- Louis Armstrong: Volume VI: St. Louis Blues
- Wolfgang Rihm: Jagden und Formen
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Quintet
- The Cult: The Singles 1984-1995
- Aimee Mann: Bachelor No. 2
- H. Owen Reed: La Fiesta Mexicana (conducted by Frederick Fennell)
Created with neither humility nor labor, this blog has no purpose. You should bring neither expectations nor critical faculties. Reading skills, however, may prove useful.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
CDs listened to today:
- Various Artists: Northern Exposure, disk 1
- Various Artists: The Drum & Bass Sessions 2, disk 2
- Anton Webern: String Quartets
- Kai Winding, J.J. Johnson & Bennie Green: Trombone By Three
- Chen Yi: Chinese Folk Dance Suite
- Billie Holiday: The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Volume 8
- Stephen Albert: Concerto for Cello
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Friday, February 24, 2006
Thursday, February 23, 2006
CDs listened to today:
- Wolfgang Rihm: Jagden und Formen
- Marc Blitzstein: Airborne Symphony
- Gin Blossoms: New Miserable Experience
- Aimee Mann: Bachelor No. 2
- Henry Cowell: American Melting Pot
- Lemonheads: It's A Shame About Ray
- Billie Holiday: The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Volume 8
- Elliott Carter: The String Quartets, disk 1
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
CDs listened to today:
- Kai Winding & J.J. Johnson: The Great Kai & J.J.
- Various Artists: The Drum & Bass Sessions, 2
- Chen Yi: Chinese Folk Dance Suite
- Samuel Adler: Symphony No. 3
- Louis Armstrong: Volume V: Louis in New York
- Sam Phillips: Fan Dance
- Ludwig van Beethoven: The String Quartets, disk 8
- Crowded House: Together Alone
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Monday, February 20, 2006
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Friday, February 17, 2006
So.
Yesterday the president addressed some questions about the unfortunate hunting accident. Or, as I like to say, "You know Dick Cheney? He shot a dude." I think one of the president's comments illustrates a lot about the complete absence of honest political dialogue from this administration and, really, all of Washington's big players.
Allow me to digress and set the stage. According to published reports (please don't be mean and make me go find them!), then-Governor Bush and Karl Rove got together and addressed the issue of why the elder President Bush wasn't re-elected. While they probably came up with more than one reason, the public perception of the elder Bush as a weak leader became their focus. Karl Rove hatched a strategy titled (literally!) "Strong Leader."
In retrospect, this wasn't an election strategy but an advertising campaign. It has all the substance and complexity of a toothpaste promotion. In some ways, the president is a strong leader, but this is silly. Listen to the rhetoric of the president and his minions when they deploy their talking points and check for the buzzwords: "strong," "powerful," "forceful," etc... This is worse than baby food or Teletubbies. This is a key part of how they gained this office.
It's gotten to the point where the advertising of "strong leader" is rote for the president and his cohorts. Any answer to any question uses language to depict and reveal metaphors of strength. Ask them if a policy is good and they'll say it's powerful. Ask them who made a decision and they say it drew from the strengths across the administration. They're not lying, they don't care what they reveal as long as you think the president is strong because of it.
Now consider this quote from an official White House transcript of the President's remarks (this is the complete response to a question about how the VP handled the disclosure of the event):
In a court of law, this would be branded non-responsive. It so mangles the entire concept of the question or any reasonable question about the shooting accident that it's beyond worthless (although you can guess what ABC and PBS played for the soundbites I saw). No comment of, "I understand why he delayed," or "he's explained that and I'm happy with the explanation." Instead, the explanation the VP gave isn't persuasive, credible, comprehensive or true. It's "strong and powerful!"
Consider this the next time you hear soundbites from the President and his supporters. What key phrases do they all repeat? Are they doing "strong leader" today? Or is it "compassion and caring" day? Maybe tomorrow will be "defender of life" day (although that's pretty much "strong leader" talk). This isn't lying. This is refusing to debate or discuss.
This is free TV commercials.
Watch the news on TV, read the reports on any news website or newspaper. Rather than punish these people for their abuse of political dialogue, the reporters regurgitate the talking points and the analysis is limited to what the strategy for victory is. The analysis is rarely about the merits of a debate or assisting us in gathering the right facts to understand those merits. Today, the news establishment is as gulity as the politicians. They know the game of talking points and advertising tricks and they act like it's important. They're more to blame than any politician.
Now, don't think I'm saying the Democrats are any better, but it's not like they have an effective campaign going. Oh sure, they have their days, but let's not get carried away. They would do it too, if they knew how. Meanwhile, lefty kooks run around claiming the vice president was drunk when he was hunting. Sure, and Vince Foster was murdered by Hillary Clinton. Come on, any paper that could get evidence of these stories would publish in a flash. They don't because there isn't any. But that's the only reporting they'll do these days: scandal.
CDs listened to today:
Yesterday the president addressed some questions about the unfortunate hunting accident. Or, as I like to say, "You know Dick Cheney? He shot a dude." I think one of the president's comments illustrates a lot about the complete absence of honest political dialogue from this administration and, really, all of Washington's big players.
Allow me to digress and set the stage. According to published reports (please don't be mean and make me go find them!), then-Governor Bush and Karl Rove got together and addressed the issue of why the elder President Bush wasn't re-elected. While they probably came up with more than one reason, the public perception of the elder Bush as a weak leader became their focus. Karl Rove hatched a strategy titled (literally!) "Strong Leader."
In retrospect, this wasn't an election strategy but an advertising campaign. It has all the substance and complexity of a toothpaste promotion. In some ways, the president is a strong leader, but this is silly. Listen to the rhetoric of the president and his minions when they deploy their talking points and check for the buzzwords: "strong," "powerful," "forceful," etc... This is worse than baby food or Teletubbies. This is a key part of how they gained this office.
It's gotten to the point where the advertising of "strong leader" is rote for the president and his cohorts. Any answer to any question uses language to depict and reveal metaphors of strength. Ask them if a policy is good and they'll say it's powerful. Ask them who made a decision and they say it drew from the strengths across the administration. They're not lying, they don't care what they reveal as long as you think the president is strong because of it.
Now consider this quote from an official White House transcript of the President's remarks (this is the complete response to a question about how the VP handled the disclosure of the event):
- I thought the Vice President handled the issue just fine. He went through -- and I thought his explanation yesterday was a powerful explanation. This is a man who likes the outdoors and he likes to hunt. And he heard a bird flush and he turned and pulled the trigger and saw his friend get wounded. And it was a deeply traumatic moment for him, and obviously for the -- it was a tragic moment for Harry Whittington.
And so I thought his explanation yesterday was a very strong and powerful explanation, and I'm satisfied with the explanation he gave.
In a court of law, this would be branded non-responsive. It so mangles the entire concept of the question or any reasonable question about the shooting accident that it's beyond worthless (although you can guess what ABC and PBS played for the soundbites I saw). No comment of, "I understand why he delayed," or "he's explained that and I'm happy with the explanation." Instead, the explanation the VP gave isn't persuasive, credible, comprehensive or true. It's "strong and powerful!"
Consider this the next time you hear soundbites from the President and his supporters. What key phrases do they all repeat? Are they doing "strong leader" today? Or is it "compassion and caring" day? Maybe tomorrow will be "defender of life" day (although that's pretty much "strong leader" talk). This isn't lying. This is refusing to debate or discuss.
This is free TV commercials.
Watch the news on TV, read the reports on any news website or newspaper. Rather than punish these people for their abuse of political dialogue, the reporters regurgitate the talking points and the analysis is limited to what the strategy for victory is. The analysis is rarely about the merits of a debate or assisting us in gathering the right facts to understand those merits. Today, the news establishment is as gulity as the politicians. They know the game of talking points and advertising tricks and they act like it's important. They're more to blame than any politician.
Now, don't think I'm saying the Democrats are any better, but it's not like they have an effective campaign going. Oh sure, they have their days, but let's not get carried away. They would do it too, if they knew how. Meanwhile, lefty kooks run around claiming the vice president was drunk when he was hunting. Sure, and Vince Foster was murdered by Hillary Clinton. Come on, any paper that could get evidence of these stories would publish in a flash. They don't because there isn't any. But that's the only reporting they'll do these days: scandal.
CDs listened to today:
- Poor Rich Ones: Happy Happy Happy
- Andrew Bird: Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs
- David Ott: Symphony No. 2
- Frank Sinatra: The Capitol Years, disk 2
- Luigi Nono: Como una ola de fuerza y luz
- Billie Holiday: The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Volume 8
- Erik Satie: Relache
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Monday, February 13, 2006
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Friday, February 10, 2006
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
I've been steaming about a proposal the President made recently. I've always suspected that the fool and his supporters think that every problem in American life can be solved by a tax cut.
Dig this: His health care reform proposal is to increase and expand health care savings accounts, the tax shelters where one can squirrel away income, tax-free, for use in paying medical bills.
Obviously, this is a great solution to the 40 million or so Americans without health insurance. The problem isn't that they can't afford health insurance, but that the tax breaks just weren't adequate... This may be the most aggressively insensitive and selfish proposal yet from this bunch. The financial services industry would benefit with increased management fees from the assets in these accounts, the wealthy citizens who save in the accounts would see additional reductions in taxes and high-end medical services would thrive (Denver, I once read, needs two MRI devices to serve its needs--we have 14 in this city).
How does this help the poor and the marginally employed? The favorite example would be the Wal-Mart worker making $8-10 an hour. Throw in a divorce and a child and ask how she is supposed to pay for health insurance that can run to hundreds of dollars a month? With a tax shelter for money she can't set aside?
It's true. This President really thinks tax cuts are the only solution needed in life...
CDs listened to today:
Dig this: His health care reform proposal is to increase and expand health care savings accounts, the tax shelters where one can squirrel away income, tax-free, for use in paying medical bills.
Obviously, this is a great solution to the 40 million or so Americans without health insurance. The problem isn't that they can't afford health insurance, but that the tax breaks just weren't adequate... This may be the most aggressively insensitive and selfish proposal yet from this bunch. The financial services industry would benefit with increased management fees from the assets in these accounts, the wealthy citizens who save in the accounts would see additional reductions in taxes and high-end medical services would thrive (Denver, I once read, needs two MRI devices to serve its needs--we have 14 in this city).
How does this help the poor and the marginally employed? The favorite example would be the Wal-Mart worker making $8-10 an hour. Throw in a divorce and a child and ask how she is supposed to pay for health insurance that can run to hundreds of dollars a month? With a tax shelter for money she can't set aside?
It's true. This President really thinks tax cuts are the only solution needed in life...
CDs listened to today:
- Ludwig van Beethoven: The String Quartets, disk 6
- Marshall Crenshaw: Life's Too Short
- Benedict Mason: String Quartet No. 1
- Georges Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 2
- Garbage: Beautiful
- Various Artists: The Drum & Bass Sessions 2, disk 1
- Sam Phillips: Fan Dance
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
CDs listened to today:
- Richard Wagner: Siegfried Idyll
- Robbie Williams: The Ego Has Landed
- The Kills: No Wow
- Thomas Ades: Arcadiana
- John Adams: Shaker Loops
- Various Artists: The Drum & Bass Sessions 2, disk 1
- Louis Armstrong: Volume III, The Hot Fives and Sevens
- Various Artists: The Drum & Bass Sessions 2, disk 2
- Dizzee Rascal: Boy In Da Corner
Monday, February 06, 2006
CDs listened to today:
- Aulis Sallinen: Concerto for flute and Orchestra, Harlekiini
- Justin Timberlake: Justified
- Andrew Bird: Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs
- Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10
- LTJ Bukem: Logical Progression, disk 1
- Various Artists: The Drum & Bass Sessions 2, disk 1
- Luigi Nono: Como una ola de fuera y luz
- Various Artists: The Drum & Bass Sessions 2, disk 2