Restoring Sanity with Boredom?

I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a fan of either Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. I realized, of course, that their three hour, so-called "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" in D.C. would be an "event" and as a blogger interested in politics, I'd want to see whatever I could find concerning the rally on TV.

Thanks to CSPAN, I was able to watch most of the rally; I was channel surfing an hour after it started and found it there.

If I would describe the rally in one word, that word would be "boring".
Seriously.

Colbert played his part as over the top, Right Wing Crazy, with typical Liberal lameness. I'm sure High School intellectuals were highly amused. For his part, Stewart's "I'm so effing reasonable" persona reeked of condescension.



With very little exception, the musical entertainment came across as an "old fart" festival. I found the routine featuring Ozzy Osbourne doing "Crazy Train", the star formerly known as Cat Stevens, singing "Peace Train" which ended with the OJ's performing "Love Train" as a group of formerly hip has-beens playing for a group of hippie-wannabes that had gathered at the National Mall.

The song performed by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow will probably become the theme music for the Worthlessness of Progressiveness Movement. The moral of the song......I can't do anything worthwhile, but at least I care.

One theme which Stewart covered ad nauseum was the "some terrorists may be Muslims but that doesn't mean we should hate all Muslims" bit. Odd though, on the several occasions when he, or Colbert, introduced the star formerly known as Cat Stevens, they choose to introduce him as "Yusuf" and not by his now-legal name, Yusuf Islam. Just an oversight, I guess.

Will this rally affect the outcome of the upcoming elections on November 2nd ?
Not bloody likely.

I doubt that there are enough Kool-aid drinking ObamaZombies left to Change things......at least I Hope that's the case.

A man from Florida calling CSPAN after the program sums it up very well :
"I'd get more laughs with an Internet search on "elephantitis". "

Time Traveler with Big Feet.

I found this over on creativeminorityreport. I don't believe the person being filmed is a time traveler ...... just a crazy old lady talking to herself, but the clip is interesting.

As November Nears.........

Conventional wisdom -and the polls- tell us that, come the November election, thanks to Obama's attempt to push this country to the Left of France, the Democrat Party will receive a will deserved shellacking from the people.

More, the common refrain seems to be, when they take control, the Republicans need to do something.......no more Party of No.

It's unlikely that the GOP will even attempt to make the changes I'd like them to do - that is, basically demolish the Federal government.

If they don't do anything else, my wish would be that the Republicans put forth one Catholic teaching that would turn the country around; subsidiarity.

( For those too lazy to click on the link, subsidiarity is defined as an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. Political decisions should be taken at a local level if possible, rather than by a central authority.)

Our money should remain in our pockets, the decision as to what's best for our family and our community should be remain as close to home as possible. Trying to manage everything from Washington and giving "someone else's money" to everyone who might have his or her hand out, our government is destroying the country.

I'm not optimistic.

My Taste in Music.

I first saw the photo on Drudge , with his link to this story :Iran, Venezuela leaders seek 'new world order'.
I came across the photo again on a post at creativeminorityreport entitled Even Despots Break into Song Sometimes...
In that post, Matthew Archbold wrote,
"I must be in a silly mood but doesn't it look like these two murderous tyrants are in some weird musical and about to break into song."

For my part, the first song I thought of was Vera Lynn singing We'll Meet Again as it was used in the ending of the movie Dr. Strangelove.

Listening to the song again put me in a mood to listen to Vera Lynn on Pandora Radio.
This time, thankfully, Pandora choose not to include a John Lennon tune. Who'da thunk?

I was, instead, entertained by the likes of Jo Stafford, Deana Durbin and Fred Astaire.

One of the greatest gifts my father gave me - in addition to his love for the Catholic Church - was an appreciation for a wide variety of music. It might seem odd to some that someone who enjoys listening to Frank Zappa or Muddy Waters or Muddy Waters' evil twin could also enjoy listening to Camille Saint-Saëns or even Spade Cooley.

Someone once said I had 'catholic' tastes in music....catholic with a small 'c'.
That pretty much sums it up.

Goo Goo Ga Joob.

For reasons I can't quite comprehend, Pandora Radio has determined that, no matter what sort of "station" I create, a John Lennon tune is, apparently, appropriate.

Today, while listening to acoustic, folk music, the Beatles song , "I am the Walrus" came up. How that might relate to the type of music I had been hearing was beyond me.

Internet surfing, I'm surprised at the number of versions of "I am the Walrus" have been done.
My favorite is Zappa's take on it, but then again, I can have off-the-wall musical tastes.

Some of the other versions really blow my mind.

What could have possessed Bono to do this?

Perhaps we should have a contest.......hum......who has done the worst version of "I am the Walrus"?

Oasis?
Jim Carrey?
The Beatles?
this guy?
this kid?
the ukulele version ?

I believe we have a winner.

Goo Goo Ga Joob.

The River War.

Knowing my thoughts on our current struggle with the religion of peace, a friend sent an email to me containing the following quote from a book written by Winston S.Churchill more than one hundred years ago:

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome. [The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan (1899), Volume II pp. 248-250, from Wikiquote]"

This tidbit lead me on a search for a copy of the book. To my surprise, my local public library does not have a copy. But, then again, maybe I shouldn't have been surprised.

At any rate, I went to Amazon.com and found the book. As much as I want to read the book, I'm not willing to shell out twenty eight dollars (plus) for the hard cover edition; cheapskate that I am, even the ten bucks for the paperback was more than I wanted to spend. So, Project Gutenberg came to the rescue. A copy of The River War can be found here.

Reading the first paragraph, I was hooked. This is the sort of book that could only have been written in the days before movies, radio and television. Written at a time when the public expected a book to be well written, this book entertains from the very start.

As much as I dislike reading books online ( I really do prefer the feel of having a book in hand ) I'm finding it very difficult to put this one down - so to speak. I'm only stopping long enough to write this miserable piece for the blog, then I'm back to it.

President Obama's New Theme Song.

In an opinion piece for the Washington Times, Ted Nugent explains that President Obama's mojo is missing.

More to the point, he's got his mojo working, but it just don't work on you - or me, or anyone else.

Democratic Desperation.

In desperation, Obama attacks Bush and the Chamber of Commerce.
Pitiful.

Camille Saint-Saëns.

Today, October 09, 2010 is the 175th anniversary of the birth of French composer, Camille Saint-Saëns.

In honor of that, I'm posting a Youtube video of Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre as performed by the 'ad hoc' National Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Leopold Stokowski.

For the more musically adventurous, there is a computer generated recording of the work here.

Thoughts on the Censoring of Art Works.

In a case that is becoming so common place as to be cliché, the Patterson Gallery in the School of Visual Arts at Penn State University has refused to exhibit Joshua Stulman's series of paintings entitled Portraits of Terror, which the artist says explores the terrorist culture found within areas of the Palestinian territories and how radicalized Islam attempts to legitimize terrorism.

Penn State claimed the work violated the University's "Zero Tolerance policy for Hate". Gratz College in Philadelphia canceled plans to exhibit the paintings out of fear of violence being committed against the institution.

One has to wonder if Penn State would censor the paintings of Enrique Chagoya. Chagoya's "The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals," - a lithograph which includes an image of Jesus receiving oral sex- has been on display since Sept. 11 at the tax-funded Loveland Museum Gallery in Loveland, Colorado.

The lithograph has provoked protests; a 56 year old woman is accused of using a crowbar to break glass over the so-called "art" and subsequently ripping the lithograph.

Chagoya told The Associated Press that he was shocked and saddened that his work was attacked.

"My intention has never been to offend anybody," he said.

If that was, indeed, his intention, Chagoya has failed.

Chagoya's work may have been the recipient of a violent attack, but it's unlikely that Chagoya will need to go into hiding because of reaction from Christians. Ironically, Chagoya may very well have to go underground (as cartoonist Molly Norris was advised to do, after her creation of "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day".) if word gets out that the lithograph also contains a panel showing Mohammed kneeling before dancing, transvestite pigs. Equally ironic is the fact that it's the section with Mohammed - not the one of Jesus - which would, in all likelihood, keep the work from being shown at Penn State.

Maurizio Cattelan's Sculpture.

The BBC calls the sculpture 'disgusting' . Naturally, there is some controversy surrounding this particular work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, which is on display in the Piazza d'Affari outside the Milan stock exchange.

The BBC article suggests that the middle finger is anti-capitalist - showing contempt for the financial kingpins inside the building. The folks at designboom.com (which has several photos of the sculpture on the website) are of the same opinion, saying Cattelan is "giving the finger to bankers".

From the way I see it, the message given is quite the opposite. As we see, the palm of the hand is facing the building.....those of us looking at the statue are seeing the back of the hand. From this angle, it is the bankers who are giving us the finger.

If, by chance, the good people in Milan wish to have the sculpture removed, I'd like to see it moved to Washington, D.C.......placed in front of the White House. We have to be sure, though, that it's turned the right way.

Repairing the Time Warp.

We see, now, who has influence and who doesn't.

In his comment on my last post , blogger LarryD tried to blame yours truly for the slight rip in the space-time continuum out by the D family home. He requested that I return to blogging in order to prevent a further rip.

I had been unable to write very much because of the over-time I've been putting in on my real job. I had put in 52 hours last week and was scheduled to work 48 this week. In order to get that 48 hour mark, I'd have to work 8 hours on 1st shift today in addition to my regular 8 on 2nd. Now, after going in at 7 this morning, the department, where I was working over, was sent home at 11......I'll have to go back in at 3 for my shift.

Obviously, LarryD must have made a call to have the department shut down early so I'd have to come home and write a post.

Alright, I'll write a little while I'm here, but I'm not paying for Larry's missing patio chair.

I've Been Busy.

Thanks to my wife having changed jobs, she's now able to drop off and pick up our son from school, which has allowed me to take advantage of the overtime available at work. This increased time at work has put a damper on my time available for blogging, but, as far as I've been able to tell, this hasn't seemed to have torn a fabric in the blogosphere.

There will be more posts in the future - once I've gotten into this new routine. In the mean time, I'll just drop by whenever I can. Feel free to check out my archives.

Rossini-Cenerentola- Finale Atto 1.

This week, due to no work on my part, I stumbled upon an unexpected windfall.

With this little bit of extra cash, I went to my Amazon.com wish-list to spend some of it before it burned a hole in my pocket. I've been wanting, for some time, to purchase a copy of "The Dangerous Book for Boys" by Conn Iggulden but, sorry to say, there hasn't been much money for luxuries lately and as much as I wanted the book, I viewed it as a luxury and not a necessity. Ordered the book and it's on the way.

When I went to the Amazon.com website, I looked over my wish-list to see if there was any thing else I would order or remove from the list. I found, on the list, a recording of La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini. I could not, for the life of me, remember putting this on the wish-list.....it's been on the list since August 21; I guess my memory isn't so hot.

I Googled "La Cenerentola" and found quite a few Youtube videos of sections of the opera. The video below is not the reason I put the CD on the wish-list, but it's rather nice and well worth putting here.