January 31, 2011 at 6:17 pm (Blogs and Blogging, Passings)
The blogosphere mourns the loss of snaggletoothie. Chris Monson passed away Friday, after complications following a seizure.
He called his blog “The Blog of NO”. The motto was:
Because someone must stand between civilization and chaos and say, “No more today, thanks.”
Indeed so. He will be missed.
January 31, 2011 at 8:02 am (It's all about me Me ME)
I was enjoying the extended Mardi Gra event this weekend commonly know as my birthday.
Also, I can heartily now proclaim that the new Fado is even better than the old.
January 28, 2011 at 1:42 pm (CPAC11)
Notice the new shiny gizmo in the sidebar. Yep, take cover, I’m headed back to DC in a few weeks.
January 28, 2011 at 8:28 am (Let the Wookiee Win)
These are the droids you’re looking for….
January 27, 2011 at 10:40 pm (Blogs and Blogging)
1 million hits, that is. Congrats!
January 27, 2011 at 7:26 am (Obama Bad, Village Idiots, What tha..?)
Music is everywhere. Soundtracks for movies. Happy songs. Sad songs. Cheer songs at sporting events. Soaring symphonies. Amazing concertos. Drummers banging on kitchen tables. Children’s songs. Commercials. Video games. Ipods. Ring-tones. Rides at DisneyWorld (see, now you have that song stuck in your head forever and I didn’t even have to say which ride, did I!?! Bwaah-ha-ha)
Living in a house full of classically and not-so-classically trained musicians, we have more than our share.
Music evokes more emotion than any other human creation. We remember where we were when we heard our first Beatles song. Or the instrument we wanted to play. Certain songs turn on the faucets for me, sending chills down my spine and tears down my cheeks. Elton’s Your Song, Debussy’s Clare du Lune, The Battle Hymn of the Bulldawg Nation, Mozart’s Lacrimosa, Beethoven’s Ode of Joy, Berlioz’s The Shepherd’s Farewell to the Holy Family, so, so many I’ve performed. I embarrass my children a lot. Especially the one with the Music Performance degree.
Some people are immune to the nuances of music. Discarded as unuseful, like the old language of flowers, music has no meaning to them. For example, take the current administration.
During last week’s lavish state visit by the leader of Communist China, Obama had no problems dropping hundreds of dollars just on the wine, but couldn’t be bothered with what might actually be on the musical program.
How to evaluate the results of last week’s China-U.S. summit in Washington? Improbably, the key for the entire event may lie in what is usually the least memorable portion of these carefully choreographed occasions: the cultural program at the concluding state banquet.
During the dinner’s musical interlude and following a duet with American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, Chinese pianist Lang Lang treated the assembled dignitaries to a solo of what he described as “a Chinese song: ‘My Motherland.’”
The Chinese delegation was clearly delighted: Chinese President and Communist Party chief Hu Jintao, stone-faced for many of his other photo ops in Washington, beamed with pleasure upon hearing the melody and embraced Lang Lang at the song’s conclusion. President Obama, for his part, amiably praised Lang Lang for his performance and described the event as “an extraordinary evening.”
Even the supposed Asian experts on the National Security Council did not recognize the melody, or the potential of damage by the implied insult. Yet another example of clueless-trickle-down.
“My Motherland” is still famous in China; indeed, it is well-known to practically every Chinese adult to this very day. Unfortunately, this political anthem and its significance were evidently unknown to the many members of the administration’s China team—the secretary and deputy secretary of State, the assistant secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, and the National Security Council’s top two Asia experts—who were on hand at the state dinner and heard this serenade. Clueless about the nature of the insult, they did not know to warn the president that he would embarrass himself and his country by not only sitting through the song, but by congratulating Lang Lang for it afterward.
Although Americans are often tone-deaf to cadences of symbolism in international relations, the Chinese are not. And for Chinese audiences, the symbolism of performing “My Motherland” to a host of uncomprehending barbarians in the White House itself hardly required explanation. This was a triumph of sorts for a newly assertive, and more nakedly anti-American, strain in Chinese foreign policy. The episode has reportedly already gone viral over the Chinese Internet, where the buzz on this crude and deliberate snub is overwhelmingly and enthusiastically positive. Hu can thus return home confident his visit to America will widely be regarded as a success domestically— for reasons his American counterparts do not yet seem to comprehend. [Emphasis – Admin]
As for this musician, you can count that I will never, EVER buy a ticket to a Lang Lang concert. As for the rest of them; I can see 2012 from my house.
January 26, 2011 at 1:06 pm (Obama Bad)
While Obama has long been my personal incarnation of Charlie Brown’s teacher, this morning after everyone is saying the SOTU speech was a big stinker. The left, the right, the middle. Even the dog.
But Sputnik? Sputnik? Is that the best metaphor he can come up with? While he’s cut NASA to the bone? Weakened our defenses and national security? Tarnished our image on a global scale?
The USSR humiliated America with Sputnik. America righted that embarrassment quickly, turning the tables with the greatest technological advancements in modern times.
But wait, he may be onto something. Since Obama has done nothing but humiliate America during his term, then he’s the Sputnik. And America will leave him, his followers and his destructive policies in the dust.
UPDATE:
That’s gonna leave a mark. RTWT, it’s downright delightful.
January 26, 2011 at 7:00 am (Village Idiots)
Just read the whole thing. That’s ok, I’ll wait.
Now, this is a classic examine of leftist projectile brain-spew. The officers of this American Sociological Association declare that lofty debate is admirable, yyyyyeeeeessss, my precious, yyyyeesss, indeed, but should only be allowed between those “capable” of such lofty debate. Only those examined and stamped with approval by the very same band of merry socialists sociologists, who gleefully lick the wrinkled old toes of the self-proclaimed radical, Frances Fox Piven.
Ministry of Truth, meet your new inductees.
Ick. I need a bath.
(P.S. Stacy was bashing her back when Beck was just getting started at CNN. Poor fella, he never gets any respect.)
January 25, 2011 at 1:02 pm (Libtards)
Liberals want Keith Olbermann to run for Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman’s seat when he retires.
Senator Olbermann? That’s almost as ridiculous as Senator Franken.
Really, folks, I don’t make this stuff up.
January 25, 2011 at 8:29 am (And now for something completely different, Village Idiots)
Today’s QotD comes from the mailbag. After discussing the proximity of the State of the Union (ugh! Obama makes me catatonic) to Groundhog Day, the emailer waxed thusly…
It’s an ironic juxtaposition.
One event involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of limited intelligence for prognostication.
The other involves a groundhog.
We’re be here all week. Try the veal, I hear it’s great!
January 24, 2011 at 5:22 pm (Village Idiots)
Chicago may survive after all.
The appellate court kicks Rahm off the Chicago mayoral ballot due to his residency … “issues.”
Lies, lies, more lies, lies on top of lies, eventually catch up with you.
January 21, 2011 at 7:10 pm (Lock up the silverware, Peach Pundit, Stuff I'm tired of)
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, was a guest on a lobbyist-funded $17,000 European trip over Thanksgiving.
Last year, the same Georgia House Speaker David Ralston sponsored the first ethics legislation in several years. He favors that lobbyists report what they spend on legislators, but without a limit. New rules proposed this session by ethics watchdogs limit lobbyist gifts to lawmakers to $100.
There’s a big gap between $100 and $17,000. Talk about the lifestyles of the rich and famous.
As for me, we spent Thanksgiving at home, feasting on a bird we purchased on sale at Publix. With a coupon. Thanks for asking.
Boy, I’m in the wrong business.
January 21, 2011 at 8:48 am (I Love College Football)
Oh my. UConn is first out of the gate for EDSBS’s annual off-season Fulmer Cup. Running back, misdemeanor possession. N(ever)SFW, ever.
My dearest wish for the long, boring Siberia we all face until September 3, is that the Dawgs stay off the big board as much as possible.
January 20, 2011 at 4:04 pm (GOP Good, Politics)
That’s the amount of budget cuts proposed by the House GOP today.
Moving aggressively to make good on election promises to slash the federal budget, the House GOP today unveiled an eye-popping plan to eliminate $2.5 trillion in spending over the next 10 years. Gone would be Amtrak subsidies, fat checks to the Legal Services Corporation and National Endowment for the Arts, and some $900 million to run President Obama’s healthcare reform program.
I guess it’s eye-popping if you’re a liberal Democrat. Here’s a list of proposed cuts. Not bad for just a few weeks of work.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.
Save America’s Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.
International Fund for Ireland. $17 million annual savings.
Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.
National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.
National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.
Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.
Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.
Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.
U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.
Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.
Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.
John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.
Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.
Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.
Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings.
Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.
Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.
Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.
Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.
Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.
Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.
New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.
Exchange Programs for Alaska, Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts. $9 million annual savings.
Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.
Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.
Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.
Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.
Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.
Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.
FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.
Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.
Economic Assistance to Egypt. $250 million annually.
U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.
General Assistance to District of Columbia. $210 million annual savings.
Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.
Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.
No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.
End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.
Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.
IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.
Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.
Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years.
Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.
Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.
Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.
Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings.
Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.
USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.
Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.
Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.
Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.
Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings.
HUD Ph.D. Program.
Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.
January 19, 2011 at 9:58 pm (Hands Off My Healthcare, Obama Bad)
You knew it wouldn’t last.
Steve Cohen (D-TN) starts it off with a bang, comparing the GOP and Tea Party to Nazis. Niiiiice. He’s not sorry, either.
…the last time he stooped this low he tossed in a little joke about McCain looking like a Vietcong POW again when he stood next to Palin. That’s the mentality you’re dealing with here — exhibit 8,579 in what a sleazy fraud the left’s ostentatious handwringing over “civility” is.
Is there a corollary of Godwin’s Law that relates to the US Congress?
Regardless of the business-as-usual demagoguery, the House repealed the atrocious Obamacare 245-189, with three Democrats joining the GOP in the vote. The three Democrats were Reps. Dan Boren (OK), Mike McIntyre (NC) and Mike Ross (AR). They also opposed the law last year.
Now the bill moves to the Senate, that model body of decorum. Some Senate leaders have vowed to stall the bill. President Obama promises to veto any repeal of his pride and joy that reaches his desk.
Desperation breeds interesting bedfellows. Even now, the race card is being flung out – if you oppose Obamacare, you’re racist. Yep. You could set your watch on it.
I tell you, it all trickles down from the top. If the top guy doesn’t understand what is appropriate, how do you expect his devoted followers to behave?
Subscribe!
Obi's Sister 
You must be logged in to post a comment.