Someone Explain This to Me
So I'm loading up the ol' MP3 player yesterday, some new stuff like the Heartless Bastards' Mountain and the new Black Crowes After the Frost and the downloadable companion Until the Freeze [they remind me A LOT of the late era Byrds], some old stuff I haven't heard in a while like Superchunk's Come Pick Me Up and I try to pick a couple things I've really never heard from my massive hard drive. And one of the things I picked was Radiohead's OK Computer.
Now this is an album people have been praising to the high heavens forever. It gets 4.34 of 5 stars on Rate Your Music [14,731 rating as of this writing - I gave it a 3.5 for Just Average] and is the # 1 album for 1997. I'm sure those clowns at Rolling Stone rate it high every time they do one of those Best Albums lists... we all know how I love those, right?
And so I put it on tonight - and I don't get it. Maybe 1997 was a shit year for music - I certainly only recognize a couple of artists in the top 50 for that year and I was working part time in a record store then. Whiskeytown, Bruce Dickinson, Pavement, Old 97s... Bjork [BLECH!], Elliot Smith [still never heard it], Modest Mouse and Built to Spill [early albums I guess]... Bill Hicks. Ween. Spiritualized. Maybe I should say I would only listen to a couple of artists in the top 50.
But OK Computer? Meh. Is this another one of those albums like Blonde On Blonde, Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper that people have been told is so great that they just assume it is even though they don't get it? I am thinking so. I can see it might be okay if one is hitting a bong on a rainy Saturday afternoon, not unlike some Pink Floyd or Porcupine Tree in spots, but really, I don't get it. Maybe I'm not supposed to. If I'm not supposed to, then mission accomplished.
I guess next I will have to try and figure out the appeal of Coldplay. Anyone want to intervene on that?
Oh, Public Television...
Hmmm another beg -a thon. Is this going to be a monthly thing? It was August 11th when I posted you were begging again. How about finally giving in and running commercials? Oh, you do at the beginning and end of programs, you just call it sponsorship.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Health Care - What's to Debate?
Let me put this as simply as I possibly can: You want the same people that run the post office to be making life and death decisions about you and your loved ones?
Now, that may seem like a simplistic view of a large problem. But then again, we're talking about the Federal government here, a beast that never gets smaller. Now the Prez and his cronies in Congress want to poof another 900 billion dollars out of thin air to pay for health care. Oh, sure they SAY "Well we can do so much by making savings in Medicare and such..." By the way, how is Medicare going fellas? Oh BANKRUPT soon? How about that Social Security "lock box" you've been keeping my FICA money in every month. You get my point.
I heard Rush Limbaugh today [on a rare trip around the dial in my car] saying that if the government begins taking over health care, we will get a system that is more interested in cost savings than saving lives. And I agree on this point. If the health care is so great in all those other places with socialized health care [and I think we only have to look at the state of dentistry in jolly old England to agree that it's not so great], how come those who can fly to the United States for treatment, especially of big ticket items like cancer and transplants? Sure the weather is better here than a lot of places, but I don't think that's it.
I also agree with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:
“...the President has an opportunity to reframe the debate, but only if he recognizes that the Democrats’ original plan for health care reform doesn’t wash with the American people. When it comes to health care, Americans don’t want government to tear down the house we have. They want it to repair the one we’ve got. That means sensible, step-by-step reforms, not more trillion dollar grand schemes. It means preserving what people like about our health care system, not destroying it all at once or starving it over time.
..."People don’t want risky, sweeping changes that increase the national debt and don’t solve the problems we have."
Let me put this as simply as I possibly can: You want the same people that run the post office to be making life and death decisions about you and your loved ones?
Now, that may seem like a simplistic view of a large problem. But then again, we're talking about the Federal government here, a beast that never gets smaller. Now the Prez and his cronies in Congress want to poof another 900 billion dollars out of thin air to pay for health care. Oh, sure they SAY "Well we can do so much by making savings in Medicare and such..." By the way, how is Medicare going fellas? Oh BANKRUPT soon? How about that Social Security "lock box" you've been keeping my FICA money in every month. You get my point.
I heard Rush Limbaugh today [on a rare trip around the dial in my car] saying that if the government begins taking over health care, we will get a system that is more interested in cost savings than saving lives. And I agree on this point. If the health care is so great in all those other places with socialized health care [and I think we only have to look at the state of dentistry in jolly old England to agree that it's not so great], how come those who can fly to the United States for treatment, especially of big ticket items like cancer and transplants? Sure the weather is better here than a lot of places, but I don't think that's it.
I also agree with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:
“...the President has an opportunity to reframe the debate, but only if he recognizes that the Democrats’ original plan for health care reform doesn’t wash with the American people. When it comes to health care, Americans don’t want government to tear down the house we have. They want it to repair the one we’ve got. That means sensible, step-by-step reforms, not more trillion dollar grand schemes. It means preserving what people like about our health care system, not destroying it all at once or starving it over time.
..."People don’t want risky, sweeping changes that increase the national debt and don’t solve the problems we have."
Friday, September 04, 2009
Chill Out Right Wing [OR My Turn On the Soapbox]
Okay, this is going to surprise a few people, but the folks saying "The President is going to give a speech to school kids next week to try and fill their mushy little heads with Liberal ideas and agenda and I'm against trying to indoctrinate my little Britney / Jason into the Democratic Party" - NEED TO CHILL THE FUCK OUT!
USA Today is reporting it was the new voice of The Right Glenn Beck who started this talk. I'm not surprised. That guy is so far out in right field he make Sean Hannity look like a bleeding heart Liberal. And I think Hannity is way out to the right of me.
Besides, it doesn't really matter. If you think your kids aren't getting a full dose of Liberal agenda all ready, you need to stop and smell the coffee. What the hell is Earth Day all about? Save the planet, save the whales, recycling good, big corporations bad, bankers the root of all evil [unless the give Chris Dodd a sweetheart deal], yadda yadda. Oh and Global Warming is totally real and totally a man made phenomenon - never mid that the guy who came up with it said we were headed for the new Ice Age in the 70s.
Don't get me wrong - I recycle when I can, even bringing my plastic pop bottles and 7-11 cups home to drop in my bin. I use fluorescent lights in most of my lamps. It saves energy and saves me buck and it's fairly easy. Hell, my Mom brings her glass bottles here so I can send them back through the system!
But really, how can on 20 minutes speech and discussion 'indoctrinate' anyone? And a discussion afterward? Oh no, we can't have little children trying to think for themselves! You know what I think the response from most 1st - 6th graders will be? "When is this crap over so I can go to recess?"
Kids will eventually have to figure it out for themselves. I went from a Reagan Republican to a Democrat back and forth - I even voted for Clinton in his second term! I eventually decided lower taxes / less government is good, so I tend to vote Republican, but I'm not a straight ticket voter. [BTW, what makes me mad is that there's almost always a mood for a tax cut, but nobody in Congress REALLY wants to shrink government or say "No, thanks, we don't need any earmarked pork for MY district." We can't even get rid of radio direction beacons for ships made obsolete by GPS!] And I didn't vote for Rick Perry [or anyone - left it blank!] for Governor in 2006 and I have declared I will vote for a Democrat in 2010. Rick Perry is drip and Kay Bailey needs to stay in the Senate because that junior Senator, John Cornyn, is an asshole!
And it doesn't matter what the President says in his little stand on the Bully Pulpit. Kids can't vote. The ones near voting age have another year to make up their minds or get sick of the whole process and be totally apathetic stay at homes come next November. I would actually say it's good to get the kids interested in the political process and have those discussions with parents and teachers and relatives, but when they go in that booth it's ultimately up to them when they do whatever their voting machine requires. Say this with me: "UP TO THEM." Mommy and Daddy and Grandpaw and Memaw can go spit once the vote is cast.
I am not "for" Obama - I still think he's too inexperienced to be President, but he IS The President now. I don't hope for him to fail because I think in the end that hurts America too much. But I do hope that the agenda of tax and spend is defeated or at least becomes mired in that beloved Congressional gridlock until the 2010 elections. Having said that, I am encouraged by the sudden renewed interest in the political system - with all its rewards and shortcomings.
I hope and think the President is just going to get up and says "Look what I made of myself with the education and opportunities available in this country... what do YOU want to do with yourself? You can do it if you work hard in school." If people don't want their kids to hear that from a democratically elected black / African American President of the United States, I sadly think it shows just how far we still have to go to being the Great American melting pot.
Okay, this is going to surprise a few people, but the folks saying "The President is going to give a speech to school kids next week to try and fill their mushy little heads with Liberal ideas and agenda and I'm against trying to indoctrinate my little Britney / Jason into the Democratic Party" - NEED TO CHILL THE FUCK OUT!
USA Today is reporting it was the new voice of The Right Glenn Beck who started this talk. I'm not surprised. That guy is so far out in right field he make Sean Hannity look like a bleeding heart Liberal. And I think Hannity is way out to the right of me.
Besides, it doesn't really matter. If you think your kids aren't getting a full dose of Liberal agenda all ready, you need to stop and smell the coffee. What the hell is Earth Day all about? Save the planet, save the whales, recycling good, big corporations bad, bankers the root of all evil [unless the give Chris Dodd a sweetheart deal], yadda yadda. Oh and Global Warming is totally real and totally a man made phenomenon - never mid that the guy who came up with it said we were headed for the new Ice Age in the 70s.
Don't get me wrong - I recycle when I can, even bringing my plastic pop bottles and 7-11 cups home to drop in my bin. I use fluorescent lights in most of my lamps. It saves energy and saves me buck and it's fairly easy. Hell, my Mom brings her glass bottles here so I can send them back through the system!
But really, how can on 20 minutes speech and discussion 'indoctrinate' anyone? And a discussion afterward? Oh no, we can't have little children trying to think for themselves! You know what I think the response from most 1st - 6th graders will be? "When is this crap over so I can go to recess?"
Kids will eventually have to figure it out for themselves. I went from a Reagan Republican to a Democrat back and forth - I even voted for Clinton in his second term! I eventually decided lower taxes / less government is good, so I tend to vote Republican, but I'm not a straight ticket voter. [BTW, what makes me mad is that there's almost always a mood for a tax cut, but nobody in Congress REALLY wants to shrink government or say "No, thanks, we don't need any earmarked pork for MY district." We can't even get rid of radio direction beacons for ships made obsolete by GPS!] And I didn't vote for Rick Perry [or anyone - left it blank!] for Governor in 2006 and I have declared I will vote for a Democrat in 2010. Rick Perry is drip and Kay Bailey needs to stay in the Senate because that junior Senator, John Cornyn, is an asshole!
And it doesn't matter what the President says in his little stand on the Bully Pulpit. Kids can't vote. The ones near voting age have another year to make up their minds or get sick of the whole process and be totally apathetic stay at homes come next November. I would actually say it's good to get the kids interested in the political process and have those discussions with parents and teachers and relatives, but when they go in that booth it's ultimately up to them when they do whatever their voting machine requires. Say this with me: "UP TO THEM." Mommy and Daddy and Grandpaw and Memaw can go spit once the vote is cast.
I am not "for" Obama - I still think he's too inexperienced to be President, but he IS The President now. I don't hope for him to fail because I think in the end that hurts America too much. But I do hope that the agenda of tax and spend is defeated or at least becomes mired in that beloved Congressional gridlock until the 2010 elections. Having said that, I am encouraged by the sudden renewed interest in the political system - with all its rewards and shortcomings.
I hope and think the President is just going to get up and says "Look what I made of myself with the education and opportunities available in this country... what do YOU want to do with yourself? You can do it if you work hard in school." If people don't want their kids to hear that from a democratically elected black / African American President of the United States, I sadly think it shows just how far we still have to go to being the Great American melting pot.