Mr Dan and I hold our annual Christmas Party. But this year we're spending a quiet Saturday together instead.
None-the-less, something festive must be done!
So, here's Brian Setzer as interpreted by one Crazy Christmas House.
Last night Mr. Dan, Mr JK , Mr SM and myself were sitting around talking when the issue of HBO's 'Big Love' arose (one's big love is always a-rising, no?). And I mentioned, vis-a-vis the whole Mormon thing, the hotly debated controversey that Andrew Sullivan ignited back in late November by showing pictures of Mormon Undergarments (courtesy wicki-pedia). None of my esteemed friends had seen them. Obviously they have lives. Mr Dan did remind me that we do see them in 'Angels In America.'
I thank all the messers above from the bottom of my heart for the excuse to publish this now.
For temple-going Mormons, the garment serves much the same purpose as religious clothing throughout history—it privately sets them apart from the world and signifies a covenant between the wearer and God. There is no professional clergy in the LDS Church, so in some ways the garment serves as a symbol of the lay clergy, where both men and women share in the responsibilities and blessings of the priesthood, particularly in the temple.
If you look at a pair of garments, there is nothing physically special about them. They are made from a variety of light-weight fabrics, and most garments are white. (There are some special colored garments that can be worn by members of the armed services, but for the vast majority of Mormons, garments are always white.) The white color symbolizes purity and the length and cut of the garment helps assure modesty in dress and appearance. The garment bears several simple marks related to gospel principles of obedience, truth, and discipleship in Christ.
The meaning attached to the garment by devout Mormons transcends the fabric and design used to create the garment. It is sacred to the wearer not for what it is, but for what it represents. It reminds the wearer of the continuing need for repentance and obedience to God, the need to honor binding covenants voluntarily made in the temple, and the need to cherish and share truth and virtue in our daily living. By so doing, the garment helps the wearer to focus his or her life on Jesus Christ and to thereby lay claim on the blessings promised to those who do so.
When Mitt Romney runs for Pres, we will know the answer "Boxers or Briefs?"
I ran across this in the last week. It provided a lot more info on a name I have run across infrequently since coming out in '80.
Some Key quotes:
The memo is dated June 28, 1962. Reading it, one can scarcely believe that it was written as recently as 44 years ago.
From: Director of Personnel, Library of Congress.
To: Nevin R. Feather, a library employee.
Subject: "Interrogatory."
The library, it begins, "has received a report concerning you." It "has been reported" that "you had permitted a man to perform a homosexual act (fellatio) on you. Also, that you related that you find members of the male sex attractive; that you have been in bed with men; and that you have enjoyed embracing them." Enjoyed embracing! "Is this report true?"
At the bottom of the page, appended as a hurried note, is a plea for help. "I must admit I am quite shook-up over this matter," Nevin Feather wrote to Franklin Kameny. "Please advise me."
The disposition of Nevin Feather's case is lost to history, but the memo is not. In one of those cosmic japes that make fools of us all, the Library of Congress's sinister interrogation of its gay employee now reposes as a historical document in, yes, the Library of Congress. There it joins company with the diaries of George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt, the papers of Thurgood Marshall and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and 16,000 other document collections spanning 60 million pages.
... In 1961, he organized the Mattachine Society of Washington, a pioneering gay-rights group. Under its auspices, he bombarded the government with letters, receiving replies like "Please do not contaminate my mail with such filthy trash" (from a member of Congress), and "Your letter of August 28 has been received, and in reply may I state unequivocally that in all my six years of service in the United States Congress I have not received such a revolting communication."
... In 1965, Kameny's Washington Mattachine Society issued a path-breaking public declaration that "homosexuality is not a sickness, disturbance, or other pathology in any sense." In 1973, after years of protest and persuasion by Kameny and others, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the list of mental disorders, perhaps the largest mass cure ever effected.
... "We are honorable people who deal with others honorably and in good faith," he insisted to the Un-American Activities Committee. "We expect to be dealt with in the same fashion -- especially by our governmental officials." There you hear the pipsqueak, indomitable voice of equality.
I assume by now you all have heard about the latest fake attack upon Christianity cooked up by the suddenly Deadly-desperate right. Dennis Prager decided that our first Muslim Congressman must be stopped from taking his oath of office with a Koran. This position was so crazy that even Super-Creep Michael Medved found it necessary to write against Prager's lunacy.
What neither of them has said of course is that none of this ever happened. The crisis is even less real than the War On Christmas.
I want to learn how to lie like that. Think how far I could go.
Merry Christmas James Dobson, Bill O'Reilly, Tony Perkins and that Bastard at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in DC. Too bad that kid won't have all the rights of the other Cheney grand-spawn.
According to Reliable Sources, Vice President Dick Cheney's new grandchild will have two mommies.
"Mary Cheney, the vice president's openly gay daughter, is pregnant. She and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, are 'ecstatic' about the baby, due in late spring, said a source close to the couple."
"News of the pregnancy will undoubtedly reignite the debate about gay marriage. During the campaign, Mary Cheney was criticized by gay activists for not being more publicly supportive of same-sex marriage... Cheney has described her relationship with Poe -- whom she took to last year's White House dinner honoring Prince Charles and Camilla -- as a marriage."
On the Today show, Al Gore called the Iraq war "the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States" and "worse than a civil war," according to ABC News.
The former vice president urged President Bush to get U.S. troops out of Iraq "as quickly as possible without making the situation worse."
Said Gore: "I would urge the President to try to separate out the personal issues of being blamed in history for his mistake and instead recognizing that it is not about him. It’s about our country."
"Keeping us up here eats away at families…The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what this says."
-- Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), quoted by the Washington Post, in response to incoming-Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD) plan to increase the House’s work schedule from three days a week to five.
Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. If your organization is small, hide your numbers in the dark and raise a din that will make everyone think you have many more people than you do.
Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people. The result is confusion, fear, and retreat.
Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.
Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”
Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”
Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.
Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”
Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city’s reputation.
Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”
Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.
A stick-in-the-mud would simply dismiss 'Love' as unnecessary. "Why try to improve on perfection?" he or she might say.
