tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53779004474461292002011-04-21T19:22:22.796-07:00BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comBlogger271100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-46702695590403315772006-09-30T00:28:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:34:11.807-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, September 30, 2006<br />Dead Girl or Live Boy <br />I see that Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) has resigned from the House of Representatives over sexually suggestive e-mails and instant messages sent to a 16-year-old page.<br /><br />Let's get a couple of things out of the way right now. The issue is not Rep. Foley's sexuality; rumors have been ongoing that Rep. Foley was a closet homosexual, but homosexuality and pedophilia/ephebophilia are not the same thing. The issue is that Rep. Foley was sending these IMs and e-mails to someone who was (possibly - I've not been able to confirm what the law is in DC) under the age of consent, and that Rep. Foley was the co-chair of the House Missing and Exploited Children Caucus. Hypocrisy, if you will.<br /><br />(As an aside, how come no one can spell "hypocrisy" anymore?)<br /><br />He did the right thing by resigning - I will give him that.<br /><br />Politically (less than 2 months to the mid-terms; of course we have to discuss the politics of the situtation), the Florida Republican Party can name someone to take his place, but his name will still appear on the ballot. Given the circumstances, the Democrats might be able to swing another pickup in this formerly safe GOP district. Tim Mahoney is the Democratic candidate, and yet another example of why we need to challenge every race.<br /><br />It's also telling that several members of the House GOP leadership knew about this several months ago and did nothing.<br /><br />I can hear the Clinton Haters Chorale warming up, so let's refer to point one: Monica Lewinsky, young as she was, was still an ADULT. The victim here was SIXTEEN YEARS OLD. There's a difference between an affair between consenting adults (wrong as it was) and sending dirty messages to a CHILD. My nieces and nephews range in age from six to nearly 19; once they're adults, they're capable of making decisions (erroneous or otherwise), but before that, they're not in a position to give consent. If indeed between seven and nine members of the House GOP leadership knew one of their members was sending dirty messages to a sixteen-year-old, and did nothing about it until their hand was forced by the media, that borders on harboring a fugitive. Making it even more fascinating is the fact that the lone Democrat on the committee that oversees the pages, Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI), was not notified by the chairman of the committee, Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL). They tried to keep it in house and out of the media, and there were no reprimands or other actions against Rep. Foley EVEN AFTER THEY HAD THE EVIDENCE.<br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-4670269559040331577?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-16600829499611038492006-09-09T23:56:00.000-07:002007-07-06T23:58:27.215-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, September 09, 2006<br />Open thread <br />Busy today. Yardwork, schoolwork, etc.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:00 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, September 08, 2006<br />Why I didn't date in high school - or, for that matter, most of college. <br />Forty years ago this very day, the National Broadcasting Company put a new show on the air.<br /><br />Space...the final frontier.<br /><br />These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.<br /><br />Its five-year mission:<br /><br />To explore strange new worlds.<br />To seek out new life and new civilizations.<br />To boldly go where no man has gone before.<br /><br />I discovered Star Trek around 1980 or so. WAVE-3 out of Louisville would play it at 11am on Sunday mornings. Normally, I would be at church, but this morning I was home sick. Mom had the TV on channel 3 for some reason and left the room. I saw this...this show about space. It had bad acting, cheap special effects, and sometimes awful dialogue.<br /><br />I didn't care. I was hooked.<br /><br />Soon we had a VCR, and the tapings began.<br /><br />I did own a technical manual or two, but I *NEVER* had the costumes. Nor have I been to a convention. I laugh at people who enjoy it, well, a little too much. But the laugh is a gentle one, because I too enjoy the show. In spite of the acting and effects, here was a show that was hopeful about mankind. In the middle of the Vietnam era, that must have indeed been a powerful message. In today's times, it is just as powerful - and just as important.<br /><br />So, happy birthday, Star Trek. May your true fans never get a life. Live long and prosper.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:14 AM |||Comments (8) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday Animal Blogging <br />Meet Nickie:<br /><br /><br /><br />Nickie is a friendly, female tri-colored hound with a streak of independence, but that does not stop her from loving special attention. She could use a new home with children eight years and up as well as enough space in which to run and put her hound-nose to good use. She is very affectionate, laid back and loves to cuddle on the couch. Often, Nickie acts quite silly and gets along well with other dogs, if they are the right dog. Please meet this special girl.<br /><br />To adopt Nickie or another wonderful pet, contact the Second Chance Animal Center on historic Route 7A at the northern end of Shaftsbury, VT.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:14 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Gubernatorial Debate <br />I only caught bits of it, and since I'm seeing all three candidates tonight in Pittsfield, I'll have more to report then. (Full disclosure, as always: I support Deval Patrick.)<br /><br />Here's how the editorial writers at the Globe called it:<br /><br />Lehigh: Winner - Patrick (narrowly), Loser - Reilly (big time)<br /><br />Jackson: Winner - Not Reilly, Loser - Reilly<br /><br />Unfrozen Caveman Columnist: Winner - Gabrieli, Losers - Reilly, Patrick (c'mon, did you really expect Mister Terrorists-Have-Dark-Skin to support a black guy? It's telling the lengths he went to to put Patrick down.)<br /><br />Joan Vennochi: Winner - Gabrieli, Loser - Reilly<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:02 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, September 07, 2006<br />The best laid plans o' mice and men gang aft aglay. <br />Dr. Cahn is under the weather, so I'm NOT going to NYC today. This is not huge, as we can still talk about the project over the phone and via e-mail, and I do have enough to do here to keep me busy. Still, I was looking forward to it.<br /><br />IF (and this is a big IF) I can put something together, I'll post a Theory Thursday later in the day.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:58 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Open Thread <br />Since I'll be on the road today, talk about anything.<br /><br />Also - if you have questions you'd like to see answered in Theory Thursday entries, put 'em here.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:09 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, September 06, 2006<br />School Daze <br />My second year of tenure-track work begins today, and not even Jeff Jacoby's pointless warmongering drivel can spoil my mood.<br /><br />Y'all have a good day.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:49 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, September 05, 2006<br />Food for thought <br />Catherine Peterson, the director of ArtsBoston, gives the Boston arts community (and all other arts communities, including North Adams) something to think about.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:40 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Feel Good Story <br />I salute you, Pat Brayman of Florida Baptist Church. Keep playing.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:34 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, September 04, 2006<br />Housekeeping <br />I've updated the blogroll. These are blogs I read every day (with a couple of exeptions). Also, I've added the best football blog I've ever seen, Kissing Suzy Kolber.<br /><br />Also - on Yahoo! News, this morning, a story about labor and Labor Day in Jawa Girl's hometown of Middletown, OH. Full disclosure - her father is a retiree from AK Steel, so we've been following the dispute with interest.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:49 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Schedule for the week <br />It's a crazy week here, with the beginning of class and a trip to NYC to meet with my dissertation advisor. This is what you can expect:<br /><br />Any posting tomorrow or Wednesday will most likely be in the early afternoon.<br /><br />There will be no Theory Thursday this week, as Thursday is when I'm meeting with Dr. Cahn. (I guess technically it WILL be a Theory Thursday, but not a blogged one.)<br /><br />I may post early on Friday, I may not. It'll depend on what time I get back from NYC.<br /><br />Carry on, then.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:56 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Thank a union <br />If you have today off - heck, if you have ANY days off - thank a union.<br /><br />WF<br />(MSCA, MTA)<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:53 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Fifty-one <br />On this day in 1955, John K. Flinn married Linda A. Williams. To that union, four children were born: Betsy, David, Brad, and Wes. Now the family includes four children-in-law, six grandchildren, and about ten animals scattered throughout.<br /><br />Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:42 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, September 03, 2006<br />Sunday Religion Blogging <br />What of martyrdom?<br /><br />Martyrs and non-martyrs have been in the news lately, with the release of the two Fox News reporters (and that may be the only time I've typed "Fox News" without putting "News" in ironic quotes or misspelling "Fox" as "Faux"; that debate is not germane here - it's not even Tito) who recanted their previous religious beliefs and stated that they were now Muslim in order to avoid being killed. The right side of the blogosphere has almost immediately turned from "We hope they make it home safe" to "Cowards! They should have been willing to die!" With expressions like that, I can't tell if they're Christians or Klingons.<br /><br />The three major Western monotheistic religions all have a long tradition of martyrdom, though the contexts are quite different. Those of us with a strong faith often think we'd be willing to die for that faith, but would we really? Different branches of Christian theology say different things, though most agree that martyrdom, while potentially a very noble action, is not an instant guarantee of Heaven. In my own tradition (Church of Christ), for example, if you have an as-of-yet unforgiven sin on your soul (and it can be relatively minor) when you die, you are not (most likely) getting into Heaven - even if you died in the act of defending your faith. It should be noted though that preachers are always quick to say no one can say anything is 100% certain, but making sure you're up to code is vitally important as the Church of Christ does not hold to "once saved, always saved."<br /><br />Maybe it's because of this upbringing that I'm not sure martyrdom should be something that is fetishized. We want strength in our fights and our beliefs, to be sure, and of course I give the utmost respect to someone who died because they refused to recant their beliefs. I just can't stand for the idea that mass-scale martyrdom (and yes, that includes suicide bombers, for those of you on the right side of the aisle who are calling me an apologist for terrorists) is somehow a path to salvation.<br /><br />Yes, it is true (if the books of the New Testament are to be believed) that many of the early Christians faced serious persecution and death for their belief, but historically those were because of political, not religious reasons. It was easy for Nero, Diocletian, and other Roman emperors to blame this small sect of rabble-rousers for the political problems facing Rome. (As an aside, this is a compelling argument for making sure that wall of separation between church and state stays put.) The Jews have been dealing with the same thing for millenia. Yes, religion has figured into the martyrdom, but more for the idea of "the other" than the actual acts of the religion.<br /><br />If someone held a gun to my head and told me to recant or die, I don't know what I'd do. The reporters lived, and now can recant the recanting (if they so choose, of course). And while I would be willing to lay down my life for my wife, my friends, my family, my country, and yes, my faith (though in what circumstances, I don't know), I would rather work toward a world where that was unnecessary.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-1660082949961103849?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-61627125286898693232006-09-09T00:14:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:15:31.480-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, September 09, 2006<br />Open thread <br />Busy today. Yardwork, schoolwork, etc.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:00 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, September 08, 2006<br />Why I didn't date in high school - or, for that matter, most of college. <br />Forty years ago this very day, the National Broadcasting Company put a new show on the air.<br /><br />Space...the final frontier.<br /><br />These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.<br /><br />Its five-year mission:<br /><br />To explore strange new worlds.<br />To seek out new life and new civilizations.<br />To boldly go where no man has gone before.<br /><br />I discovered Star Trek around 1980 or so. WAVE-3 out of Louisville would play it at 11am on Sunday mornings. Normally, I would be at church, but this morning I was home sick. Mom had the TV on channel 3 for some reason and left the room. I saw this...this show about space. It had bad acting, cheap special effects, and sometimes awful dialogue.<br /><br />I didn't care. I was hooked.<br /><br />Soon we had a VCR, and the tapings began.<br /><br />I did own a technical manual or two, but I *NEVER* had the costumes. Nor have I been to a convention. I laugh at people who enjoy it, well, a little too much. But the laugh is a gentle one, because I too enjoy the show. In spite of the acting and effects, here was a show that was hopeful about mankind. In the middle of the Vietnam era, that must have indeed been a powerful message. In today's times, it is just as powerful - and just as important.<br /><br />So, happy birthday, Star Trek. May your true fans never get a life. Live long and prosper.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-6162712528689869323?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-89143371657217620562006-08-26T00:06:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:30:23.720-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, August 26, 2006<br />Excellent. <br />There will be an artist trail in downtown North Adams this fall.<br /><br />As the Doobies sang, we're takin' it to the streets.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 1:18 PM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />RIP Marjean <br />Marjean Wisby, the woman behind the Blue Wisp Jazz Club in Cincinnati, has passed on.<br /><br />I loved going to the Wisp when I lived in Cincinnati. You could always count on unbelievably good jazz. I got to play there once, when I sat with Adam (Greenberg's) Abominable Big Band about a decade ago. Many incredible musicians have played there - check their website for a partial roster. Every Wednesday night, the Blue Wisp Big Band plays, and you won't find a more talented assemblage of musicians in the world.<br /><br />This woman will be sorely missed.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 12:32 PM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, August 25, 2006<br />Continuing a thought from yesterday <br />Scot Lehigh picks up where I left off in the discussion about John Mark Karr and what it says about us and our priorities.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:05 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />The Right Thing <br />The FDA has approved Plan B for over-the-counter sales.<br /><br />The Nervous Nellies in the Religious Right are prophesying mass sluttiness and acres of Oh Noes! Dead BAYBEEES!!!!1!!!, but I don't see it happening.<br /><br />First off, contrary to popular belief this pill is NOT an abortifacient - and no study outside of those funded by anti-choice and anti-woman types says that it is.<br /><br />Secondly, it'll presumably lead to a drop (perhaps insignificantly so, perhaps not) in abortions, since fertilization will be prevented.<br /><br />The FDA did the right thing here.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:57 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday Animal Blogging <br />This is Ryan.<br /><br /><br /><br />Ryan is a 3 year old male Hound mix. He is an extremely handsome pooch with outstanding markings and coat and he knows it. He is independent, high energy, and does his own thing as is typical of his breed. He could use an obedience course. Children over 8 years old would be best and his new owners should have a fenced in yard. Come meet this very handsome dog.<br /><br />Ryan and many other great animals are available at the Second Chance Animal Center on the Arlington/Shaftsbury Town Line in Vermont - take historic route 7A north of Bennington.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:51 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, August 24, 2006<br />RIP Maynard Ferguson, 1928 - 2006 <br />Maynard Ferguson, the man with the horn, passed away yesterday at the age of 78.<br /><br />I got to meet Maynard a month ago in Cleveland. He was a fraternity brother, and he was just named Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia's 2006 Man of Music (as well as a Signature Sinfonian) at the National Convention.<br /><br />His joie de vivre was unmatched, as was his sound. Go listen to any mid-50s recording by Stan Kenton, or one of Ferguson's recordings with his Big Bop Nouveau band. I know what's on my playlist this weekend.<br /><br />Rest now, Brother Maynard. No human prayer can add a greater glory to his star.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:47 PM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />RIP Pluto, 1930 - 2006 <br />Well, it was a good run, but Pluto is no longer a planet.<br /><br />Pity, really. There was a nice symmetry there to the Music of the Spheres - Beethoven had nine symphonies, the solar system had nine planets.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:36 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />Theory Thursday <br />By request this week: Modal Jazz - So What?<br /><br />Before we get into detail, we need to define some terms.<br /><br />In modern parlance, a mode is a series of pitches organized in a scalar fashion. What we think of as major and minor scales can be considered modes as well, though the modes offer more combinations of whole and half steps. There are seven modes, and we can build them by thinking of a C major scale over two octaves. You'll notice that these are the "white keys" on a piano keyboard:<br /><br />C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C<br /><br />The first mode, Ionian, is equivalent to a major scale, and can be created by going from C to C on the white keys.<br /><br />C D E F G A B C - Ionian<br /><br />Dorian is the second mode, and it goes from D to D.<br /><br />D E F G A B C D - Dorian<br /><br />Next up is Phrygian, from E to E.<br /><br />E F G A B C D E - Phrygian<br /><br />Following is Lydian, F to F.<br /><br />F G A B C D E F - Lydian<br /><br />Next, Mixolydian - G to G.<br /><br />G A B C D E F G - Mixolydian<br /><br />The penultimate mode is Aeolian, which runs from A to A and which is equivalent to the natural minor scale.<br /><br />A B C D E F G A - Aeolian<br /><br />Finally, we have Locrian, which runs B to B.<br /><br />B C D E F G A B - Locrian<br /><br />Each of these modes can be transposed, or located at a different pitch level - you're not just limited to the C major scale when you build them. Here's a chart to help you out; the numbers are the scale degrees, and you can build these modes off any major scale by starting at the given scale degree.<br /><br />Ionian - 1 to 1<br />Dorian - 2 to 2<br />Phrygian - 3 to 3<br />Lydian - 4 to 4<br />Mixolydian - 5 to 5<br />Aeolian - 6 to 6<br />Locrian - 7 to 7<br /><br />D Dorian is built off the C major scale. On what scale would G Dorian be built?<br /><br /><br />(theme from Jeopardy! goes here)<br /><br /><br />That's right - F major. Dorians are built on the second scale degree of a major scale, and G is the second scale degree of F major.<br /><br />How are these used in jazz? Let's look at where we are in jazz history. To this point, jazz has operated under the same harmonic premise as most Western art music, using functional harmony. In functional harmony, each chord has a specific role (or function), and the harmony must move to a specific tonal goal (usually the tonic, or keynote of whatever key you're in). This motion is usually by fifths, and operates as follows:<br /><br />ii - V7 - I<br /><br />In English, that means that most phrases end with the chord built on the second scale degree (usually a minor chord), followed by the chord built on the fifth scale degree (a major chord with a lowered 7th), followed by the tonic chord (quality depends on key). Chords have function, and rules must be followed. This can be extended out to something like this:<br /><br />iii - vi - ii - V7 - I<br /><br />That progression is quite common in jazz, appearing (in a slightly modified form) in the bridge to "I Got Rhythm" by George and Ira Gershwin, and in other tunes that use the same chord structure (often referred to as "Rhythm changes"). The chords appear in the bridge as shown here (in the key of Bb):<br /><br />D (iii)<br />Old Man Trouble<br />G (vi)<br />I don't mind him<br />C (ii)<br />You won't find him<br />F (V)<br />'Round my door<br /><br />and then the I hits on the downbeat of the final phrase. In the Bebop era, these chords were used with all manner of upper extentions (stacked thirds beyond the basic triad of each chord), but the basic motion was still present.<br /><br />When Miles Davis and others were looking to move in new directions in the early 1950s, they asked the same question that composers from Schubert to Schoenberg to Debussy to Copland to Stravinsky had asked - why does harmony need to be functional? Can't chords and their placement be chosen by color/sound? Why does ii have to be followed by V? Do we even need all these chords?<br /><br />The response to Bebop was to strip away the upper extensions and slow down the harmonic motion, creating a cooler sound (hence the term Cool Jazz). Modes and modal theory offered one such path. Modes can be used for improvisation over certain chords. For example, if you have a mi7 chord, you can use the corresponding Dorian mode. For a 7 chord (dominant), use Mixolydian. For a half-diminished (ø7) chord, use Locrian. Chords with a #4? Lydian. Let's look at the Miles Davis tune "So What" (from Kind of Blue). The structure is insanely simple:<br /><br />Dmi7-------|Dmi7-------|Ebmi7-------|Dmi7-------||<br />8 measures (count to "four" eight times) in each section<br /><br />You can improvise over "So What" using just two scales - D Dorian over the Dmi7 chord (which is 3/4 of the form), and Eb Dorian over the Ebmi7 chord. If you have a piano or guitar, try it - play and hold the following notes over the given chords.<br /><br />Dmi7 - D, F, A, C<br />Ebmi7 - Eb, Gb, Bb, Db<br /><br />Over the Dmi7 chord, improvise using D E F G A B C D. Over the Ebmi7 chord, use Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db Eb. See? It's easy!<br /><br />One last thought - you can make your improvisations more interesting by playing up notes that differ from traditional major/minor scales. D Dorian contains D E F G A B C D; D minor is D E F G A Bb C D. Play "B", and play it a lot.<br /><br />Innovation in modal jazz improvisation can come from interesting rhythmic patterns and also from using scalar ideas (up 2 steps, down one, repeat - make your own!). You're limited only by the prevailing mode - and your imagination.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:23 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (1)<br />Warhol was right <br />And the latest person to get his 15 minutes is John Mark Karr, who may or may not have killed JonBenet Ramsey nearly 10 years ago. Now his family is trying to sell the book and movie rights to his story.<br /><br />Why? WHY?<br /><br />Anyone who buys this book should forfeit their right to take part in civilized society for at least a decade. I don't say that because of Mr. Karr's innocence or guilt - that's really irrelevant to this. I say it because we're all cheapened when stupidity and vapidity are rewarded. Let's look at the players in this case:<br /><br />(1) The Ramseys. They suffered a tremendous loss that no family should ever have to go through (including Iraqi families, for the record). Yet I still hold them in a certain amount of contempt for taking part in the whole childhood pageant thing. Stage parents frighten me - and most likely frighten their kids as well. A child is not a trophy, nor is it a meal ticket.<br /><br />(2) John Mark Karr. I don't know if he's guilty or not, but from what we've seen in the news, he was obsessed by this case, so it's entirely possible he just wanted to be linked to it in some way. He also liked to marry young (his first wife was 12 or 13 when they married), and engaged in generally disturbing behavior. We shouldn't know anything else other than he was arrested and charged. We don't need to know what he ate on the flight back from Thailand, or how many times he went to the bathroom, or what he was wearing. He's not worth that.<br /><br />(3) Karr's relatives. Rather then engaging in basic human decency and saying "No comment" until the trial starts, they're trying to cash in. This tells me that family is subservient to cash to them. Of course, given how Karr seems to have turned out, maybe it's best that he be nothing more than dollar signs to them; they obviously screwed him up something fierce.<br /><br />(4) The media. Shame on all of you. Of all the stories in the world (the Middle East, economic problems, midterm elections, ongoing issues with education, etc. - I could go on and on), the Big Cable News Stations spent most of a week "reporting" about Karr and his background, and metaphorically digging up JonBenet's corpse over and over and over. And of course, JonBenet footage was always from the most titillating times when she was onstage - we need to feel guilty about our leering, after all, and in order to do that properly we gotta leer some more. There are reasons that the only news I really trust is The Daily Show (with NECN up there as well).<br /><br />(5) Us. For not roundly and soundly sending the message that this, while important in terms of solving a crime, should not have dominated press coverage for over a week.<br /><br />Through it all, we now all know (against our will and/or better judgment) who John Mark Karr is. If he's guilty, he should suffer the appropriate punishment, and if he's not, he should be set free. But now he's famous, and in today's world that is all that matters. There is no need to know who John Mark Karr is, or who Paris Hilton is, or who Richard Hatch is, but we all do. Fame has superseded all other measures of success. Warhol was indeed right.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:00 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Downtown Celebration <br />Wasn't it great to see all those people downtown last night?<br /><br />More like this, please.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:58 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, August 23, 2006<br />Nice. <br />Behold Game Over, in which classic video games (we're talkin' early '80s) are re-enacted with foodstuffs and other household items.<br /><br />Some people have too much free time. How I envy them.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:16 PM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Oy. <br />Jeffy, you started out halfway decently, and then you missed the point entirely.<br /><br />The good people at Ben Gurion Airport engage in psychological profiling - looking for behavior patterns, etc - and NOT racial or ethnic profiling. It's not perfect, to be sure, but it's a far sight better than "Hey! He looks swarthy! Get HIM!"<br /><br />But hey, brown people scare you. We get that already. You're really no better than the screaming harpies and pantswetters who pester flight attendants when someone "who looks like one of them" gets on the same plane.<br /><br />Furthermore, change "jihadi" to "crusader" and you've hit the likes of Paul Hill, Eric Rudolph, Tim McVeigh, and Operation Rescue. Last I checked, not a lot of Muslims there.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:56 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Kids these days <br />Apparently, some teenagers in Brattleboro, VT like to get a good all-over tan.<br /><br />Two questions:<br />(1) Where were these people when *I* was in high school, and<br /><br />(2) Anyone want to see me visit Brattleboro and take part? No? Me neither. Believe me - no one hates seeing me naked more than me.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:51 AM |||Comments (5) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, August 22, 2006<br />Open Gubernatorial Thread <br />Whom do you support for Massachusetts governor and why?<br /><br />How about New York, for any readers from there?<br /><br />Vermont?<br /><br />Have at.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:37 AM |||Comments (9) | Trackback (0)<br />First in the nation <br />Scot Lehigh writes a good piece on New Hampshire's stubborn refusal to let another state have a say. If they are indeed considering having their primary in 2007, then I never ever want to read a letter from a New Hampshire resident complaining about the lengthening Presidential campaigns.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:30 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, August 21, 2006<br />Slow News Day <br />You know it's a slow news day when the top story on Yahoo! is something about Britney Spears' HUSBAND.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:56 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Opa! <br />Jawa Girl and I went down to the Grecian Festival at St. George's on Saturday. Good food and good music.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:49 AM |||Comments (7) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, August 20, 2006<br />Sunday Religion Blogging <br />The debate over faith vs. works rages on.<br /><br />Obviously, I cannot speak for non-Christian religious communities here, but within the Christian religions, the balance between faith and works differs sharply from denomination to denomination. St. Paul defined faith as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1, KJV) Augustine of Hippo believed that faith was the source of all knowledge. Søren Kierkegaard argued faith was the basis of belief beyond argument, and not something that had to be proven. William Sloane Coffin defined faith as trust without reservation, not acceptance without proof.<br /><br />Within Christian beliefs, faith plays a central role - to be considered a Christian, one must believe in the existence of God, that this God sent His only son as a sacrifice for our sins, and that this sacrifice is the central act of Christianity. There is wide disagreement of just how literal these events were, but the events form the basis of Christian faith. Most Christians further believe that faith must manifest itself in some way that shows the positive influence of Christianity. Christians refer to this as works. Our friends in the Roman Catholic Church have categorized works further into corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Protestant and Restoration churches do not usually sharply define works in this way, relying more on the general belief that "good works" are necessary for continued salvation.<br /><br />In those churches that practice adult baptism, hearing and believing the Gospel - faith - is what leads the hearer to repent and confess their sins and then be baptized - works. Some churches believe the moment of repentance and confession is the moment of salvation, and the baptism is merely an outward act triggered by faith. Others believe salvation is not granted until baptism. This line of demarcation is what separates the Anabaptist tradition from the Restoration tradition. Furthermore, there is strong debate over the condition of one's soul following initial salvation. Those in the Calvinist tradition believe that once salvation is granted, it is granted for good, and no amount of works (good or bad) can change it. This belief is drawn from the idea that salvation is a gift of God (which is generally accepted in Christian theology) and that once granted it cannot be "un-granted." Others, drawing upon the Wesleyan and Campbellite traditions, believe that salvation, though freely given of God, can be removed if the person does not carry out certain works or if the person engages in sinful behavior. To be sure, even the Calvinists do not believe that works are irrelevant - on the contrary, they believe works are a manifestation of the ideals of faith. And also to be sure, good works are not just limited to people of faith - there are many atheists and agnostics who live up to the ideal of "Love thy neighbor" to a greater extent than many who claim the mantle of Christ.<br /><br />Our Jewish friends have what is called a mitzvah, which can literally mean a Biblical commandment; in a larger sense it can also mean any act of human kindness.<br /><br />What say you on the role of faith versus the role of works in salvation and in general?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:39 AM |||Comments (7) | Trackback (0)<br />Everyone's a critic <br />Shorter this guy: How come no one exhibits Dogs Playing Poker or Velvet Elvis? And no one paints like that Thomas Kinkade fella.<br /><br />Sir, just because artists are less representational doesn't make them lesser artists. I reserve some of my most vile criticism for contemporary "artists" who are more interested in being ironically detached than actually saying something through their art, but all periods and genres of art produce artists who have something profound to say. And I would never point to a genre or artist (especially one of the greats like Cezanne) as being indicative of the "decline" of art. If you believe art begins and ends with representational painting, sir, I'm sure you can find something at your local craft store that is inoffensive to your fragile tastes.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:30 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />And Verdi turned 'round in his grave. <br />I see our local Johnny One-Note is at it again (bottom story) with his tales of woe on how the Evil Court System is Destroying Fatherhood.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-8914337165721762056?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-41214025098094457662006-08-05T00:22:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:24:09.628-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Red Speck Strikes Again 2: Electric Boogaloo <br />I see where His Mediocrity The Governor Willard (R-UT) took money out of flood relief for the Berkshires and redirected it to the North Shore.<br /><br />Has he been here? Has he even set foot in Berkshire County during his tenure as Governor? I know he's not been to North County.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:14 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />New Rule <br />Anyone who cites the Family Research Institute, whose chair once promoted the idea of "branding" homosexuals on their faces, forfeits their right to engage in civil discussion for at least six months.<br /><br />This letter writer seems to be the resident anti-gay right-wing slackjaw for the Berkshires, as I've seen his name before.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-4121402509809445766?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-4610766505269069352006-08-05T00:02:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:03:37.389-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, August 05, 2006<br />Red Speck Strikes Again 2: Electric Boogaloo <br />I see where His Mediocrity The Governor Willard (R-UT) took money out of flood relief for the Berkshires and redirected it to the North Shore.<br /><br />Has he been here? Has he even set foot in Berkshire County during his tenure as Governor? I know he's not been to North County.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:14 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />New Rule <br />Anyone who cites the Family Research Institute, whose chair once promoted the idea of "branding" homosexuals on their faces, forfeits their right to engage in civil discussion for at least six months.<br /><br />This letter writer seems to be the resident anti-gay right-wing slackjaw for the Berkshires, as I've seen his name before.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:08 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, August 04, 2006<br />Friday Animal Blogging <br />This is Teddy.<br /><br /><br /><br />Teddy is a 6-7 year old male Min Pin/Jack Russell. He is here because his previous family had two other dogs. They are not allowed to have three dogs. He loves to eat and he is an excellent mouser that would challenge any cat. He is a happy dog who loves to be spoiled. He has a typical little dog attitude. Come meet Teddy, he will make a great friend.<br /><br />Teddy and many other animals are available at the Second Chance Animal Center on the Arlington/Shaftsbury town line in Vermont.<br /><br />And a bonus: Remember those two kittens we've been fostering? They were supposed to be temporary. However, Jawa Girl turned to me Monday night and said, "You know we're keeping Dido, right?" I know when I'm outvoted. This means that Chloe needs to find a home. So if you want to see this around your house:<br /><br /><br /><br />you can get Chloe early next week at the Second Chance Animal Center as well.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:49 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Nutmeg <br />Scot Lehigh gives us some more info on the Lamont/Lieberman race in Connecticut. Some folks have called Ned Lamont a "one-issue" candidate who is a "radical" and "out of the mainstream." Nothing could be further from the truth.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:42 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />They Get Letters <br />Shorter this guy: You kids get the heck off my lawn!<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:39 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Topia <br />Last year, certain factions tried to raise a stink about the Topia Arts Center fundraiser, because they presented a reading of a play (a high-quality play, for the record - you'd think people who were so overly dramatic about "our boys over there" would know good drama when they saw it) that dared question Dear Leader (the stink was raised under the guise of "supporting our troops," which is about as far from reality as you can get).<br /><br />I wonder if this year it'll be just too dang loud.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:34 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, August 03, 2006<br />Putting aside politics <br />Thoughts go out to the family of Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Chris Gabrieli, whose mother died yesterday.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:52 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Development <br />Three items are coming before the North Adams Planning Board in a couple of weeks. I must say I'm the most excited about the possibility of a pub close to campus (to compete with the Pitcher's Mound, which is an alright place to be sure, but we need more options).<br /><br />It's not that I'm a heavy drinker - far from it, actually - but it'll give people Something To Do. Tie this in with the cinemas coming downtown and you're starting to hit critical mass.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:45 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Swan Song <br />State Sen. Andrea Nuciforo, Jr. (D-Pittsfield) has most likely cast his last vote in the State Senate.<br /><br />Thanks for your service, Senator.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:40 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, August 02, 2006<br />Stay cool. <br />Drink water and juice today. Stay close to fans or air conditioning. And make sure your pets are taken care off.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:31 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Unfrozen Caveman Columnist <br />Shorter Jeff Jacoby: Voting isn't important.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:30 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />The heart breaks <br />The story of Army Sergeant Brian Fountaine of Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, who now wonders why.<br /><br />All the platitudes about freedom mean nothing, you realize. We're in the process of sending a generation to the lawnmower, and for what? Iraq had no WMD of import, no connections to those who attacked us on September 11, 2001, and was no threat to us or our interests.<br /><br />And now these same people want to take a military taxed to the breaking point and put pressure on Iran and Syria.<br /><br />The blood of Americans is on the hands of every last one of you - from the President all the way down to the chickenhawks who are only too happy to send people to die while they sit in air-conditioned rooms - who supported this indecency. May sleep never visit you again without images of horrific death, and may your ears constantly be filled with the shrieks of the dying.<br /><br />UPDATE: And for the record, their blood is on all of us - for we didn't do enough to stop it.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:20 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, August 01, 2006<br />General Court Wrap-Up <br />The Eagle gives us a post-mortem on this year's legislative session. The failure of the higher ed funding bill to be enacted is arguably the biggest failure this term.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:15 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, July 31, 2006<br />Development, affordability, and WiFi <br />One of the things we who believe in Muni WiFi will have to be careful about is making sure that this rising tide does indeed life more than the yachts. Though it is not the sole reason (or even the main reason) for it, WiFi does figure into the gentrification* of the Virginia Piedmont.<br /><br />*Gentrification here in the most literal sense, the creation of a landed gentry set apart by class from the workers.<br /><br />(hat tip to Governing magazine's blog)<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:20 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Law of Unintended Consequences <br />James Carroll (I have GOT to meet this guy) tells a truth - indeed, the Middle East has been transformed by the Bush Junta's policies. Sadly, the transformation made things even worse.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:45 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Labor Relations <br />Steve Early writes in the Globe about the strike that may have mortally wounded the labor movement, the most important movement of the 20th century - the Air Traffic Controllers' strike of 1981.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:42 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />I haven't forgotten <br />I see that Boston is using a novel approach to muni WiFi. I am intrigued by this.<br /><br />It's taken some time, but I'm about ready to call that long-promised meeting of interested citizens to get the Muni WiFi ball rolling in NA.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:38 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />If you build it, he will come. <br />North Adams has been entered (by Councilmember Chris Tremblay) in the Granite City Electric Field of Dreams III contest.<br /><br />North Adams isn't up on the website yet, but I'm told it should be on there soon. So when it is, vote early and often!<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:32 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, July 30, 2006<br />Sunday Religion Blogging <br />Maybe it's all the ministers in my family (great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather, great-uncle, cousin, brother, brother-in-law), but I've always appreciated good theological discussions. One of the most painful ordeals for progressives of faith in recent years has been the near-total overtaking of the Christian religion (in almost all forms and denominations) by those who would use it for political and temporal power.<br /><br />So it's nice to see the tide starting to turn. While I am fully aware the Bible is much more than the words of Jesus, it is telling that the central figure in the faith never once mentions abortion or homosexuality. He actually DOES mention helping the poor, clothing the naked, and feeding the hungry, yet somehow those issues are never mentioned in "nonpartisan" voter guides from the Christian Coalition and their ilk.<br /><br />I've said it before and I'll say it again - the fundamentalists/Dominionists/nascent theocratic fascists do not worship Jesus of the Bible. They apparently worship a fellow named JEEEEzus!, who is a rich white guy from the suburbs who only cares about abortion and homosexuality. Nothing else explains the rise of the "Prosperity Gospel" movement, which is one of the weakest theological arguments ever made.<br /><br />One more thought: the desire to bring about Armageddon should never be the basis for foreign policy, whether practiced by individuals or a government. This is true across Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and all other faiths with an eschatological basis.<br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-461076650526906935?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-37618488388367057172006-07-08T00:00:00.001-07:002007-07-07T00:02:01.164-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, July 08, 2006<br />A lovely day. <br />Mowed the yard this morning, then Jawa Girl and I took Julie the Wiener Dawg to a plot of land owned by Second Chance Animal Center (where Jawa Girl works) and let her run free while we had a picnic lunch.<br /><br />Anything going on today?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 4:11 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, July 07, 2006<br />Congratulations are in order <br />Kudos to Dr. Steve Green, Vice President of Academic Affairs at MCLA (and a personal friend) for being named Sociologist of the Year by the New England Sociological Association.<br /><br />Dr. Green is one of the Good Guys.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 12:57 PM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday Animal Blogging - Older Cats Need Love Too Edition <br />This is Romeo.<br /><br /><br /><br />Romeo is a 12 year old black and white male cat who is at the Second Chance Animal Center because his owner passed away. He is a declawed cat so he needs to be an indoor only cat. He is a very calm, gentle and friendly cat.<br /><br />Many people come in to the shelter and look at kittens. And while kittens are very very cute (believe me, Miles, Ella, and Mingus were!), sometimes older cats find themselves at the shelter too. Romeo may not have too many years left, and he deserves a nice home as much as any other cat.<br /><br />UPDATE: Good news! Romeo has found a home!<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:56 AM |||Comments (7) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, July 06, 2006<br />On the road again... <br />Anyone who has known me for, say, 14 seconds or more knows I love me some maps. In the room in which I am typing this there are maps of North Adams, Berkshire County, Massachusetts (by towns), the United States, and the world. Jawa Girl routinely gives me maps from her subscription to National Geographic.<br /><br />Probably because of my love of maps and my love of travel, I've become quite interested in roads and how they are maintained. I'm enough of an environmentalist that I'm not in favor of a huge increase in road building, but I do think we should maintain the roads we have.<br /><br />With that said, what do you all think of this idea from Joseph M. Giglio?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:35 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />BWLI <br />Good to see the Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative still going strong.<br /><br />A colleague offered some good suggestions with regard to muni WiFi. Now that things are finally settling down after the wedding, look for a meeting sometime in July or August. (Yes, I know - I wanted it earlier too, but life has a way of getting in the way.)<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:26 AM |||Comments (12) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, July 05, 2006<br />Pogrom's Progress <br />Well, now.<br /><br />Seems a Jewish family was run off from a school district in southern Delaware for...<br /><br />being Jewish.<br /><br />And what's worse - the slackjaw behind Stop the ACLU is "pleased we had an effect in this case."<br /><br />The fundamentalists extremists who miscall themselves "Christian" are lining up with Jews and the state of Israel for one reason and one reason only - they believe there has to be a huge battle there before JEEEEzus! comes back. At that point, any Jew who doesn't convert to their narrow brand of extremist faux-Christianity will be killed. Why some Jewish folks *cough*Joe Lieberman*cough*Jeff Jacoby*cough* insist on hanging with these people (whose whole theology requires the Jews to give up their Jewishness or perish when all is said and done) is beyond me.<br /><br />Mr. Kareiva of Stop the ACLU and the citizens and board members of the Indian River School District who supported this deserve all the scorn and maledictions civilized people can pour out.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:48 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (1)<br />Music of the spheres <br />Ms. Hilda Banks Shapiro of Great Barrington lets us know that Stephanie Wilson of Pittsfield, currently on board the space shuttle Discovery, was an outstanding clarinetist as well.<br /><br />It makes the heart proud to hear stories like that. If you asked Astronaut Wilson, I'd wager she'd tell you her musical studies had a positive impact on her studies to be an astronaut. This is the sort of thing that cannot be measured by a soulless standardized test designed to appeal to people who don't have clue one about how education should function.<br /><br />Further interesting fact: Neil Armstrong played euphonium (my first brass instrument, for the record) in the Purdue University Band while in college. Mr. Armstrong lives in the Cincinnati area - I never got to meet him (his teaching days at UC were pretty much over by the time I started work on my MM, and we music majors didn't get out of the music building much), but I always wanted to get a euphonium into his hands and have him join a TubaChristmas concert - anonymously, of course.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:07 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />No Justice <br />Ken Lay has died without serving a day in prison. I hope that Herculean efforts were used to try to save him, because the thought of Ken Lay not serving one second of the time due him makes my blood boil.<br /><br />Personally, I believe he should be buried in a prison cemetery.<br /><br />And of course, this has to be a relief to Bush, because now he doesn't have to think about pardoning Kenny Boy.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:02 AM |||Comments (6) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, July 04, 2006<br />The Testament of Freedom <br />Like I did two years ago, I'd like to put up the text of Randall Thompson's The Testament of Freedom, a setting of the words of Thomas Jefferson. It seems right.<br /><br />Movement 1 (from A Summary View of the Rights of British America, 1774):<br /><br />The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them.<br /><br />Movement 2 (from Declaration of Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, 1775):<br /><br />We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. -- Honour, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them, if we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them.<br /><br />Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources are great...We gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances of the Divine favour towards us, that his Providence would not permit us to be called into this severe controversy, until we were grown up to our present strength, had been previously exercised in warlike operation, and possessed of the means of defending ourselves. With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverence, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves.<br /><br />Movement 3 (from Declaration of Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, 1775):<br /><br />We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of offence. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death.<br /><br />In our native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it -- for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our fore-fathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before.<br /><br />Movement 4 (from letter to John Adams, 1821 and A Summary View of the Rights of British America, 1774):<br /><br />I shall not die without a hope that light and liberty are on steady advance...And even should the cloud of barbarism and despotism again obscure the science and liberties of Europe, this country remains to preserve and restore light and liberty to them...The flames kindled on the 4th of July, 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them.<br /><br />The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:55 AM |||Comments (5) | Trackback (0)<br />IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. <br />(Note: Light blogging today. Do something uniquely American. Listen to a Sousa march or some jazz. Have a cookout. Celebrate our 230th birthday in grand style. It's still good to be an American, all of the present regime's best efforts to the contrary notwithstanding.)<br /><br />Every year, on July 4, I reread the Declaration of Independence. You should too.<br /><br /><br />The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,<br /><br />When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.<br /><br />We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.<br /><br />He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.<br />He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.<br />He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. <br />He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. <br />He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.<br />He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.<br />He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.<br />He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.<br />He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.<br />He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.<br />He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.<br />He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.<br />He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:<br />For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:<br />For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:<br />For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:<br />For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: <br />For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:<br />For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences<br />For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:<br />For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:<br />For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.<br />He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.<br />He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.<br />He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.<br />He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. <br />He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.<br /><br />In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.<br /><br />Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.<br /><br />We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.<br /><br />The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:<br /><br />Column 1<br />Georgia:<br />Button Gwinnett<br />Lyman Hall<br />George Walton<br /><br />Column 2<br />North Carolina:<br />William Hooper<br />Joseph Hewes<br />John Penn<br />South Carolina:<br />Edward Rutledge<br />Thomas Heyward, Jr.<br />Thomas Lynch, Jr.<br />Arthur Middleton<br /><br />Column 3<br />Massachusetts:<br />John Hancock<br />Maryland:<br />Samuel Chase<br />William Paca<br />Thomas Stone<br />Charles Carroll of Carrollton<br />Virginia:<br />George Wythe<br />Richard Henry Lee<br />Thomas Jefferson<br />Benjamin Harrison<br />Thomas Nelson, Jr.<br />Francis Lightfoot Lee<br />Carter Braxton<br /><br />Column 4<br />Pennsylvania:<br />Robert Morris<br />Benjamin Rush<br />Benjamin Franklin<br />John Morton<br />George Clymer<br />James Smith<br />George Taylor<br />James Wilson<br />George Ross<br />Delaware:<br />Caesar Rodney<br />George Read<br />Thomas McKean<br /><br />Column 5<br />New York:<br />William Floyd<br />Philip Livingston<br />Francis Lewis<br />Lewis Morris<br />New Jersey:<br />Richard Stockton<br />John Witherspoon<br />Francis Hopkinson<br />John Hart<br />Abraham Clark<br /><br />Column 6<br />New Hampshire:<br />Josiah Bartlett<br />William Whipple<br />Massachusetts:<br />Samuel Adams<br />John Adams<br />Robert Treat Paine<br />Elbridge Gerry<br />Rhode Island:<br />Stephen Hopkins<br />William Ellery<br />Connecticut:<br />Roger Sherman<br />Samuel Huntington<br />William Williams<br />Oliver Wolcott<br />New Hampshire:<br />Matthew Thornton<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:38 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Love Freedom? <br /><br /><br />Thank a Massachusetts liberal.<br /><br />(props to my buddy and fraternity brother George Cullinan for the idea)<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:33 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, July 03, 2006<br />by definition unfinished <br />I haven't posted on James Carroll's columns in a while, but this one deserves special due. A taste:<br /><br />America is by definition unfinished, because it forever falls short of itself. Not that this nation is more moral than others, but its half-formed foundational ideal required a moral purpose at the start -- and a moral purpose to the end. That is both creative and creatively undermining. Born in a challenge to authority, American authority continually inhibits its own exercise (what the Supreme Court did last week in challenging the executive and legislative branches over Guantanamo). Recognitions of personal alienation inevitably open into demands for the reform of alienating systems -- and in America that is the work of politics. It never stops.<br /><br />As the kids say, read the whole thing.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:54 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />From the Rejected Poetry Desk, Middle English edition <br />Courtesy of Jane, we find this little ditty that apparently didn't make the cut in The Canterbury Tales:<br /><br />An INDIAN CHIEF, a COWBOYE and a COPPE<br />A WERKERE and a LEATHER MANNE (a toppe)<br />Did marche togedir in fraternitee<br />Al thogh thei were of varyinge lyveree.<br />Thei knewe sum auncient magicke remedye<br />For “Y M C A” dide they ful loude crye,<br />And lifte ther armes lyk vnto menne gone woode.<br />And eek yt semede their mappe was nat too goode:<br />Thogh Canterburye-warde we headede Est<br />In unison thei seyde to us ‘Go Weste.’<br /><br />There simply isn't enough parody poetry out there.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:43 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, July 02, 2006<br />Culture Club <br />The Globe today encourages the General Court to override Red Speck's veto of $13,000,000 for cultural facilities.<br /><br />Good for them.<br /><br />We've seen firsthand here in North Adams what an influx of culture-related money can do. (Now we need to go to the next step, an economy where the arts are but one part.) Red Speck's veto shows once again he does not care one whit about the municipalities of Massachusetts.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-3761848838836705717?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-78777684587018850472006-07-08T00:00:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:06:55.789-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, July 08, 2006<br />A lovely day. <br />Mowed the yard this morning, then Jawa Girl and I took Julie the Wiener Dawg to a plot of land owned by Second Chance Animal Center (where Jawa Girl works) and let her run free while we had a picnic lunch.<br /><br />Anything going on today?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 4:11 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, July 07, 2006<br />Congratulations are in order <br />Kudos to Dr. Steve Green, Vice President of Academic Affairs at MCLA (and a personal friend) for being named Sociologist of the Year by the New England Sociological Association.<br /><br />Dr. Green is one of the Good Guys.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 12:57 PM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday Animal Blogging - Older Cats Need Love Too Edition <br />This is Romeo.<br /><br /><br /><br />Romeo is a 12 year old black and white male cat who is at the Second Chance Animal Center because his owner passed away. He is a declawed cat so he needs to be an indoor only cat. He is a very calm, gentle and friendly cat.<br /><br />Many people come in to the shelter and look at kittens. And while kittens are very very cute (believe me, Miles, Ella, and Mingus were!), sometimes older cats find themselves at the shelter too. Romeo may not have too many years left, and he deserves a nice home as much as any other cat.<br /><br />UPDATE: Good news! Romeo has found a home!<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:56 AM |||Comments (7) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, July 06, 2006<br />On the road again... <br />Anyone who has known me for, say, 14 seconds or more knows I love me some maps. In the room in which I am typing this there are maps of North Adams, Berkshire County, Massachusetts (by towns), the United States, and the world. Jawa Girl routinely gives me maps from her subscription to National Geographic.<br /><br />Probably because of my love of maps and my love of travel, I've become quite interested in roads and how they are maintained. I'm enough of an environmentalist that I'm not in favor of a huge increase in road building, but I do think we should maintain the roads we have.<br /><br />With that said, what do you all think of this idea from Joseph M. Giglio?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:35 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />BWLI <br />Good to see the Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative still going strong.<br /><br />A colleague offered some good suggestions with regard to muni WiFi. Now that things are finally settling down after the wedding, look for a meeting sometime in July or August. (Yes, I know - I wanted it earlier too, but life has a way of getting in the way.)<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:26 AM |||Comments (12) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, July 05, 2006<br />Pogrom's Progress <br />Well, now.<br /><br />Seems a Jewish family was run off from a school district in southern Delaware for...<br /><br />being Jewish.<br /><br />And what's worse - the slackjaw behind Stop the ACLU is "pleased we had an effect in this case."<br /><br />The fundamentalists extremists who miscall themselves "Christian" are lining up with Jews and the state of Israel for one reason and one reason only - they believe there has to be a huge battle there before JEEEEzus! comes back. At that point, any Jew who doesn't convert to their narrow brand of extremist faux-Christianity will be killed. Why some Jewish folks *cough*Joe Lieberman*cough*Jeff Jacoby*cough* insist on hanging with these people (whose whole theology requires the Jews to give up their Jewishness or perish when all is said and done) is beyond me.<br /><br />Mr. Kareiva of Stop the ACLU and the citizens and board members of the Indian River School District who supported this deserve all the scorn and maledictions civilized people can pour out.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:48 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (1)<br />Music of the spheres <br />Ms. Hilda Banks Shapiro of Great Barrington lets us know that Stephanie Wilson of Pittsfield, currently on board the space shuttle Discovery, was an outstanding clarinetist as well.<br /><br />It makes the heart proud to hear stories like that. If you asked Astronaut Wilson, I'd wager she'd tell you her musical studies had a positive impact on her studies to be an astronaut. This is the sort of thing that cannot be measured by a soulless standardized test designed to appeal to people who don't have clue one about how education should function.<br /><br />Further interesting fact: Neil Armstrong played euphonium (my first brass instrument, for the record) in the Purdue University Band while in college. Mr. Armstrong lives in the Cincinnati area - I never got to meet him (his teaching days at UC were pretty much over by the time I started work on my MM, and we music majors didn't get out of the music building much), but I always wanted to get a euphonium into his hands and have him join a TubaChristmas concert - anonymously, of course.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:07 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />No Justice <br />Ken Lay has died without serving a day in prison. I hope that Herculean efforts were used to try to save him, because the thought of Ken Lay not serving one second of the time due him makes my blood boil.<br /><br />Personally, I believe he should be buried in a prison cemetery.<br /><br />And of course, this has to be a relief to Bush, because now he doesn't have to think about pardoning Kenny Boy.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:02 AM |||Comments (6) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, July 04, 2006<br />The Testament of Freedom <br />Like I did two years ago, I'd like to put up the text of Randall Thompson's The Testament of Freedom, a setting of the words of Thomas Jefferson. It seems right.<br /><br />Movement 1 (from A Summary View of the Rights of British America, 1774):<br /><br />The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them.<br /><br />Movement 2 (from Declaration of Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, 1775):<br /><br />We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. -- Honour, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them, if we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them.<br /><br />Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources are great...We gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances of the Divine favour towards us, that his Providence would not permit us to be called into this severe controversy, until we were grown up to our present strength, had been previously exercised in warlike operation, and possessed of the means of defending ourselves. With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverence, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves.<br /><br />Movement 3 (from Declaration of Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, 1775):<br /><br />We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of offence. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death.<br /><br />In our native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it -- for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our fore-fathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before.<br /><br />Movement 4 (from letter to John Adams, 1821 and A Summary View of the Rights of British America, 1774):<br /><br />I shall not die without a hope that light and liberty are on steady advance...And even should the cloud of barbarism and despotism again obscure the science and liberties of Europe, this country remains to preserve and restore light and liberty to them...The flames kindled on the 4th of July, 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them.<br /><br />The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:55 AM |||Comments (5) | Trackback (0)<br />IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. <br />(Note: Light blogging today. Do something uniquely American. Listen to a Sousa march or some jazz. Have a cookout. Celebrate our 230th birthday in grand style. It's still good to be an American, all of the present regime's best efforts to the contrary notwithstanding.)<br /><br />Every year, on July 4, I reread the Declaration of Independence. You should too.<br /><br /><br />The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,<br /><br />When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.<br /><br />We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.<br /><br />He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.<br />He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.<br />He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. <br />He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. <br />He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.<br />He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.<br />He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.<br />He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.<br />He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.<br />He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.<br />He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.<br />He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.<br />He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:<br />For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:<br />For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:<br />For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:<br />For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: <br />For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:<br />For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences<br />For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:<br />For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:<br />For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.<br />He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.<br />He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.<br />He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.<br />He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. <br />He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.<br /><br />In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.<br /><br />Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.<br /><br />We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.<br /><br />The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:<br /><br />Column 1<br />Georgia:<br />Button Gwinnett<br />Lyman Hall<br />George Walton<br /><br />Column 2<br />North Carolina:<br />William Hooper<br />Joseph Hewes<br />John Penn<br />South Carolina:<br />Edward Rutledge<br />Thomas Heyward, Jr.<br />Thomas Lynch, Jr.<br />Arthur Middleton<br /><br />Column 3<br />Massachusetts:<br />John Hancock<br />Maryland:<br />Samuel Chase<br />William Paca<br />Thomas Stone<br />Charles Carroll of Carrollton<br />Virginia:<br />George Wythe<br />Richard Henry Lee<br />Thomas Jefferson<br />Benjamin Harrison<br />Thomas Nelson, Jr.<br />Francis Lightfoot Lee<br />Carter Braxton<br /><br />Column 4<br />Pennsylvania:<br />Robert Morris<br />Benjamin Rush<br />Benjamin Franklin<br />John Morton<br />George Clymer<br />James Smith<br />George Taylor<br />James Wilson<br />George Ross<br />Delaware:<br />Caesar Rodney<br />George Read<br />Thomas McKean<br /><br />Column 5<br />New York:<br />William Floyd<br />Philip Livingston<br />Francis Lewis<br />Lewis Morris<br />New Jersey:<br />Richard Stockton<br />John Witherspoon<br />Francis Hopkinson<br />John Hart<br />Abraham Clark<br /><br />Column 6<br />New Hampshire:<br />Josiah Bartlett<br />William Whipple<br />Massachusetts:<br />Samuel Adams<br />John Adams<br />Robert Treat Paine<br />Elbridge Gerry<br />Rhode Island:<br />Stephen Hopkins<br />William Ellery<br />Connecticut:<br />Roger Sherman<br />Samuel Huntington<br />William Williams<br />Oliver Wolcott<br />New Hampshire:<br />Matthew Thornton<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:38 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Love Freedom? <br /><br /><br />Thank a Massachusetts liberal.<br /><br />(props to my buddy and fraternity brother George Cullinan for the idea)<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:33 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, July 03, 2006<br />by definition unfinished <br />I haven't posted on James Carroll's columns in a while, but this one deserves special due. A taste:<br /><br />America is by definition unfinished, because it forever falls short of itself. Not that this nation is more moral than others, but its half-formed foundational ideal required a moral purpose at the start -- and a moral purpose to the end. That is both creative and creatively undermining. Born in a challenge to authority, American authority continually inhibits its own exercise (what the Supreme Court did last week in challenging the executive and legislative branches over Guantanamo). Recognitions of personal alienation inevitably open into demands for the reform of alienating systems -- and in America that is the work of politics. It never stops.<br /><br />As the kids say, read the whole thing.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:54 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />From the Rejected Poetry Desk, Middle English edition <br />Courtesy of Jane, we find this little ditty that apparently didn't make the cut in The Canterbury Tales:<br /><br />An INDIAN CHIEF, a COWBOYE and a COPPE<br />A WERKERE and a LEATHER MANNE (a toppe)<br />Did marche togedir in fraternitee<br />Al thogh thei were of varyinge lyveree.<br />Thei knewe sum auncient magicke remedye<br />For “Y M C A” dide they ful loude crye,<br />And lifte ther armes lyk vnto menne gone woode.<br />And eek yt semede their mappe was nat too goode:<br />Thogh Canterburye-warde we headede Est<br />In unison thei seyde to us ‘Go Weste.’<br /><br />There simply isn't enough parody poetry out there.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:43 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, July 02, 2006<br />Culture Club <br />The Globe today encourages the General Court to override Red Speck's veto of $13,000,000 for cultural facilities.<br /><br />Good for them.<br /><br />We've seen firsthand here in North Adams what an influx of culture-related money can do. (Now we need to go to the next step, an economy where the arts are but one part.) Red Speck's veto shows once again he does not care one whit about the municipalities of Massachusetts.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-7877768458701885047?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-793515367508057772006-03-10T00:48:00.000-08:002007-07-07T00:50:24.497-07:00<div style="display:none"><br /><br />Friday, March 10, 2006<br />On the road again <br />Heading out to the Midwest for Spring Break and final wedding preps shortly.<br /><br />I'll blog when I can, but it'll probably be light for a few days.<br /><br />Be nice.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 12:23 PM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, March 09, 2006<br />Running Mates <br />Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey (R-Beverly) has chosen former State Police head and state representative Reed Hillman (R-Sturbridge) as her running mate.<br /><br />Of course, the Democrats have four choices (Deb Goldberg, Sam Kelley, Tim Murray, and Andrea Silbert), and no one knows whom independent candidate Christy Mihos will tap (though rumors have been circulating around former Republican Congressman Peter Blute).<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:55 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Worth a thousand words <br />Occasionally, an image just goes right to the heart of the issue.<br /><br />Today's cartoon by Dan Wasserman does just that.<br /><br />How much of who we are - our ideals, our laws, our belief in this ephemeral thing called America - have we sacrificed on the altar of security?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:47 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Local Boy Makes Good <br />Good on local artist Glenn Shalan, who received an outstanding volunteer award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.<br /><br />Mayor Barrett's quote is especially cogent:<br /><br />"He's one of the new people who are part of the growing arts community, he just showed up," Barrett said. "North Adams is special because it embraces change, and part of that is people like Glenn."<br /><br />As North Adams moves from mill town to cultural center, now we have to go to the next step - making sure no one is left behind. The arts alone are not enough.<br /><br />Wi-Fi would be a good start. Other thoughts?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:40 AM |||Comments (9) | Trackback (0)<br />Hot enough for ya? <br />Scientists have created conditions that led to a temperature reading of 3,600,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit.<br /><br />Fortunately, it was a dry heat.<br /><br />(I expect our creationist friends to say it never actually got over 6,000 degrees.)<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:34 AM |||Comments (7) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, March 08, 2006<br />Irony <br />Christy Mihos, man of wealth and taste, bemoaning the lack of status for the common man.<br /><br />While his Proposition One will no doubt garner support (and I like the idea of removing fees for students), it doesn't take into account what happens in an economic downturn. As my friends on the Right like to point out, that money has to come from somewhere, and I'm not thrilled with the idea of essential state services being defunded to appease homeowners (of which I plan on becoming this summer).<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:36 AM |||Comments (15) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, March 07, 2006<br />Question <br />For those of you that got ticked off at Massachusetts for same-sex marriage:<br /><br />The South Dakota abortion ban was, in the words of the Speaker of the South Dakota House, designed specifically to force a court case in an attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade. Does that attempt by one state to force national policy bother you on the same level that you claim Massachusetts' law did?<br /><br />I think I already know the answer, but let's have the discussion anyway.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:37 AM |||Comments (41) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, March 06, 2006<br />More on N'Awlins <br />James Carroll, as usual, says it far better than I could.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:38 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />I'd like to thank the Academy <br />A rare pop-culture post: What did you think of the Academy Awards last night?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:36 AM |||Comments (13) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, March 05, 2006<br />Good news, everyone! <br />Someone took an old Superman pinball machine and turned it into a Futurama pinball machine.<br /><br />Morbo enjoys the puny games you pathetic Earthlings play.<br /><br />(props to Wil Wheaton - yes, THAT Wil Wheaton - for the catch)<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:27 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Vermont and population <br />Here's an interesting article from the New York Times about the exodus of young people from Vermont.<br /><br />Jawa Girl and I are looking at houses, and one of the places we are looking is Bennington. Personally, I love this entire area, but we're balancing some work and financial things alongside quality-of-life issues in terms of where to buy our first home. Bennington is high on the list for various reasons.<br /><br />One of the things that I like about Vermont is its size - it is very easy for people to take an active role in civic life. However, having grown up in an exceptionally rural area, I too understand the desire for young people to get off of the farm (you'll notice I haven't lived in Pinhook, Indiana since 1990).<br /><br />How can a state like Vermont balance all these issues?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:57 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Shorter Jeff Jacoby <br />The issues involving Catholic Charities and adoption by same-sex couples are complex. Therefore, I will ignore the issues and blame the gays.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:39 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Best wishes for a speedy recovery <br />This desk wishes Maestro James Levine of the Boston Symphony Orchestra good health and a quick recuperation after he fell onstage following a performance of Beethoven's Symphony no. 9.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-79351536750805777?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-13127560091211366942005-10-22T00:46:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:47:29.752-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, October 22, 2005<br />Speechless <br />There are very few things that render me incapable of speech.<br /><br />This is one of those things.<br /><br />(Here is a direct link to the song.)<br /><br />Props to Wil Wheaton dot Net in Exile.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 3:27 PM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Anyone remember They Might Be Giants? <br />Bomp-ba-dee-dah, bomp-ba-dee-dah, bomp-ba-dee-dah, bomp-ba-dee-dah (repeat)<br /><br />Minimum WAAAAAAAAAGE!<br /><br />*whip* Yah!<br /><br />In all seriousness, the minimum wage is worth less proportionally than it has been in quite some time.<br /><br />And on top of it, the Davis-Bacon act, requiring workers to get paid a prevailing wage, has been suspended in the Gulf, ostensibly to "make the rebuilding process run faster." Halliburton and others promptly used this suspension to hire undocumented aliens so the corporate bigwigs could pocket MORE of the money - YOUR money.<br /><br />My friends on the Right often accuse me of trying to incite "class warfare." The class warfare has been going on for quite some time - and it isn't the lower or middle classes that started it.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:01 AM |||Comments (7) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, October 21, 2005<br />Open Thread <br />Busy this morning. Go nuts.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:20 AM |||Comments (5) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, October 20, 2005<br />Hey, at least it wasn't George Mikan. <br />So a convicted felon wanted a LONGER sentence so the number of years he served was going to be equal to the number on Larry Bird's jersey (33).<br /><br />Y'know, if I'm in that situation, I start claiming I'm a Robert Parish fan.<br /><br />(See, growing up in a basketball-crazy state like Indiana occasionally pays off.)<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 5:49 PM |||Comments (6) | Trackback (0)<br />Good stuff <br />Some people accuse me of being hyper-partisan. While I am a proud and committed Democrat, I am not so blind as to not recognize when a Republican does something good - and something good is what former Gov. A. Paul Cellucci has done in giving some leftover campaign funds to MASS MoCA.<br /><br />In my interview with Rep. Bosley (below), he mentioned that Cellucci Weld (since Cellucci was Weld's Lt. Gov., I interposed the two; from all accounts, though, Weld and Cellucci started at the same point and came around at about the same time - WF) was unsure of the project at first, but when the local leaders (Mayor Barrett, Rep. Bosley, then-State Sen. Swift) talked to him about it, he got completely on board.<br /><br />I ask you, readers - can you see Gov. Red Speck getting behind a project like MASS MoCA? Mad props to Cellucci.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:35 AM |||Comments (5) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, October 19, 2005<br />A dilemma (well, not for me) <br />MCLA and the North Adams Transcript are sponsoring a meet the candidates night on MCLA's campus in one week.<br /><br />Normally, I'd go, but the MCLA Concert/Community Band is performing that night as well, and I'm the conductor.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-1312756009121136694?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-7706921341360434262005-08-27T23:51:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:36:26.624-07:00<div style="display:none"><br /><br />Saturday, August 27, 2005<br />ID continued <br />Another good op-ed on "Intelligent" Design from the North Adams Transcript.<br /><br />Why couldn't I have had a paper like this growing up, instead of the fishwrap that shills for fundamentalist slackjaws and the crypto-racists of the John Birch Society?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:22 AM |||Comments (8) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, August 26, 2005<br />An anniversary of note <br />This week, of course, marks the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, enshrining in our most important document the right of women to vote.<br /><br />Of course, we're perfectly willing to take that right AWAY from Iraqi women, but hey, last throes and all that.<br /><br />So, to my female readers - go out and vote! Run for office! You had to fight the forces of reaction HARD to get this right - use it!<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:48 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />The Walk In Brain Book Club <br />I just finished a remarkable book - American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley - His Battle for Chicago and the Nation by Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor.<br /><br />Has anyone else read this book? If so, your thoughts?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:27 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, August 25, 2005<br />And the winner is... <br />...Hartford.<br /><br />It was closer, and I'd already blown a good chunk of the day.<br /><br />I'll get Montpelier soon.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:31 PM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Bernstein <br />Today is the birthday of Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990), arguably the most important American "classical" musician of the 20th century.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:26 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />This is too good. <br />Check out David Horsey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Pat Robertson.<br /><br />I don't think it can be said any better, though I firmly expect the "Bush Can Do No Wrong" Brigade to get on my case for inviting a comparison between Chavez and Christ.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:10 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Open Thread <br />Nothing is jumping out at me today, so go nuts.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:41 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Decisions, decisions <br />Hartford or Montpelier?<br /><br />I'm gonna hit one state capital today. I haven't visited the state of Connecticut yet, so I'm leaning towards Hartford, but I also hear that Montpelier is just stunningly beautiful and rustic.<br /><br />Thoughts?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:34 AM |||Comments (6) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, August 24, 2005<br />Another mother <br />While Cindy Sheehan has been doing her thing in Texas (and may HER mother recover from the stroke), a mother here in North Adams is honoring her son who was killed in the September 11 attacks by building a school in Afghanistan.<br /><br />Two mothers, two activities, and both of them better PR for America (one shows how dissent works in an open society; one helps educate) than Bush's misadventure in Iraq.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:30 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, August 23, 2005<br />Props <br />I don't agree with Brendan of Spacetropic on foreign policy issues much, but he's absolutely right on with his indictment of NIMBYism and our disposable consumer culture in this entry.<br /><br />I've never completely understood the exurban impulse. Brendan suggests it's for wide-open spaces, yet too often the large houses are built on small lots. Plus, the exurbs are merciless if you choose not to drive (and mass transit is often completely nonexistent or geared to the senior community). The designs (cul-de-sacs and collector roads, with ample fencing and treelines) make it virtually impossible to walk to any shopping.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:42 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />RIP Robert Moog, 1934 - 2005 <br />This desk has received word of the passing of Robert Moog, the creator of the Moog and Minimoog synthesizers.<br /><br />Bob Moog did two things to revolutionize electronic music - he increased the palette of sounds and he made it accessible to the average composer and listener. He (and those ideas) will be missed.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:29 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Miscellaneous, Etc. <br />Just a couple of random thoughts on a cool (low 50s) morning in North Adams.<br /><br />(1) Don't walk up Beacon Hill in Boston with church shoes on. My right foot still feels like a cloven hoof.<br /><br />(2) Some people give me grief over terms like "JEEEEEzus!" Let me set one thing straight for the record: I don't believe for a second that fundamentalists actually believe in or worship Jesus, the one called Christ, or (for The Axinar, who I know will appreciate the effort) Yeshua bar Yosef. That Jesus is all about humbling yourself, helping the less fortunate, doing good works, and loving your fellow man. Since I get very little of that in the rhetoric of fundamentalist leaders, I can only assume that they're worshipping someone else with a similar name, who apparently teaches that salvation requires you to be rich, white, and Republican, and that the only two deadly sins are abortion and homosexuality. Hence, "JEEEEEzus!" is the term I use.<br /><br />Why do I wander into this minefield on an otherwise beautiful morning?<br /><br />Well, as many of you know, I have a lot of ministers in my family, and we all attend a church that is very conservative theologically. I've read the Bible. Quite a lot, actually. And not once in the New Testament do I see Christ, Paul, Peter, or any of the other leaders of early Christianity calling for the assassination of a leader.<br /><br />You cannot call Pat Robertson a fringe element in modern American fundamentalist "Christianity." It was his media empire that helped launch the modern fundamentalist movement. When Ward Churchill, a minor-league academic at one college, made some utterly wrong remarks about the attacks of September 11, immediately the David Horowitzes and Rush Limbaughs of the world tied his words to not only the entire academic community, but anyone to the left of Zell Miller. Now Robertson, one of three main people responsible for the upsurge in fundamentalism, a man who won several million votes in the 1988 Republican presidential primary, and a man who is seen on TV daily by millions more, is calling for some very un-Christ like behavior.<br /><br />I'm waiting for the condemnations by the Right. There may be a lot of JEEEEEzus! in Robertson's message, but there's very little Jesus.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:43 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, August 22, 2005<br />Back Home <br />Had a great time in Beantown - walked across the Longfellow Bridge from MIT to downtown, and went exploring in the State House.<br /><br />The picture of the State House of Representatives chamber shown here doesn't begin to do it justice. It really is a stunning chapel of democracy. And perhaps this is a portend of things to come - on display was the seating chart from the House in 1923. Right down front, in the fourth seat from the furthest right edge (as you look from the galleries) was the seat for Representative Flinn. Spelled with an "i" and everything.<br /><br />Thanks also to Kellie who made a great tour guide.<br /><br />Did I miss anything?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:45 PM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />On the road again <br />Driving over to Boston.<br /><br />This is an open thread.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:30 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, August 21, 2005<br />Acquire some. Put them on SUVs. <br />A man from Bennington, VT (about 20 miles from here) is making peace magnets.<br /><br />The point of it is to provoke discussion, Sperber said.<br /><br />"Peace is patriotic," he said. "The idea that I resist and reject is that if you're not for the war you're unpatriotic. I support the troops — I want them to come home alive."<br /><br />Mr. Sperber, I salute you.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:44 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />That's gold, Jerry! <br />Bill Shein, a local columnist, gives us Little-known Roberts memos, in honor of Chimpy McStagger's nominee for SCOTUS.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:41 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Postmodernism <br />I'm not sure someone gets postmodernism here. While the author is quick to castigate someone for "lazily appropriated" materials, he misses the point. Perhaps I'm in the minority of postmodernists here, but I've never viewed postmodernism as ahistorical. I view it more as panhistorical, in which everything that has happened before is given the potentiality for use as something new.<br /><br />Of course, I tend to side with Ferré on such matters, with his ecosystematic model.<br /><br />Your thoughts, fellow philosophizin' types?<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-770692134136043426?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-73477913469173382142005-08-27T00:09:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:10:38.041-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, August 27, 2005<br />ID continued <br />Another good op-ed on "Intelligent" Design from the North Adams Transcript.<br /><br />Why couldn't I have had a paper like this growing up, instead of the fishwrap that shills for fundamentalist slackjaws and the crypto-racists of the John Birch Society?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:22 AM |||Comments (8) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, August 26, 2005<br />An anniversary of note <br />This week, of course, marks the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, enshrining in our most important document the right of women to vote.<br /><br />Of course, we're perfectly willing to take that right AWAY from Iraqi women, but hey, last throes and all that.<br /><br />So, to my female readers - go out and vote! Run for office! You had to fight the forces of reaction HARD to get this right - use it!<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:48 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />The Walk In Brain Book Club <br />I just finished a remarkable book - American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley - His Battle for Chicago and the Nation by Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor.<br /><br />Has anyone else read this book? If so, your thoughts?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:27 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, August 25, 2005<br />And the winner is... <br />...Hartford.<br /><br />It was closer, and I'd already blown a good chunk of the day.<br /><br />I'll get Montpelier soon.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:31 PM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Bernstein <br />Today is the birthday of Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990), arguably the most important American "classical" musician of the 20th century.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:26 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />This is too good. <br />Check out David Horsey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Pat Robertson.<br /><br />I don't think it can be said any better, though I firmly expect the "Bush Can Do No Wrong" Brigade to get on my case for inviting a comparison between Chavez and Christ.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:10 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Open Thread <br />Nothing is jumping out at me today, so go nuts.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:41 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Decisions, decisions <br />Hartford or Montpelier?<br /><br />I'm gonna hit one state capital today. I haven't visited the state of Connecticut yet, so I'm leaning towards Hartford, but I also hear that Montpelier is just stunningly beautiful and rustic.<br /><br />Thoughts?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:34 AM |||Comments (6) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, August 24, 2005<br />Another mother <br />While Cindy Sheehan has been doing her thing in Texas (and may HER mother recover from the stroke), a mother here in North Adams is honoring her son who was killed in the September 11 attacks by building a school in Afghanistan.<br /><br />Two mothers, two activities, and both of them better PR for America (one shows how dissent works in an open society; one helps educate) than Bush's misadventure in Iraq.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:30 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, August 23, 2005<br />Props <br />I don't agree with Brendan of Spacetropic on foreign policy issues much, but he's absolutely right on with his indictment of NIMBYism and our disposable consumer culture in this entry.<br /><br />I've never completely understood the exurban impulse. Brendan suggests it's for wide-open spaces, yet too often the large houses are built on small lots. Plus, the exurbs are merciless if you choose not to drive (and mass transit is often completely nonexistent or geared to the senior community). The designs (cul-de-sacs and collector roads, with ample fencing and treelines) make it virtually impossible to walk to any shopping.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:42 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />RIP Robert Moog, 1934 - 2005 <br />This desk has received word of the passing of Robert Moog, the creator of the Moog and Minimoog synthesizers.<br /><br />Bob Moog did two things to revolutionize electronic music - he increased the palette of sounds and he made it accessible to the average composer and listener. He (and those ideas) will be missed.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:29 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Miscellaneous, Etc. <br />Just a couple of random thoughts on a cool (low 50s) morning in North Adams.<br /><br />(1) Don't walk up Beacon Hill in Boston with church shoes on. My right foot still feels like a cloven hoof.<br /><br />(2) Some people give me grief over terms like "JEEEEEzus!" Let me set one thing straight for the record: I don't believe for a second that fundamentalists actually believe in or worship Jesus, the one called Christ, or (for The Axinar, who I know will appreciate the effort) Yeshua bar Yosef. That Jesus is all about humbling yourself, helping the less fortunate, doing good works, and loving your fellow man. Since I get very little of that in the rhetoric of fundamentalist leaders, I can only assume that they're worshipping someone else with a similar name, who apparently teaches that salvation requires you to be rich, white, and Republican, and that the only two deadly sins are abortion and homosexuality. Hence, "JEEEEEzus!" is the term I use.<br /><br />Why do I wander into this minefield on an otherwise beautiful morning?<br /><br />Well, as many of you know, I have a lot of ministers in my family, and we all attend a church that is very conservative theologically. I've read the Bible. Quite a lot, actually. And not once in the New Testament do I see Christ, Paul, Peter, or any of the other leaders of early Christianity calling for the assassination of a leader.<br /><br />You cannot call Pat Robertson a fringe element in modern American fundamentalist "Christianity." It was his media empire that helped launch the modern fundamentalist movement. When Ward Churchill, a minor-league academic at one college, made some utterly wrong remarks about the attacks of September 11, immediately the David Horowitzes and Rush Limbaughs of the world tied his words to not only the entire academic community, but anyone to the left of Zell Miller. Now Robertson, one of three main people responsible for the upsurge in fundamentalism, a man who won several million votes in the 1988 Republican presidential primary, and a man who is seen on TV daily by millions more, is calling for some very un-Christ like behavior.<br /><br />I'm waiting for the condemnations by the Right. There may be a lot of JEEEEEzus! in Robertson's message, but there's very little Jesus.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:43 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, August 22, 2005<br />Back Home <br />Had a great time in Beantown - walked across the Longfellow Bridge from MIT to downtown, and went exploring in the State House.<br /><br />The picture of the State House of Representatives chamber shown here doesn't begin to do it justice. It really is a stunning chapel of democracy. And perhaps this is a portend of things to come - on display was the seating chart from the House in 1923. Right down front, in the fourth seat from the furthest right edge (as you look from the galleries) was the seat for Representative Flinn. Spelled with an "i" and everything.<br /><br />Thanks also to Kellie who made a great tour guide.<br /><br />Did I miss anything?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:45 PM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />On the road again <br />Driving over to Boston.<br /><br />This is an open thread.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:30 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, August 21, 2005<br />Acquire some. Put them on SUVs. <br />A man from Bennington, VT (about 20 miles from here) is making peace magnets.<br /><br />The point of it is to provoke discussion, Sperber said.<br /><br />"Peace is patriotic," he said. "The idea that I resist and reject is that if you're not for the war you're unpatriotic. I support the troops — I want them to come home alive."<br /><br />Mr. Sperber, I salute you.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:44 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />That's gold, Jerry! <br />Bill Shein, a local columnist, gives us Little-known Roberts memos, in honor of Chimpy McStagger's nominee for SCOTUS.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:41 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Postmodernism <br />I'm not sure someone gets postmodernism here. While the author is quick to castigate someone for "lazily appropriated" materials, he misses the point. Perhaps I'm in the minority of postmodernists here, but I've never viewed postmodernism as ahistorical. I view it more as panhistorical, in which everything that has happened before is given the potentiality for use as something new.<br /><br />Of course, I tend to side with Ferré on such matters, with his ecosystematic model.<br /><br />Your thoughts, fellow philosophizin' types?<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-7347791346917338214?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-42113643523862315082005-07-30T00:44:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:45:47.038-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, July 30, 2005<br />Safe <br />Jawa Girl and I have unpacked the car. The cat is exploring the new digs.<br /><br />Since the apartment is not air conditioned and we're hot and tired, we're at the Holiday Inn for the night.<br /><br />Tomorrow I put Jawa Girl on a plane back to Columbus (family is picking her up there) and begin the process of making sense of things. I'll post whenever I can get to wi-fi (until the internet is set up at the new place).<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:14 PM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />And we're off <br />The car is packed. The cat is soon to be loaded. Next stop, Massachusetts.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:11 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, July 29, 2005<br />The next time they call us elitists... <br />Jean Schmidt's money is coming from herself and from major Washington and Cincinnati donors.<br /><br />Paul Hackett's money is coming from you and I and thousands like us.<br /><br />Just remember that.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:52 AM |||Comments (8) | Trackback (0)<br />So long, and thanks for all the fish. <br />So this is it - my last full day in the Queen City.<br /><br />Sometime next week, after I have unpacked, gotten the necessary internet connections, and settled in, I'll have my Last Cincinnati Will and Testament.<br /><br />I'll probably have another post or two today as well.<br /><br />This thread is open.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:46 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, July 28, 2005<br />Gee, imagine that. <br />Keith Fangman is endorsing the Republican because he's upset the Democrat did his job.<br /><br />Mr. Fangman, for someone charged with upholding the law, you seem to forget why the law exists and why we have due process. A claim was made. A suit was filed, and during the investigation, the claim was dismissed. The system WORKED.<br /><br />But that's not good enough for you. In your world, no police officer should ever be questioned.<br /><br />Mr. Fangman, the hard-working men and women of the CPD deserve better than you. In your relentless quest to make sure police can shoot at will, you've besmirched their reputation.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:47 AM |||Comments (6) | Trackback (0)<br />Back <br />For a couple more days, anyway.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:42 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, July 25, 2005<br />Open Thread <br />At Jawa Girl's, using her computer while mine is in a box.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:04 AM |||Comments (7) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, July 24, 2005<br />Radio Silence <br />My computer is about to be disassembled. Posting is gonna be sporadic for a while. I hope to be back on a regular schedule by Thursday. If the motels where Dad and I are staying have wi-fi, I'll do what I can.<br /><br />Be safe and be well.<br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-4211364352386231508?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-8750962069054778712005-06-11T00:40:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:43:41.079-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, June 11, 2005<br />Well, this is interesting <br />Please, Russ Jackson, run as an independent Republican.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:42 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, June 10, 2005<br />Es ist genug <br />A composition by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) was discovered this week. It's a strophic aria in honor of the birthday of Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar, a patron of Bach's.<br /><br />This is, to my knowledge, the only strophic aria (a strophic aria has the same music for multiple verses of a poem or text) that J. S. Bach wrote. So even though the piece is not all that important in Bach's output, it's still a major find.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:47 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />An alternate viewpoint <br />Mr. Frank J. Labmeier of Green Township proposes an alternative to lifetime appointments for federal judges.<br /><br />Here's how I see it:<br /><br />PROS:<br />Even the most odious jurist would only have eight years on the bench;<br />The removal of lifetime status would break much of the logjam surrounding federal judicial appointments.<br /><br />CONS:<br />Every time the majority on a judicial panel switched ideologies, you'd see spates of cases being filed and the possible overturning of case law every decade (think Plessy flipped by Brown and vice versa every decade or so);<br />There's still the desire for promotion to higher courts, so the ideological judges would still be playing to push their viewpoint (in the hopes that they will be rewarded with a higher office).<br /><br />I do hope Mr. Labmeier meant "appointed" instead of "elected" in his penultimate paragraph. State and local judicial elections are painful enough - I cannot imagine the fights that would break out over federal judgeships.<br /><br />What do you think?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:26 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Arrrgh <br />So I get here early today and figure I'll have plenty of blogging time before class.<br /><br />The computer has been achingly slow (think Commodore 64) all morning.<br /><br />I haven't even read the paper yet. I first tried to post this 20 minutes ago.<br /><br />This is an open thread.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:25 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, June 09, 2005<br />Coingate <br />It just keeps getting bigger and bigger...<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:24 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />I don't know this man <br />I don't know Arnie Engel, but from all accounts he's committed to destroying public education wherever it may be.<br /><br />Sad. Public schools predate the Constitution (check out the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, for example), and this person has taken it upon himself to wipe them from the planet.<br /><br />Somehow I doubt he's doing it alone. Who is funding Mr. Arnie Engel of Fairfield in his quest to oppose all school levies everywhere?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:22 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />Quick thoughts on ads <br />I have not seen any ads for the Democratic candidates yet, so I cannot comment on them.<br /><br />I've spoken below about the single McEwen ad I've seen - nice to know that, when there is a 10% unemployment rate in parts of the 2nd District, Bob McEwen will have the right priority - the Pledge of Allegiance.<br /><br />Pat DeWine seems to have built a cottage industry on going after McEwen. Does being a "Ronald Reagan conservative" mean you like jellybeans and/or are dead?<br /><br />Eric Minamyer, who has been kind enough to comment here, seems a decent sort, but his ads are not well-produced. That might turn off some people, though to me the bigger turn-off is the presence of Simon Leis as his campaign chair. Ouch.<br /><br />The Club for Growth (motto: "No taxes EVER!") has been attacking Jean Schmidt on behalf of Tom Brinkman. Is there some internal win-place-show jockeying I don't know about?<br /><br />The tamest ads belong to Jean Schmidt. They play down her ties to the social conservative movement.<br /><br />What are your thoughts on the ads?<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:14 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, June 08, 2005<br />Less than a week <br />Post your thoughts on the two primaries for the OH-2 open seat here. I have to go teach.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:26 AM |||Comments (13) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, June 07, 2005<br />Slow News Day <br />Oh, sure, there are some Cleti among the letters, and there's corruption in Kentucky state government, but this isn't a change from the status quo.<br /><br />I gotta teach in 10 minutes anyway.<br /><br />This is an open thread.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:16 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, June 06, 2005<br />June 6, 1944 <br />It's been sixty-one years since the Allies stormed the beaches at Normandy. Those brave soldiers marked the turning point in the war in Europe.<br /><br />If you know anyone who was there, thank that person today.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:17 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, June 05, 2005<br />Hmm... <br />Based on what they told the Enquirer, the two best Republican candidates (admittedly, my priorities are way different than the GOP's) are Eric Minamyer (though I'm not thrilled with his reflexive tax-cutting) and Doug Mink (the only one to talk about telecommunications issues). Jean Schmidt seems harmless enough, but friends of mine who worked with her in Miami Township and State Government say her discussion of jobs, etc., is a smokescreen to moderates so she can do nothing but anti-abortion and anti-gay work.<br /><br />As bad as McEwen and Brinkman are, and as patently overly ambitious as Pat DeWine is, any of them would be better than Jeff Morgan of Peebles, who says his first priority is the Federal Marriage Amendment. I guess we should be glad he's up-front about it, and that he's not hiding it like others (though Brinkman says it's his SECOND priority).<br /><br />You'd like to think someone like Jeff Morgan would be too extreme for even the 2nd District, and indeed his chances are slim; however, he'll get some votes.<br /><br />I'll put in some thoughts on the Democrats next week.<br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-875096206905477871?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-27015367549909093042005-05-13T00:37:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:38:27.786-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Friday, May 13, 2005<br />Go east, young man. <br />I've alluded to this in earlier posts, but I'm now ready to tell why I was out of town.<br /><br />I was in North Adams, Massachusetts for an interview. As of 10:30 this morning, I can report with 99.44% certainty that it was successful, and my life is about to change in a most dramatic and exciting way.<br /><br />Come this fall, I will be Assistant Professor of Music - a tenure-track position - in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams.<br /><br />This will, of course, require me to leave Cincinnati. And while I will miss the many wonderful people and places here in the Queen City, this represents a career move that I cannot turn down. I am looking forward to the possibilities.<br /><br />Feel free to visit - I'm gonna try to have a spare bedroom, and the foliage in the Berkshires is simply amazing.<br /><br />UPDATE (3:30pm)- it's now 100% official. The VP just called and made the official offer, which I accepted.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:48 AM |||Comments (27) | Trackback (0)<br />Bolton <br />Though I disagree with one premise in the Enquirer op-ed on John Bolton, I agree wholeheartedly with the other.<br /><br />I agree that we can produce a better UN ambassador than John Bolton. This is not a "Nixon Goes To China" moment; Nixon was at least sincere in his desire to see China opened up to the West. Bolton has no other mission than to undercut what influence the UN has left as the last step of establishing US hegemony. Bolton is a member of the neo-con cabal known as the Project for a New American Century, which is determined to establish a 21st-century version of the Roman Empire. To appoint John Bolton to the position of UN Ambassador, EVEN IF you don't care for the UN, says to the rest of the world that we simply view you as opposition and/or consumers.<br /><br />I disagree with the statement that this should have gone to the full Senate; I do wish Sen. Voinovich had refused to send it to the floor. Having said that, I'm glad Sen. Voinovich said what he did, though.<br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-2701536754990909304?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-43973649502511351612005-05-07T00:30:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:31:49.892-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, May 07, 2005<br />Big Time College Sports <br />As both my readers know, I teach at Northern Kentucky University. The faculty, staff, and students have been surveyed quite a bit on the possibility of becoming a Division I athletic program.<br /><br />I'm against it.<br /><br />Not that I don't like college sports - I grew up in Indiana in the '70s and '80s, fer cryin' out loud - but that there's no gain in the level of education. If anything, the move would suck money out of academics and into athletics.<br /><br />NKU has a way to go before it could make such a move. Even as a Division II school, it's about $1.5 million a year short of what it needs to have adequate personnel and facilities, Votruba said.<br /><br />The university has 14,000 students, according to its fall 2003 statistics.<br /><br />Historically, NKU has received the least state funding for its size of any public university in Kentucky. Tuition and student fees at the university provide 62 percent of NKU's operating budget, which is the highest percentage in the commonwealth, Votruba said.<br /><br />"What's obvious is our athletic department has performed miracles, given the support it has received," he said.<br /><br />Moving to Division I would require not only a tuition increase of about 1 percent to 2 percent over each of the next two years, but also increased support from private donors, he said[emphasis added].<br /><br />Tuition is already skyrocketing at NKU - we don't need to add more burden on a student population that is quite overtaxed as it is all to keep some alumni happy. I hope President Votruba, a truly classy guy, fights the urge to do this. We are and can continue to be a Division II powerhouse.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:22 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Another voice <br />The Enquirer (rightly so) takes Summit Country Day to task for disinviting Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kansas), arguably its most honored alumna.<br /><br />The late Pope John Paul II was strenuously opposed to the war in Iraq, as is Pope Benedict XVI. The stance of "pro-life" means also complete and total opposition to the death penalty. I wonder if Summit would disinvite someone who was in favor of the war or in favor of the death penalty. Somehow I doubt it.<br /><br />Sadly, for too many people, "Pro-Life" means "Pro-Birth" and nothing more.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:13 AM |||Comments (9) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, May 06, 2005<br />Because, you know, no one should ever be exposed to a differing opinion. <br />I somehow doubt that Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius was going to Summit Country Day School in Cincinnati to encourage kids to have abortions.<br /><br />But of course, that won't stop people from pressuring the school to cancel her appearance.<br /><br />Look, they're a private school (though they are NOT a diocesan school), and they can do as they wish.<br /><br />We can point out what they're doing as well, of course. Here you have an alumna who is successful beyond compare, and because of one viewpoint (you all do realize that there's more to Catholicism than the choice thing, right?) they're disinviting her.<br /><br />I feel bad for Gov. Sebelius. She's trying to do what's right by the people of the Great State of Kansas, but (a) her hometown is disinviting her and (b) some people in her state are get rid of science education.<br /><br />On a somewhat-related note, members of a Baptist church in East Waynesville were excommunicated for supporting the Demcratic Party. See the story here - click on "Religion and Politics Clash."<br /><br />Is this what we're coming to - the complete stifling of debate? When you consider that hard-right types of "faith" now claim to be the only true "Christians" (nowhere in my King James Bible does it say "thou shalt vote Republican") and that any disagreement with any issue is now grounds for a complete negation of everything a person says, as in the case of Gov. Sebelius, it begins to look scary.<br /><br />My grandfather was a lifelong member of the Church of Christ, a denomination that is, to put it mildly, very conservative theologically. Not only was he a member, he was also a minister and elder. And to his dying day, he was a Democrat through and through (one of his brothers who died in infancy was named for William Jennings Bryan). His younger sister, my beloved Aunt Ginny, was also a devout member of this church AND also a fiercely partisan Democrat. Why? Because they believed in the common man, and also didn't want their faith - this faith which informed every single thing they did in this life - used as a political football.<br /><br />(She suffered a stroke in 2000, but lived on through the shenangians of that election. She lived in Palm Beach County, Florida at the time, so I called her about a week after the election. Even though the words were slurred and slow, the fire was still there - "I don't know anyone who voted for that sorry so-and-so Bush, and if I meet anyone, I'll give 'em a piece of my mind!" - and it didn't abate. She passed in May 2001, but not before asking me to keep fighting for the liberal side. I miss her terribly, and hope I'm that feisty when I'm 82. Of course, I just hope to make it to 82. Or even 42 at this rate.)<br /><br />I am tired of faith (or what passes for it amongst the right-wing) being commandeered for exclusionary and divisive means.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-4397364950251135161?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-42672742514782225332005-02-11T23:55:00.000-08:002007-07-07T00:19:08.487-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Friday, February 11, 2005<br />Out Of The Office <br />Heading up to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this weekend. Back Sunday.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 6:41 PM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />One in the fray <br />Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Greg Hartmann (R-Hyde Park) is running for Secretary of State of Ohio.<br /><br />He says he won't accept a public role in any political campaign if he wins, unlike Ken Blackwell (who was the Bush Re-Elect chair in Ohio). He shouldn't accept any private role either.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 2:59 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Music's important role in the enrichment of the human spirit <br />It's good to see articles like this one about Peter Kamnitzer, a violinist in the world-famous LaSalle Quartet.<br /><br />Folks, when music programs in the schools are cut, programs like the Corryville Suzuki Project attempt to fill the gap. They do lots of good work, but it's a shame they have to fill that gap instead of add to the experience.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:42 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />All Politics Is Local <br />Our "friends" in the GOP wing of the Hamilton County Commission have hired a $70-per-hour "super-consultant." The savior in question is Mr. Ron Roberts, a former head of the Cincinnati Business Committee and a noted supporter of conservative causes and people (like the anti-repeal folks from the last election).<br /><br />This is nothing more than an attempt to dismantle county government, just as Heimlich and DeWine's ideological partners are attempting to do to state and federal government. They loathe anything that helps non-rich and non-white folk, and are determined to destroy any community that isn't based around a gathering of CEOs or a conservative megachurch.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:35 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, February 10, 2005<br />'Bout time. <br />The Enquirer FINALLY prints a story on Senate Bill 24, aka "The Assault On Academic Freedom Act of 2005." <br /><br />The student profiled in the opening, Charis Bridgman, is originally from Lakota East (if Google is to be believed), so there's a local connection. What jumped out at ME is this quote: <br /><br />College sophomore Charis Bridgman tends to keep quiet in class if she thinks her professor might disagree with her Christian-influenced ideas[emphasis added]. <br /><br />The 19-year-old says schools such as her Otterbein College in suburban Columbus should be a place for open discussion, but she thinks some professors make students afraid to speak up. <br /><br />"They might chastise me, or not even listen to my opinion or give me a chance to explain," she said.<br /><br />Compare that to what the bill's sponsor, Sen. Larry Mumper (R-Marion), has to say about the bill: <br /><br />"I see students coming out having gone in without any ideological leanings one way or another[emphasis added], coming out with an indoctrination of a lot of left-wing issues," said bill sponsor Sen. Larry Mumper, a former high school teacher whose Republican party controls the legislature.<br /><br /><br />So which is it? No ideological leanings, or "Christian-influenced ideas?" The two are mutually exclusive. <br /><br />NOTE: I'm not saying that Christians cannot be liberals. Far from it - I think those who actually heed the words of Jesus (and not JEEEEEzus!) tend to be progressives. What I'm saying is that to say the students have no "ideological leanings" when a student flat-out admits to having them is disingenuous at best and hypocritical at worst. If your ideas are influenced by something, those are "ideological leanings." Sen. Mumper and his ilk don't want honest, open discussion. They want indoctrination from THEIR side. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:39 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Busy Morning <br />I'll be blogging after about 11am. In the meantime, try not to kill each other. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:48 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, February 09, 2005<br />Churchill redux <br />Via Covington Jim, someone who groks and groks well, we find this piece by Swarthmore College professor Tim Burke. It's worth reading. <br /><br />If Prof. Churchill's scholarship isn't "up to code," then I have a problem with him being a tenured professor. We have to make sure we maintain our own standards. There are conflicting accounts as to his current scholarship, but apparently his earlier work was quite solid. <br /><br />Prof. Burke says something quite potent in his next blog entry: <br /><br />Tenure is a system that recognizes people for what they have done and offers them blanket protection on that basis for what they will do. The best career trajectories in academia, in my view, are those where a scholar does something after tenure, with its protections, that is fundamentally unlike his or her pre-tenure work. Better, richer, more daring or provocative, less constricted or constrained. <br /><br />So in the best-case scenario, what are you really looking for in the tenure process? If you don’t want a guarantee that what someone has already written, they will write again and again, you are looking for quality of intellect and for some sort of evidence of a lifelong commitment to the academic ideal. That ideal is not a mirror image of what the larger public sphere should or does look like. Churchill’s defenders have observed that his books have sold many more copies than all of the books and writings of his various critics. Indeed so. Ward Churchill is an important and legitimate figure in the wider democratic public sphere. He speaks to and for his audience. There ought to be Ward Churchills as long as there are audiences who seek out what he has to say, or even audiences which might learn something from the intensity of his polemical response to American history and society. <br /><br />But this is not what we claim to be doing with academic standards. If the point of academia was to mirror the wider American public sphere precisely, then the conservative critique of the leftward tilt of academic life becomes devastatingly on-target. The academic humanities and social sciences, whatever they are and should be, bear little resemblance to the distribution of opinion and argument in American public culture.<br /><br />It's my conjecture that the point of academia is NOT to mirror the public sphere, but to provide a place for discussion. <br /><br />But hey, that's me, your mileage may vary, and I don't even know how long I'll be in academia. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:08 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, February 08, 2005<br />State of the State <br />Right now, Gov. Bob Taft (R-Cincinnati) is giving his State of the State address. I'm listening to it on WVXU. If anything big is said, I'll let you know. (Hint: probably won't happen.) <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 1:02 PM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />I hope he gets it together. <br />If Mr. Robert Boomershine can get all the paperwork right, he'll get his Gay-Straight Alliance, and people like Ms. Rhonda York will see that different does not equal bad. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 6:36 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />In other news, water is wet. <br />Normally, I would leave the Bronson-bashing to Brian Griffin, but Pete just does not get it. Senate Bill 24 *IS* McCarthyism, pure and simple. It would not change things; if anything, it would make things worse for people like Bronson, for what would happen if the State Legislature, which is charged with defining what is "controversial" (according to the tenets of the bill), were to become suddenly of opposite viewpoints than Bronson and stifle HIS viewpoints? According to this bill, they'd have that right. Peter, don't be stupid. Don't open Pandora's box here. <br /><br />I'd like to get the perspective of someone who was actually AT the event at Miami where Churchill spoke, and not someone like Mr. Steve Szaronos, who serves on some committees at Miami (don't know his affiliation, but I'm wagering he got on there with his connections to the College Republicans) or Prof. Ben Voth, who is extremely active in groups like University Faculty For Life. Once again, Bronson uses extremely one-sided sources in an attempt to stir up trouble. (Google is an amazing thing, ne c'est pas?) <br /><br />Folks, let's make one thing clear: I find what Prof. Churchill said to be abhorrent. I'm thinking Prof. Voth wasn't there to ask an honest question, though. This looks like the standard conservative trick of "being controversial" and trying to make trouble, then claiming "Freedom of Speech! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!" I'm not buyin' it. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 6:24 AM |||Comments (9) | Trackback (0)<br />Amen and amen <br />Timothy Leonard explains why we need music in schools. <br /><br />Full Disclosure: I've worked with Paulette Meier, helping her with transcriptions of her music. What Mr. Leonard says about her is true. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 6:18 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, February 07, 2005<br />Updates <br />As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, some changes are en route. I'm still nailing down details. <br /><br />Also, hopefully within a couple of weeks I'll have a draft of a chapter of my dissertation on my personal website for your perusal. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:22 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, February 06, 2005<br />Someone gets it again <br />Specifically, Ms. Sally Miller of Finneytown (first letter). In the matter of Postcards from Buster and WCET's refusal to air the episode on Vermont, she has this to say: <br /><br />Why should I support a channel that feels no obligation to offer programs that might, possibly, offend their more conservative viewers? Are these the same viewers who let their children watch the sleaze that the networks offer daily and nightly? I thought the P in PBS stood for public. There's more to the public than the conservative right.<br /><br />Keith Olbermann said it earlier: the right-wing isn't looking upset that there's a pro-homosexual agenda (there is none) - they're upset there's NOT an ANTI-homosexual agenda.<br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-4267274251478222533?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-32239468347004490232005-02-11T00:12:00.000-08:002007-07-07T00:13:58.850-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Friday, February 11, 2005<br />Out Of The Office <br />Heading up to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this weekend. Back Sunday.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 6:41 PM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />One in the fray <br />Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Greg Hartmann (R-Hyde Park) is running for Secretary of State of Ohio.<br /><br />He says he won't accept a public role in any political campaign if he wins, unlike Ken Blackwell (who was the Bush Re-Elect chair in Ohio). He shouldn't accept any private role either.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 2:59 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Music's important role in the enrichment of the human spirit <br />It's good to see articles like this one about Peter Kamnitzer, a violinist in the world-famous LaSalle Quartet.<br /><br />Folks, when music programs in the schools are cut, programs like the Corryville Suzuki Project attempt to fill the gap. They do lots of good work, but it's a shame they have to fill that gap instead of add to the experience.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:42 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />All Politics Is Local <br />Our "friends" in the GOP wing of the Hamilton County Commission have hired a $70-per-hour "super-consultant." The savior in question is Mr. Ron Roberts, a former head of the Cincinnati Business Committee and a noted supporter of conservative causes and people (like the anti-repeal folks from the last election).<br /><br />This is nothing more than an attempt to dismantle county government, just as Heimlich and DeWine's ideological partners are attempting to do to state and federal government. They loathe anything that helps non-rich and non-white folk, and are determined to destroy any community that isn't based around a gathering of CEOs or a conservative megachurch.<br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:35 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, February 10, 2005<br />'Bout time. <br />The Enquirer FINALLY prints a story on Senate Bill 24, aka "The Assault On Academic Freedom Act of 2005." <br /><br />The student profiled in the opening, Charis Bridgman, is originally from Lakota East (if Google is to be believed), so there's a local connection. What jumped out at ME is this quote: <br /><br />College sophomore Charis Bridgman tends to keep quiet in class if she thinks her professor might disagree with her Christian-influenced ideas[emphasis added]. <br /><br />The 19-year-old says schools such as her Otterbein College in suburban Columbus should be a place for open discussion, but she thinks some professors make students afraid to speak up. <br /><br />"They might chastise me, or not even listen to my opinion or give me a chance to explain," she said.<br /><br />Compare that to what the bill's sponsor, Sen. Larry Mumper (R-Marion), has to say about the bill: <br /><br />"I see students coming out having gone in without any ideological leanings one way or another[emphasis added], coming out with an indoctrination of a lot of left-wing issues," said bill sponsor Sen. Larry Mumper, a former high school teacher whose Republican party controls the legislature.<br /><br /><br />So which is it? No ideological leanings, or "Christian-influenced ideas?" The two are mutually exclusive. <br /><br />NOTE: I'm not saying that Christians cannot be liberals. Far from it - I think those who actually heed the words of Jesus (and not JEEEEEzus!) tend to be progressives. What I'm saying is that to say the students have no "ideological leanings" when a student flat-out admits to having them is disingenuous at best and hypocritical at worst. If your ideas are influenced by something, those are "ideological leanings." Sen. Mumper and his ilk don't want honest, open discussion. They want indoctrination from THEIR side. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:39 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Busy Morning <br />I'll be blogging after about 11am. In the meantime, try not to kill each other. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:48 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, February 09, 2005<br />Churchill redux <br />Via Covington Jim, someone who groks and groks well, we find this piece by Swarthmore College professor Tim Burke. It's worth reading. <br /><br />If Prof. Churchill's scholarship isn't "up to code," then I have a problem with him being a tenured professor. We have to make sure we maintain our own standards. There are conflicting accounts as to his current scholarship, but apparently his earlier work was quite solid. <br /><br />Prof. Burke says something quite potent in his next blog entry: <br /><br />Tenure is a system that recognizes people for what they have done and offers them blanket protection on that basis for what they will do. The best career trajectories in academia, in my view, are those where a scholar does something after tenure, with its protections, that is fundamentally unlike his or her pre-tenure work. Better, richer, more daring or provocative, less constricted or constrained. <br /><br />So in the best-case scenario, what are you really looking for in the tenure process? If you don’t want a guarantee that what someone has already written, they will write again and again, you are looking for quality of intellect and for some sort of evidence of a lifelong commitment to the academic ideal. That ideal is not a mirror image of what the larger public sphere should or does look like. Churchill’s defenders have observed that his books have sold many more copies than all of the books and writings of his various critics. Indeed so. Ward Churchill is an important and legitimate figure in the wider democratic public sphere. He speaks to and for his audience. There ought to be Ward Churchills as long as there are audiences who seek out what he has to say, or even audiences which might learn something from the intensity of his polemical response to American history and society. <br /><br />But this is not what we claim to be doing with academic standards. If the point of academia was to mirror the wider American public sphere precisely, then the conservative critique of the leftward tilt of academic life becomes devastatingly on-target. The academic humanities and social sciences, whatever they are and should be, bear little resemblance to the distribution of opinion and argument in American public culture.<br /><br />It's my conjecture that the point of academia is NOT to mirror the public sphere, but to provide a place for discussion. <br /><br />But hey, that's me, your mileage may vary, and I don't even know how long I'll be in academia. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:08 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, February 08, 2005<br />State of the State <br />Right now, Gov. Bob Taft (R-Cincinnati) is giving his State of the State address. I'm listening to it on WVXU. If anything big is said, I'll let you know. (Hint: probably won't happen.) <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 1:02 PM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />I hope he gets it together. <br />If Mr. Robert Boomershine can get all the paperwork right, he'll get his Gay-Straight Alliance, and people like Ms. Rhonda York will see that different does not equal bad. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 6:36 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />In other news, water is wet. <br />Normally, I would leave the Bronson-bashing to Brian Griffin, but Pete just does not get it. Senate Bill 24 *IS* McCarthyism, pure and simple. It would not change things; if anything, it would make things worse for people like Bronson, for what would happen if the State Legislature, which is charged with defining what is "controversial" (according to the tenets of the bill), were to become suddenly of opposite viewpoints than Bronson and stifle HIS viewpoints? According to this bill, they'd have that right. Peter, don't be stupid. Don't open Pandora's box here. <br /><br />I'd like to get the perspective of someone who was actually AT the event at Miami where Churchill spoke, and not someone like Mr. Steve Szaronos, who serves on some committees at Miami (don't know his affiliation, but I'm wagering he got on there with his connections to the College Republicans) or Prof. Ben Voth, who is extremely active in groups like University Faculty For Life. Once again, Bronson uses extremely one-sided sources in an attempt to stir up trouble. (Google is an amazing thing, ne c'est pas?) <br /><br />Folks, let's make one thing clear: I find what Prof. Churchill said to be abhorrent. I'm thinking Prof. Voth wasn't there to ask an honest question, though. This looks like the standard conservative trick of "being controversial" and trying to make trouble, then claiming "Freedom of Speech! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!" I'm not buyin' it. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 6:24 AM |||Comments (9) | Trackback (0)<br />Amen and amen <br />Timothy Leonard explains why we need music in schools. <br /><br />Full Disclosure: I've worked with Paulette Meier, helping her with transcriptions of her music. What Mr. Leonard says about her is true. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 6:18 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, February 07, 2005<br />Updates <br />As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, some changes are en route. I'm still nailing down details. <br /><br />Also, hopefully within a couple of weeks I'll have a draft of a chapter of my dissertation on my personal website for your perusal. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:22 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, February 06, 2005<br />Someone gets it again <br />Specifically, Ms. Sally Miller of Finneytown (first letter). In the matter of Postcards from Buster and WCET's refusal to air the episode on Vermont, she has this to say: <br /><br />Why should I support a channel that feels no obligation to offer programs that might, possibly, offend their more conservative viewers? Are these the same viewers who let their children watch the sleaze that the networks offer daily and nightly? I thought the P in PBS stood for public. There's more to the public than the conservative right.<br /><br />Keith Olbermann said it earlier: the right-wing isn't looking upset that there's a pro-homosexual agenda (there is none) - they're upset there's NOT an ANTI-homosexual agenda. <br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-3223946834700449023?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-75921950393843291522004-11-12T23:52:00.000-08:002007-07-06T23:54:19.432-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Friday, November 12, 2004<br />On The Road <br />Greetings from a Kinko's in Seattle, Washington. <br /><br />I Heart Seattle. <br /><br />There is an energy and excitement here that I cannot adequately describe. <br /><br />I'm bringing some ideas back. <br /><br />More possibly tomorrow or Sunday, but don't bet on it. :) <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:45 PM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, November 11, 2004<br />Leavin' on a jet plane... <br />I'm going to the annual conference* of the Society for Music Theory in Seattle today. I'll be back sometime Monday. <br /><br />If I can get to a cyber café or something, I'll post. Otherwise, see you when I get back. <br /><br />WF <br />*"conference," of course, comes from the Latin word "conferentia," meaning "drinking in a different state."<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 4:51 PM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, November 10, 2004<br />Dear God... <br />...please oh please oh please oh please do NOT let Barb Trauth get appointed to City Council. <br /><br />When I heard her speak on urban issues, including rebuilding the center city, all she seemed to say was "We gotta fight crime!" Yes, we need to fight crime, but there's so much more involved here. Getting people to live/work/play downtown and in OTR will do more to fight crime than Trauth's police-state proposals. <br /><br />Plus, I just don't think she has a lot of intellectual heft. I think she's also being floated by the far-right social conservatives (watch them carefully - they'll try to put Article XII back on the ballot, and soon). <br /><br />UPDATE: Commenter FunnelCake tells me that Barb Trauth's husband, Joseph Trauth, is on the board of directors for Citizens for Community Values. If nothing else, that's enough reason to make sure she never gets anywhere NEAR the levers of power. It's bad enough that Sam Malone has to carry water for these moral fascists - let's not add another fundamentalist whack-job to Council. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:55 AM |||Comments (9) | Trackback (0)<br />Someone Else Gets It <br />Ms. Natalie Wolf of Amberley Village, to be exact (fourth letter): <br /><br />I disagree with the writers of the letters "Conservatives are preserving the nation" and "'Silent majority' voices being heard" (Nov. 8). Is the America these gentlemen refer to so fondly the America where black people were enslaved? Where women could not vote? Or where sweatshops and child labor were a practical means of cheap labor? <br /><br />I believe the founders envisioned a progressive and changing America where people would be free to practice any religion or no religion. I will proudly wear the label "liberal" if it means that I care for my neighbors' welfare no less than my portfolio, and that the government should be saving money instead of giving it away as tax breaks.<br /><br />One of the things we seem to have lost in the rightward shift is the sense of community. Right now, it seems like the only communities the right wing cares about are churches and stock exchanges. <br /><br />WF <br /><br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:51 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, November 09, 2004<br />Sorry Everybody <br />Elizabeth sends me the following: <br /><br />Sorry Everybody <br /><br />ONE HUNDRED FORTY-THREE PAGES of people apologizing to the world for the [CENSORED] in-[CENSORED]-credible [CENSORED] of over 59,000,000 of our friends and neighbors. <br /><br />It's good for a laugh. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:10 PM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />More stuff <br />I've added a feed to this little popsicle stand. <br /><br />Also, note well the changes to the sidebar. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 1:13 PM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, November 08, 2004<br />Ch-ch-changes <br />I've added the Cincinnati Rambler, Nick Spencer, and Axinar's Universe to the local blogroll. Even when I don't agree with them, they're good reads. <br /><br />I've also added Pandagon to the national blogs, even though Jesse is based in Columbus. <br /><br />Happy reading! <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:39 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />Cleti On Parade In Perpetuity <br />In today's letters, we have Gerry Albers of Amberley Village (second letter) who says "If anyone wants to experience total, liberal freedom, visit the back streets of a Third World country where anything can be bought, sold, or done. Or, more practically, read up on why the Roman Empire fell - it decayed from within." <br /><br />Hmm...the first example is actually a depiction of what hardcore Capitalism Über Alles conservatism would look like, so that's strike one. The second example...well, let's just say that the acceleration of the fall of Rome happened AFTER the conversion of Constantine, so do the math. Where do these people come from, and why hasn't George W. Bush bombed IT into glass? Sounds to me like this mindset is a greater threat to OUR freedom than Saddam Hussein. <br /><br />Then we have Glenn McAndrews of Lebanon (fifth letter), who apparently doesn't believe that the coasts are as American as the "Heartland." This is a common mindset among the Cleti (whose numbers now apparently include my own mother, as she refused to state that Massachusetts was a member of the United States on equal footing with Indiana or Texas - there are very few things in this world as sad as one's mother becoming solidified on something so unbelievably wrong, especially when she taught you your first civics lessons in the first place. The passage of time, I guess). <br /><br />Well, Mr. McAndrews, you Cleti had your chance to form your own nation. You based it on enslavement and making money above all else. And we roundly and soundly showed you the error of your ways. So might I suggest that you abandon this Neo-Confederate mindset? <br /><br />Neo-Confederate. I like that. Once again, we're beholden to the South. Maybe we shoulda let 'em go when we had the chance, then offered safe passage to any and all slaves. Better yet, fight the Civil War, free the slaves, and THEN cut them off. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:18 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Green Acres <br />In today's Enquirer, Ms. Peg Conway of Amberley Village opines about the dangers of losing farmland. <br /><br />As both my loyal readers know, I grew up on a farm, and while I have some serious differences of opinion with my family on everything, I too am concerned with the loss of good, workable farmland. Not only does the concentration of farming into the hands of a few large corporations (ADM, I'm looking in your direction) spell trouble for our food supply (since he who controls the food controls the populace), the lost of the small farmer is a tragedy for our Republic. Jefferson envisioned a nation of yeoman farmers - he did not envision a nation of sprawlburbs and multinational corporations. Every time a solid plot of land is turned into another cookie-cutter cul-de-sac'ed subdivision or office park, I weep a little. <br /><br />I believe in using tax credits and fiscal policy to encourage people to buy and restore older homes in the cities and first-ring suburbs. I believe in encouraging and allowing farmers to grow a wider range of crops (and yes, that includes hemp, even though I do not and will not smoke marijuana). I believe in covenants and zoning that prevent predatory developers from riding roughshod over our finest natural resource. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:10 AM |||Comments (5) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, November 07, 2004<br />For the last time... <br />FIFTY-ONE PERCENT is NOT a "mandate." 51% is a "Thank you, Lord, we barely scraped by!" 51% is a comet passing within 150,000 miles of Earth. 51% is a "Ok, we have just over half the country. We've got some healing to do." <br /><br />Criminy, will the Cleti never learn? I can't be too surprised - he didn't even WIN last time and he governed as if he had a mandate. <br /><br />And leave it to the Status-Quo Defender - this opposing op-ed was labeled as being from a "labor-left Washington think tank," while the one linked to above was merely a "Capitol Hill think tank" - no mention of its rightward tilt. <br /><br />Gonna be a long four years, folks. We have an uphill battle to put the idiots down. I think we can do it - heck, I KNOW we can do it - but it's gonna be rough. Don't give up. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:40 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />Amen and amen <br />Mr. Greg Hladky of Westwood gets it (last letter): <br /><br />People can shoot themselves in the foot only so many times before they're left without a foot to stand on. My hope is that after another four years of President Bush, Republicans will finally accept responsibility for the consequences of their own policies and stop blaming former Presidents Clinton and Carter. Perhaps then the pendulum will swing back to the center, if not to the left. It's easier to dance when you have two feet.<br /><br />I love that last line. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:38 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />An ACTUAL member of the Cleti <br />Mr. Cletus J. Holtgrefe of Mason proposes an interesting voting idea. <br /><br />I'm still not 100% convinced, though - there are simply too many security issues with Internet voting. I do like being able to vote in any polling place, though. <br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-7592195039384329152?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-70005026966157396682004-11-12T00:10:00.000-08:002007-07-07T00:12:18.064-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Friday, November 12, 2004<br />On The Road <br />Greetings from a Kinko's in Seattle, Washington. <br /><br />I Heart Seattle. <br /><br />There is an energy and excitement here that I cannot adequately describe. <br /><br />I'm bringing some ideas back. <br /><br />More possibly tomorrow or Sunday, but don't bet on it. :) <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:45 PM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, November 11, 2004<br />Leavin' on a jet plane... <br />I'm going to the annual conference* of the Society for Music Theory in Seattle today. I'll be back sometime Monday. <br /><br />If I can get to a cyber café or something, I'll post. Otherwise, see you when I get back. <br /><br />WF <br />*"conference," of course, comes from the Latin word "conferentia," meaning "drinking in a different state."<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 4:51 PM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, November 10, 2004<br />Dear God... <br />...please oh please oh please oh please do NOT let Barb Trauth get appointed to City Council. <br /><br />When I heard her speak on urban issues, including rebuilding the center city, all she seemed to say was "We gotta fight crime!" Yes, we need to fight crime, but there's so much more involved here. Getting people to live/work/play downtown and in OTR will do more to fight crime than Trauth's police-state proposals. <br /><br />Plus, I just don't think she has a lot of intellectual heft. I think she's also being floated by the far-right social conservatives (watch them carefully - they'll try to put Article XII back on the ballot, and soon). <br /><br />UPDATE: Commenter FunnelCake tells me that Barb Trauth's husband, Joseph Trauth, is on the board of directors for Citizens for Community Values. If nothing else, that's enough reason to make sure she never gets anywhere NEAR the levers of power. It's bad enough that Sam Malone has to carry water for these moral fascists - let's not add another fundamentalist whack-job to Council. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:55 AM |||Comments (9) | Trackback (0)<br />Someone Else Gets It <br />Ms. Natalie Wolf of Amberley Village, to be exact (fourth letter): <br /><br />I disagree with the writers of the letters "Conservatives are preserving the nation" and "'Silent majority' voices being heard" (Nov. 8). Is the America these gentlemen refer to so fondly the America where black people were enslaved? Where women could not vote? Or where sweatshops and child labor were a practical means of cheap labor? <br /><br />I believe the founders envisioned a progressive and changing America where people would be free to practice any religion or no religion. I will proudly wear the label "liberal" if it means that I care for my neighbors' welfare no less than my portfolio, and that the government should be saving money instead of giving it away as tax breaks.<br /><br />One of the things we seem to have lost in the rightward shift is the sense of community. Right now, it seems like the only communities the right wing cares about are churches and stock exchanges. <br /><br />WF <br /><br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:51 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, November 09, 2004<br />Sorry Everybody <br />Elizabeth sends me the following: <br /><br />Sorry Everybody <br /><br />ONE HUNDRED FORTY-THREE PAGES of people apologizing to the world for the [CENSORED] in-[CENSORED]-credible [CENSORED] of over 59,000,000 of our friends and neighbors. <br /><br />It's good for a laugh. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:10 PM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />More stuff <br />I've added a feed to this little popsicle stand. <br /><br />Also, note well the changes to the sidebar. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 1:13 PM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, November 08, 2004<br />Ch-ch-changes <br />I've added the Cincinnati Rambler, Nick Spencer, and Axinar's Universe to the local blogroll. Even when I don't agree with them, they're good reads. <br /><br />I've also added Pandagon to the national blogs, even though Jesse is based in Columbus. <br /><br />Happy reading! <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:39 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />Cleti On Parade In Perpetuity <br />In today's letters, we have Gerry Albers of Amberley Village (second letter) who says "If anyone wants to experience total, liberal freedom, visit the back streets of a Third World country where anything can be bought, sold, or done. Or, more practically, read up on why the Roman Empire fell - it decayed from within." <br /><br />Hmm...the first example is actually a depiction of what hardcore Capitalism Über Alles conservatism would look like, so that's strike one. The second example...well, let's just say that the acceleration of the fall of Rome happened AFTER the conversion of Constantine, so do the math. Where do these people come from, and why hasn't George W. Bush bombed IT into glass? Sounds to me like this mindset is a greater threat to OUR freedom than Saddam Hussein. <br /><br />Then we have Glenn McAndrews of Lebanon (fifth letter), who apparently doesn't believe that the coasts are as American as the "Heartland." This is a common mindset among the Cleti (whose numbers now apparently include my own mother, as she refused to state that Massachusetts was a member of the United States on equal footing with Indiana or Texas - there are very few things in this world as sad as one's mother becoming solidified on something so unbelievably wrong, especially when she taught you your first civics lessons in the first place. The passage of time, I guess). <br /><br />Well, Mr. McAndrews, you Cleti had your chance to form your own nation. You based it on enslavement and making money above all else. And we roundly and soundly showed you the error of your ways. So might I suggest that you abandon this Neo-Confederate mindset? <br /><br />Neo-Confederate. I like that. Once again, we're beholden to the South. Maybe we shoulda let 'em go when we had the chance, then offered safe passage to any and all slaves. Better yet, fight the Civil War, free the slaves, and THEN cut them off. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:18 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Green Acres <br />In today's Enquirer, Ms. Peg Conway of Amberley Village opines about the dangers of losing farmland. <br /><br />As both my loyal readers know, I grew up on a farm, and while I have some serious differences of opinion with my family on everything, I too am concerned with the loss of good, workable farmland. Not only does the concentration of farming into the hands of a few large corporations (ADM, I'm looking in your direction) spell trouble for our food supply (since he who controls the food controls the populace), the lost of the small farmer is a tragedy for our Republic. Jefferson envisioned a nation of yeoman farmers - he did not envision a nation of sprawlburbs and multinational corporations. Every time a solid plot of land is turned into another cookie-cutter cul-de-sac'ed subdivision or office park, I weep a little. <br /><br />I believe in using tax credits and fiscal policy to encourage people to buy and restore older homes in the cities and first-ring suburbs. I believe in encouraging and allowing farmers to grow a wider range of crops (and yes, that includes hemp, even though I do not and will not smoke marijuana). I believe in covenants and zoning that prevent predatory developers from riding roughshod over our finest natural resource. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:10 AM |||Comments (5) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, November 07, 2004<br />For the last time... <br />FIFTY-ONE PERCENT is NOT a "mandate." 51% is a "Thank you, Lord, we barely scraped by!" 51% is a comet passing within 150,000 miles of Earth. 51% is a "Ok, we have just over half the country. We've got some healing to do." <br /><br />Criminy, will the Cleti never learn? I can't be too surprised - he didn't even WIN last time and he governed as if he had a mandate. <br /><br />And leave it to the Status-Quo Defender - this opposing op-ed was labeled as being from a "labor-left Washington think tank," while the one linked to above was merely a "Capitol Hill think tank" - no mention of its rightward tilt. <br /><br />Gonna be a long four years, folks. We have an uphill battle to put the idiots down. I think we can do it - heck, I KNOW we can do it - but it's gonna be rough. Don't give up. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:40 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />Amen and amen <br />Mr. Greg Hladky of Westwood gets it (last letter): <br /><br />People can shoot themselves in the foot only so many times before they're left without a foot to stand on. My hope is that after another four years of President Bush, Republicans will finally accept responsibility for the consequences of their own policies and stop blaming former Presidents Clinton and Carter. Perhaps then the pendulum will swing back to the center, if not to the left. It's easier to dance when you have two feet.<br /><br />I love that last line. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:38 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />An ACTUAL member of the Cleti <br />Mr. Cletus J. Holtgrefe of Mason proposes an interesting voting idea. <br /><br />I'm still not 100% convinced, though - there are simply too many security issues with Internet voting. I do like being able to vote in any polling place, though. <br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-7000502696615739668?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-16795914017473654732004-09-25T23:59:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:00:19.012-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, September 25, 2004<br />Why is this a story? <br />Commandments big as two barn doors <br /><br />A private citizen (a self-described Biblical scholar; look, my brother Brad is both a preacher/minister and a farmer, so I'm not saying it's beyond the realm of possibility, but you'll forgive me a little healthy skepticism) paints a replica of the Ten Commandments on his barn on his own property, and the Enquirer (by way of the Associated Press) feels the need to print it? <br /><br />It's not even LOCAL. Dellroy is way up in the northeastern part of the state. <br /><br />People giving you too much grief over the centrist nature of the editorial page lately? Felt you had to appeal a small, but extremely vocal, constituency? <br /><br />Every President of the United States, and the overwhelming number of members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and lower court judges, governors, and state legislators, not to mention mayors, city/town/village/borough councilmembers, township trustees, county commissioners/judges, has been a white Christian male. That's not going to change anytime soon. So how come so many so-called "Christians" feel as if they are one step away from being publically fed to lions? <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:39 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />They Get Letters <br />Third letter down. <br /><br />Ms. Ruth Wells of Fairfield, how can you write "he responded quickly and appropriately to 9/11" knowing that he sat there, looking like a deer in the headlights, for SEVEN MINUTES? How can you say that knowing we pulled our resources from the hunt for bin Laden (Remember him? The actual mastermind?) for his little quagmire in Iraq? <br /><br />Do you even actually WATCH or READ anything? Or do you just go with what the nice man on the radio (be it Rush, O'Reilly, Liddy, Medved, Coulter, or Savage) says? <br /><br />(and yes, I said "man" and included "Coulter." I'm not 100% sure that's ironic.) <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:33 AM |||Comments (2) | Trackback (0)<br />Food for thought <br />Ms. Carol Leach of Montgomery provides something to chew on today. <br /><br />It's good to be skeptical, and a little healthy suspicion never hurt anyone. But in our desire for "safety" or "security," we're losing our humanity. It explains why, rather than digging in and doing whatever it takes to salvage our kids' schools, we simply pack up and move somewhere where everyone looks like us. It explains why, rather than engaging the world and trying to work for mutual progress and our common humanity, we bomb the heck out of a tin-pot dictator who was no threat then wonder why the rest of the world treats us as a bull in a china shop. We're fracturing, folks, and it ain't pretty. We'd rather concentrate on what divides us than our commonality. <br /><br />And right now, I hear people firing up their computers to say that talk of "commonality" is incipient Socialism. Simply astounding. My friends in the Roman Catholic Church (whatever beefs I may have with the theology of Catholicism, this isn't one of them) often speak as everyone as being a child of God. Whatever your religious beliefs, whether you think of humanity as children of God or simply a common species deserving of respect, it's a good thing to feel. And although I was being quite snarky yesterday, people out in the 'burbs often suffer from the same problems that people in the city or people in the small towns and on the farms suffer from. Let's start with that and figure out how to alleviate it for all involved. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:24 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, September 24, 2004<br />Good Vibes <br />If you have any, send them down to my buddy Sinfonian at Blast Off!, as his home is pretty much directly in the path of Hurricane Jeanne. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 6:31 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />They Walk Among Us <br />Remember that mailer that the GOP sent to voters in West Virginia and Arkansas? As it turns out, they not only admit to it (registration required), they're PROUD of it. <br /><br />I can't say it enough - these people must be stopped. Period. <br /><br />(props to Greg L. Mann at the Cincinnati Group for the link) <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:14 AM |||Comments (4) | Trackback (0)<br />Oy gevalt. <br />They want to get 50,000 Republicans out there to see "President" Chimpy McStagger when he comes to West Chester. And they'll probably get it too. In the land of cul-de-sacs, strip malls, and sprawlburbs, where carpooling is a sign of incipient Communism and attendance at a Unitarian Church or United Church of Christ is proof of anti-American Satanism, people looooooooove them some Dubya. <br /><br />WF <br />(Feelin' snarky today - can you tell?)<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:47 AM |||Comments (6) | Trackback (0)<br />An infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters... <br />...could have produced a better, more factually-based op-ed than Mr. Charles T. Fifer of Mason. <br /><br />If the rallying cry of John Kerry is, in Mr. Fifer's words, "Blame America First," then obviously the rallying cry of any hard-right knuckle-draggers must be "Blame The Clenis™ First." <br /><br />Sigh. And just when I think the Enquirer is getting more moderate, they publish this slack-jawed claptrap. What, was Mr. John Turney of Springdale on vacation? <br /><br />I see Mr. John Myers of Springdale is challenging Mr. Turney (fifth letter down) for the title of Most Idiotic Person In Springdale Named John. What, is there some sort of stupid factory up there? I've met people from Springdale - they're certainly not uniformly right-wing shills. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:38 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, September 23, 2004<br />A plug <br />The Azmari Quartet is in residence here at NKU, and I recommend tomorrow night's concert highly. Their office is close to mine, and I hear them rehearsing all the time. You will be pleased with what you hear. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 1:28 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Quote Of The Day <br />(from the fourth letter down) <br /><br />"I'd still take Dan Rather and documents scribbled in crayon by a 5-year-old before I'd trust anything coming out of this administration or the media who support it." <br /><br />From Mr. Russell Wright of Price Hill. I'm smiling big now. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:39 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, September 22, 2004<br />Is Our Favorite Fishwrap moving left? <br />Some editorials today: <br />In the Hot Air department, (I'm assuming) Ray Cooklis, who is certainly no lefty, takes Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to task for the D.C. Personal Protection Act, which would lift a ban on handguns in Washington, DC. Since DC has no legislature (other than City Council, which can't make these kinds of laws), the Congress makes the laws for it. Suffice it to say that Hatch seems to be less concerned about the residents of DC and more concerned about the NRA (and I say that as someone who really is ambivalent about gun control issues). It's odd, but refreshing, that the Enquirer would take that side. <br /><br />Secondly, the top editorial chastises the American Family Association and other groups for their boycott of P&G. The Enquirer factually says that the overturning of Article XII has nothing to do with same-sex marriage, and I salute them for stating that clearly. <br /><br />So maybe it's at least becoming a centrist newspaper. <br /><br />And even today's letters, outside of the first one from Mr. Phil Long of Montgomery, are a good batch. That's two days in a row that people to the left of Genghis Khan dominate the letters page. <br /><br />Stick around, folks. This is gonna get fun. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 8:03 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (1)<br />Tuesday, September 21, 2004<br />We let him go. <br />People jump on Bill Clinton's case for "not takin' out Osama" in the late 1990s. <br /><br />I wonder if these same people will jump on this... <br /><br />Four months later, intelligence showed Zarqawi was planning to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe. <br /><br />The Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, and the White House again killed it. By then the administration had set its course for war with Iraq. <br /><br />“People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president’s policy of preemption against terrorists,” according to terrorism expert and former National Security Council member Roger Cressey. <br />snip <br />Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi’s operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam[emphasis added]. <br /><br />The United States did attack the camp at Kirma at the beginning of the war, but it was too late — Zarqawi and many of his followers were gone. “Here’s a case where they waited, they waited too long and now we’re suffering as a result inside Iraq,” Cressey added. <br /><br />And despite the Bush administration’s tough talk about hitting the terrorists before they strike, Zarqawi’s killing streak continues today.<br /><br />We could have taken out one of the major scourges, and we didn't. Why? Because then Bush wouldn't have had his precious reason to go after "the man who trahd to kill mah dad!" <br /><br />(And lest some of you say, "Well, that just proves that terrorists were operating in Eye-rack!" remember that Zarqawi was operating in the Kurdish region, where there was a no-fly zone and Saddam had limited, if any, control.) <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 3:18 PM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />I was there... <br />...but due to previous commitments and being dead-on-my-feet tired after finishing a music project, I had to leave before John Edwards spoke. If all went according to plan, Steve Brinker got a picture with Edwards. I'll find out today. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:35 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Mostly good letters <br />Especially the first one, from Ms. Kristen Schwytzer of Green Township. Dig out that clarinet, flute, trumpet, snare drum, and donate it! (Though if anyone has a King 3B trombone lying around to donate, call me.) <br /><br />Of course, "mostly" means "not all." Our Favorite Slack-Jawed Yokel, Mr. John Turney of Springdale, strikes again. I could swear they put the stake through his heart. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 7:32 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, September 20, 2004<br />Alma Mater <br />Via fellow alum Brandi, I find that Morehead State ranks in the top 25 of bachelor's and master's degree granting public universities in the south. <br /><br />So, why let Brian Griffin have all the fun? <br /><br /><br />Far above the rolling campus, <br />Resting in the dale, <br />Stands the dear old Alma Mater <br />We will always hail. <br /><br />Shout in chorus, raise your voices! <br />Blue and Gold, praise you! <br />Winning through to fame and glory, <br />Dear old MSU.<br /><br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:20 PM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />Good on them <br />The Enquirer puts out an op-ed in support of the music program rebuilding in Cincinnati Public Schools. Thank you to the editorial board for its support of the arts and arts education. <br /><br />The letters today weren't bad either. And if Bronson keeps writing stuff like he did yesterday instead of his normal pseudo-Dominionist ramblings, there's even hope for him. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 1:37 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, September 19, 2004<br />Yarrrr! <br />Avast! It be National Talk Like A Pirate Day! <br /><br />If ye be fixin' t' sail today, mateys, may th' wind be at your back and may Neptune smile upon your plunder. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:07 AM |||Comment (1) | Trackback (0)<br />Register to vote <br />Here's how. In Ohio, the deadline is October 4. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:57 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Old-School Republicans <br />One of the best examples of old-school Republicans in Ohio is Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer (R-Crawford County). The Enquirer supplies us with an article about his support of education, labor unions, and environmental concerns. <br /><br />Pfeifer represents a wing of the GOP that has, sadly, been pushed to the background by the Neocons and the Theocons. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:51 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />For once, it's not utter crap. <br />Today, Peter Bronson pays what is actually a grand tribute to Gordon Brisker, an incredible local jazz saxophonist who passed away on September 12 from pancreatic cancer. <br /><br />I have no disagreements with Bronson. He resisted the urge to politicize it (though I can't think of a single way how he could, I'm sure that doesn't stop him most of the time). Brisker was a phenomenal musician and human being. A colleague of mine at NKU had the good fortune to work with him quite often, and spoke of his warmth, musicality, and all-around greatness and goodness. <br /><br />Requiescat in pace. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:42 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />One Of Those Days <br />Nude Runner Leads To Robbery Arrest <br /><br />I'm surprised Si Leis didn't arrest the victim for being naked. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:40 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Lake Inferior <br />My office at NKU is in a building right next to the "lake" mentioned here. I certainly hope they're able to pull this off, if for no other reason than having something better to look at from the windows in my building. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:36 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Congress <br />Find out what candidates for Congress have to say about certain issues. <br /><br />Personally, I wish there was a broader scope here, but hey, that's just being greedy. <br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-1679591401747365473?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-80843370902370035682004-09-25T00:15:00.000-07:002007-07-07T00:17:27.825-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, September 25, 2004<br />Why is this a story? <br />Commandments big as two barn doors <br /><br />A private citizen (a self-described Biblical scholar; look, my brother Brad is both a preacher/minister and a farmer, so I'm not saying it's beyond the realm of possibility, but you'll forgive me a little healthy skepticism) paints a replica of the Ten Commandments on his barn on his own property, and the Enquirer (by way of the Associated Press) feels the need to print it? <br /><br />It's not even LOCAL. Dellroy is way up in the northeastern part of the state. <br /><br />People giving you too much grief over the centrist nature of the editorial page lately? Felt you had to appeal a small, but extremely vocal, constituency? <br /><br />Every President of the United States, and the overwhelming number of members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and lower court judges, governors, and state legislators, not to mention mayors, city/town/village/borough councilmembers, township trustees, county commissioners/judges, has been a white Christian male. That's not going to change anytime soon. So how come so many so-called "Christians" feel as if they are one step away from being publically fed to lions? <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:39 AM |||Comments (3) | Trackback (0)<br />They Get Letters <br />Third letter down. <br /><br />Ms. Ruth Wells of Fairfield, how can you write "he responded quickly and appropriately to 9/11" knowing that he sat there, looking like a deer in the headlights, for SEVEN MINUTES? How can you say that knowing we pulled our resources from the hunt for bin Laden (Remember him? The actual mastermind?) for his little quagmire in Iraq? <br /><br />Do you even actually WATCH or READ anything? Or do you just go with what the nice man on the radio (be it Rush, O'Reilly, Liddy, Medved, Coulter, or Savage) says? <br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-8084337090237003568?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-90338305450604134682004-03-20T00:24:00.000-08:002007-07-07T00:27:37.498-07:00Saturday, March 20, 2004<br />What Appears To Be A Fairly Innocuous Article... <br />...really hints at something sinister, even today. In this article about Eisenhower's use of top civilians in the event of a nuclear attack, we find this interesting paragraph at the end. <br /><br />During the Reagan administration, then-Rep. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who was chief executive of the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle & Co., were key players in a secret program to set aside the legal lines of succession and install a new president in a catastrophe[emphasis added], The Atlantic Monthly reported this month.<br /><br />Maybe it's just coincidence that these two are in positions of high power now, with devastating terrorist attacks on American soil and institutions now a distinct possibility. And of course, I'm sure the Dickster and Rummy wouldn't dare subvert our institutions and cancel elections in case of emergency. <br /><br />Please tell me I'm right about the last part. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 3:27 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, March 17, 2004<br />She Deafened Me With Science <br />Ok, so I'm jumping the gun on dKos's Science Friday, but this is just too dang cool: <br /><br />NASA Hears Words Not Yet Spoken <br /><br />Apparently, they hook up sensors to the vocal cords, tongue, etc., and then: <br /><br />"What is analyzed is silent, or subauditory, speech, such as when a person silently reads or talks to himself," Jorgensen said. <br /><br /><br />"Biological signals arise when reading or speaking to oneself with or without actual lip or facial movement." <br /><br /><br />On early trials, the program could recognize with 92 percent accuracy six words and 10 numbers that the team repeated sub-vocally. <br /><br />Again, too cool for words. Science! <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:41 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Happy Anniversary <br />On March 17, 1984, David Flinn married Kimberly Young in a small ceremony at Pinhook Church of Christ in Pinhook, Indiana. My brother and sister-in-law have been together ever since. Today they celebrate 20 years of marriage. <br /><br />Congratulations. Would that all marriages (of all types) were as strong. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 5:04 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Paging Clarence Darrow <br />From the folks who gave you the Scopes Monkey Trial... <br /><br />Rhea County, TN is petitioning the state legislature to allow charges of "crimes against nature" to be brought against homosexuals. Apparently, one of the county legislators is also trying to figure out how to ban gays from the county. <br /><br />As a commenter over at dKos pointed out, these people didn't evolve from monkeys. Monkeys are smarter and more tolerant than the citizens of Rhea County, TN. <br /><br />The vote was 8 - 0. <br /><br />I guarantee you this county will vote for George W. Bush. <br /><br />Am I implying that every Bush voter is a slackjawed fundamentalist moron? <br /><br />Of course not. <br /><br />I'm outright saying it. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 4:35 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, March 16, 2004<br />If You Can't Get 'Em For Murder, Get 'Em For Tax Evasion... <br />Via Covington Jim, we find that the city of Covington is suing Clear Channel for tax evasion. <br /><br />Remember - that's how they got Al Capone too. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:06 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />And I See Peter Bronson Is At It Again <br />In his column today, Bronson pulls out his favorite canard - "Conservatives are the victims of bias on campus!!!" <br /><br />There's a telling paragraph in this, though... <br /><br />Student Government President Natasha Hamilton said a decision on the request would be made this week. "The reality is the college Republicans are unprofessional,'' she said. "They didn't file the proper protocol and procedures.''<br /><br />This is the new reality of College Republicans in the age of Bush - like their Dear Leader, the PROCESS is only good when it helps them. If it doesn't, then it can be circumvented - first by not following the procedures, and then by yelling that you're being discriminated against, with the idea that the noise will force the people in charge to do what you want, procedure be damned. It worked in Florida 2000. It worked in the buildup to Iraq. And apparently, it's going to work at Xavier. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:45 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Survey Of Letters To The Editor <br />When I read the Enquirer in the morning (only online), I usually start with the Letters to the Editor. Today's letters are a real cross section. <br /><br />The first is just a letter of support for the Bearcats in the tourney. I'm not a HUGE UC fan (even though I have 1 2/3 degrees from there), but hey, I hope they do well. <br /><br />The second takes Portune and Heimlich to task for suing the Bengals as County Commissioners when they held up the process for the stadium as City Councilors. <br /><br />The THIRD one bothers me. Linda Fox of Lebanon takes Jim Borgman to task for drawing a cartoon comparing Intelligent Design in biology to the Flat Earth theory in geography. Here's the second paragraph: <br /><br />Borgman is an artist and a good one. What does he believe about creation? If he believes in the "big bang" as an explanation to how the universe began, would he think one of his cartoons with all his cute drawings and captions could appear as the result of an explosion at the Enquirer? He is a creator himself but doesn't believe in creationism? Something isn't right here.<br /><br />My response to that is a quote from Julian Barnes, from his exquisite book A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters: <br /><br />We are just a grander version of that beetle bashing its head in a box at the sound of a tapped pencil. Do we believe this? Well, let's believe it for the moment, because it makes love's triumph the greater. What is a violin made of? Bits of wood and bits of sheep's intestine. Does its construction demean and banalize the music? On the contrary, it exalts the music further.<br /><br />Letter No. 4 concerns Bush's lies in his campaign ads. Suffice it to say, I agree. <br /><br />Letter No. 5 says that a vote against Bush is a vote for al Qaeda. Can we kill this idea once and for all? This is how Bush is going to try to win this time - vote for me or "turrists" will getcha. He's already using the "Muhammed Horton" ad, and it's only going to get worse. <br /><br />The final letter chastises the Enquirer for showing only the anti-amendment side of gay marriage in a recent article. <br /><br />So all in all, an interesting morning. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:31 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, March 15, 2004<br />Beware The Ides Of March <br />On this day (more or less) in 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated at the hands of a conspiracy. <br /><br />It is not known if there were extra swordsmen on the grassy knoll overlooking the Colosseum. <br /><br />That's my last post for today. The song cycle is coming along nicely. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:16 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Slight Adjustment <br />To signify the new political reality, I have removed the Dean For America link (though it may reappear after March 18, when the Good Doctor announces further plans for his organization) and added John Kerry for President to the side. <br /><br />I'm keeping the Blog For America link up, though. Good stuff still happens there. <br /><br />I may decide to try to raise some funds for Kerry too, as well as other candidates (to be determined). <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:35 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-9033830545060413468?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-184474907078745852004-03-20T00:03:00.000-08:002007-07-07T00:04:58.339-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, March 20, 2004<br />What Appears To Be A Fairly Innocuous Article... <br />...really hints at something sinister, even today. In this article about Eisenhower's use of top civilians in the event of a nuclear attack, we find this interesting paragraph at the end. <br /><br />During the Reagan administration, then-Rep. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who was chief executive of the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle & Co., were key players in a secret program to set aside the legal lines of succession and install a new president in a catastrophe[emphasis added], The Atlantic Monthly reported this month.<br /><br />Maybe it's just coincidence that these two are in positions of high power now, with devastating terrorist attacks on American soil and institutions now a distinct possibility. And of course, I'm sure the Dickster and Rummy wouldn't dare subvert our institutions and cancel elections in case of emergency. <br /><br />Please tell me I'm right about the last part. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 3:27 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, March 17, 2004<br />She Deafened Me With Science <br />Ok, so I'm jumping the gun on dKos's Science Friday, but this is just too dang cool: <br /><br />NASA Hears Words Not Yet Spoken <br /><br />Apparently, they hook up sensors to the vocal cords, tongue, etc., and then: <br /><br />"What is analyzed is silent, or subauditory, speech, such as when a person silently reads or talks to himself," Jorgensen said. <br /><br /><br />"Biological signals arise when reading or speaking to oneself with or without actual lip or facial movement." <br /><br /><br />On early trials, the program could recognize with 92 percent accuracy six words and 10 numbers that the team repeated sub-vocally. <br /><br />Again, too cool for words. Science! <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:41 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Happy Anniversary <br />On March 17, 1984, David Flinn married Kimberly Young in a small ceremony at Pinhook Church of Christ in Pinhook, Indiana. My brother and sister-in-law have been together ever since. Today they celebrate 20 years of marriage. <br /><br />Congratulations. Would that all marriages (of all types) were as strong. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 5:04 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Paging Clarence Darrow <br />From the folks who gave you the Scopes Monkey Trial... <br /><br />Rhea County, TN is petitioning the state legislature to allow charges of "crimes against nature" to be brought against homosexuals. Apparently, one of the county legislators is also trying to figure out how to ban gays from the county. <br /><br />As a commenter over at dKos pointed out, these people didn't evolve from monkeys. Monkeys are smarter and more tolerant than the citizens of Rhea County, TN. <br /><br />The vote was 8 - 0. <br /><br />I guarantee you this county will vote for George W. Bush. <br /><br />Am I implying that every Bush voter is a slackjawed fundamentalist moron? <br /><br />Of course not. <br /><br />I'm outright saying it. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 4:35 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, March 16, 2004<br />If You Can't Get 'Em For Murder, Get 'Em For Tax Evasion... <br />Via Covington Jim, we find that the city of Covington is suing Clear Channel for tax evasion. <br /><br />Remember - that's how they got Al Capone too. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:06 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />And I See Peter Bronson Is At It Again <br />In his column today, Bronson pulls out his favorite canard - "Conservatives are the victims of bias on campus!!!" <br /><br />There's a telling paragraph in this, though... <br /><br />Student Government President Natasha Hamilton said a decision on the request would be made this week. "The reality is the college Republicans are unprofessional,'' she said. "They didn't file the proper protocol and procedures.''<br /><br />This is the new reality of College Republicans in the age of Bush - like their Dear Leader, the PROCESS is only good when it helps them. If it doesn't, then it can be circumvented - first by not following the procedures, and then by yelling that you're being discriminated against, with the idea that the noise will force the people in charge to do what you want, procedure be damned. It worked in Florida 2000. It worked in the buildup to Iraq. And apparently, it's going to work at Xavier. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:45 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Survey Of Letters To The Editor <br />When I read the Enquirer in the morning (only online), I usually start with the Letters to the Editor. Today's letters are a real cross section. <br /><br />The first is just a letter of support for the Bearcats in the tourney. I'm not a HUGE UC fan (even though I have 1 2/3 degrees from there), but hey, I hope they do well. <br /><br />The second takes Portune and Heimlich to task for suing the Bengals as County Commissioners when they held up the process for the stadium as City Councilors. <br /><br />The THIRD one bothers me. Linda Fox of Lebanon takes Jim Borgman to task for drawing a cartoon comparing Intelligent Design in biology to the Flat Earth theory in geography. Here's the second paragraph: <br /><br />Borgman is an artist and a good one. What does he believe about creation? If he believes in the "big bang" as an explanation to how the universe began, would he think one of his cartoons with all his cute drawings and captions could appear as the result of an explosion at the Enquirer? He is a creator himself but doesn't believe in creationism? Something isn't right here.<br /><br />My response to that is a quote from Julian Barnes, from his exquisite book A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters: <br /><br />We are just a grander version of that beetle bashing its head in a box at the sound of a tapped pencil. Do we believe this? Well, let's believe it for the moment, because it makes love's triumph the greater. What is a violin made of? Bits of wood and bits of sheep's intestine. Does its construction demean and banalize the music? On the contrary, it exalts the music further.<br /><br />Letter No. 4 concerns Bush's lies in his campaign ads. Suffice it to say, I agree. <br /><br />Letter No. 5 says that a vote against Bush is a vote for al Qaeda. Can we kill this idea once and for all? This is how Bush is going to try to win this time - vote for me or "turrists" will getcha. He's already using the "Muhammed Horton" ad, and it's only going to get worse. <br /><br />The final letter chastises the Enquirer for showing only the anti-amendment side of gay marriage in a recent article. <br /><br />So all in all, an interesting morning. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:31 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, March 15, 2004<br />Beware The Ides Of March <br />On this day (more or less) in 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated at the hands of a conspiracy. <br /><br />It is not known if there were extra swordsmen on the grassy knoll overlooking the Colosseum. <br /><br />That's my last post for today. The song cycle is coming along nicely. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:16 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Slight Adjustment <br />To signify the new political reality, I have removed the Dean For America link (though it may reappear after March 18, when the Good Doctor announces further plans for his organization) and added John Kerry for President to the side. <br /><br />I'm keeping the Blog For America link up, though. Good stuff still happens there. <br /><br />I may decide to try to raise some funds for Kerry too, as well as other candidates (to be determined). <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:35 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />The First Non-Story Of The Campaign <br />(coming close to the end of an amazingly productive day...) <br /><br />You've no doubt been hearing that Sen. John Kerry said that "foreign leaders" were pulling for him to win the election. Of course, the Right has reacted with apoplexy over this. Foreign leaders aren't supposed to comment on OUR politics, goshdarnit! And who does this Kerry fella think he is, subvering Dubya like that in the eyes of the International Community? <br /><br />Well, one small issue here: HE DIDN'T SAY THAT. <br /><br />And, as Kos says, kudos to Patrick Healy for having the guts to fess up. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:28 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />There Will Be A Collection Following <br />I discovered the Church Sign Generator today. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Have fun in Hell, kids. Save me a seat.<br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-18447490707874585?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-28607530194823782822003-11-22T23:48:00.000-08:002007-07-06T23:50:02.039-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, November 22, 2003<br />Freedom Of The Press <br />So I see this in the Cincinnati Enquirer today. <br /><br />The Louisville Courier Journal is, despite Gannett's best efforts, still the premier paper in the state (and possibly the area - it puts the Enquirer and usually the Indianapolis Star to shame). I wonder why Gov.-Elect Ernie Fletcher (R-McConnell's Lapdog) would feel the need to screen questions from their reporters. <br /><br />The newspaper's executive editor said he had heard "nothing but generalities" and had no specific information about the Fletcher staff's complaints. He also said he had never received a complaint. <br /><br />Irvin also said the policy was not imposed because of a single news story but sprang from some long-standing "matters of fairness and professionalism." <br /><br />"This is an issue that has really grown over time," Irvin said in an interview. He declined to elaborate.<br /><br />I want to know exactly what that issue is. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:57 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, November 20, 2003<br />They're REALLY Not Even Hiding It This Time <br />This little item in the Guardian (UK) should set off MAJOR ALARM BELLS: <br /><br />War Critics Astonished As US Hawk Admits Invasion Was Illegal <br /><br />The money quote, if it's accurate: <br /><br />President George Bush has consistently argued that the war was legal either because of existing UN security council resolutions on Iraq - also the British government's publicly stated view - or as an act of self-defence permitted by international law. <br /><br />But Mr Perle, a key member of the defence policy board, which advises the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that "international law ... would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone", and this would have been morally unacceptable(emphasis added).<br /><br /><br />I can't even begin to comment on that without my head exploding. <br /><br />(link via Atrios) <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 12:36 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, November 19, 2003<br />The "President" Overseas <br />Short form of THIS SPEECH: <br /><br />"We saved your asses in Dubya Dubya Two. And that's morally equivalent to Eye-rack." <br /><br />Yeah, for the love of Jeebus, they just LOVE it when we leave out Winston Churchill, de Gaulle and the French Resistance (call THEM "cheese-eating surrender monkeys." I dare you.), and every single European who died. <br /><br />Does this man's arrogance and ignorance know ANY boundaries? Nov. 2, 2004 cannot get here soon enough.<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:16 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, November 18, 2003<br />Paging Bill Bennett <br />Atrios gives us this little number about Rush Limbaugh and the law (scroll down to "Money Laundering Limbo?"). <br /><br />I'm trying not to engage in schadenfreude, but when people defend Rush because "he's obviously a victim of his addiction" while letting other victims of their addiction die on the street ("they're just criminals, you see, and most of 'em ain't even white!"), I'm kinda hoping he gets nailed to the wall on this one. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:42 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, November 17, 2003<br />From The Halls Of Montezuma To The Shores Of... <br />Via Atrios, blogger extraordinary and plenipotentiary, we find this little nugget about A Marine's Girl, also a very fine blogger. <br /><br />Seems a retired USMC (alleged) Gunnery Sergeant did not like the fact that the girlfriend of a Marine stationed in Iraq was disagreeing with Dear Leader Bush. So, he trumped up charges that she was disclosing classified information and reported her, attempting to get her blog shut down. <br /><br />Well, just like the men (and women) of honor that REAL Marines are, Marines rushed to her rescue. Seems this "Gunny" fella may not even be a real Marine. Now, as you know, I'm not exactly the military type (to put it mildly). But even *I* know - DO NOT MESS WITH THE USMC. If "Gunny" was impersonating a Marine, and Marines find out who and where he is... <br /><br />Semper Fi, folks. Good to know the American military is still defending American ideals, the current commander-in-thief notwithstanding. I'm not alone in thinking the GOP can't count on the military vote being the lock it usually is for them. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 2:02 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, November 16, 2003<br />Laissez les bon temps roulez! <br />The state that gave us Huey Long, David Duke, James Carville, and (my personal favorite), Justin Wilson, the Cajun Cook now gives us as its new governor...(drum roll)... <br />Kathleen Blanco. <br /><br />She beat Bobby Jindal, a Republican of Asian-Indian descent and the hand-picked protege of current Republican governor Mike Foster. <br /><br />On the social issues, there wasn't a lot of difference. So why am I, as a professed progressive who would disagree with both of them on many issues, doing my happy dance? <br /><br />Two reasons: <br />(1) Just like last year, when Senator Mary Landrieu won re-election over Suzanne Terrell, this stems what had been a GOP tide in the south (and maybe nationwide). The elections in Kentucky and Mississippi that gave us GOP governors were arguably simply the final manifestation of the shift from Democrat to Republican in those states' politics. Louisiana is more of a toss-up state, and no Democrat running for President should forget that. <br /><br />(2) I believe in a big-tent party, and unlike some of my friends in the progressive movement, I firmly believe there is a place for moderate and (yes, even) conservative Democrats in the Democratic Party. It shows that we progressives truly are tolerant and willing to listen to other viewpoints. Joe Lieberman, right-wing as he is, still votes with the Democratic party more often than not.* If we are going to re-take the White House in 2004, it's going to take everyone from the Ralph Nader voters to the NASCAR dads. <br /><br />WF <br /><br />(*Note - the exception to this is Sen. Zell Miller. Why he continues to call himself a Democrat is completely beyond me. It's a big tent, but it doesn't abut the Conservative Circus.)<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-2860753019482378282?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-68364315584834814312003-11-22T00:07:00.000-08:002007-07-07T00:09:18.569-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, November 22, 2003<br />Freedom Of The Press <br />So I see this in the Cincinnati Enquirer today. <br /><br />The Louisville Courier Journal is, despite Gannett's best efforts, still the premier paper in the state (and possibly the area - it puts the Enquirer and usually the Indianapolis Star to shame). I wonder why Gov.-Elect Ernie Fletcher (R-McConnell's Lapdog) would feel the need to screen questions from their reporters. <br /><br />The newspaper's executive editor said he had heard "nothing but generalities" and had no specific information about the Fletcher staff's complaints. He also said he had never received a complaint. <br /><br />Irvin also said the policy was not imposed because of a single news story but sprang from some long-standing "matters of fairness and professionalism." <br /><br />"This is an issue that has really grown over time," Irvin said in an interview. He declined to elaborate.<br /><br />I want to know exactly what that issue is. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:57 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, November 20, 2003<br />They're REALLY Not Even Hiding It This Time <br />This little item in the Guardian (UK) should set off MAJOR ALARM BELLS: <br /><br />War Critics Astonished As US Hawk Admits Invasion Was Illegal <br /><br />The money quote, if it's accurate: <br /><br />President George Bush has consistently argued that the war was legal either because of existing UN security council resolutions on Iraq - also the British government's publicly stated view - or as an act of self-defence permitted by international law. <br /><br />But Mr Perle, a key member of the defence policy board, which advises the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that "international law ... would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone", and this would have been morally unacceptable(emphasis added).<br /><br /><br />I can't even begin to comment on that without my head exploding. <br /><br />(link via Atrios) <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 12:36 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, November 19, 2003<br />The "President" Overseas <br />Short form of THIS SPEECH: <br /><br />"We saved your asses in Dubya Dubya Two. And that's morally equivalent to Eye-rack." <br /><br />Yeah, for the love of Jeebus, they just LOVE it when we leave out Winston Churchill, de Gaulle and the French Resistance (call THEM "cheese-eating surrender monkeys." I dare you.), and every single European who died. <br /><br />Does this man's arrogance and ignorance know ANY boundaries? Nov. 2, 2004 cannot get here soon enough.<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:16 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, November 18, 2003<br />Paging Bill Bennett <br />Atrios gives us this little number about Rush Limbaugh and the law (scroll down to "Money Laundering Limbo?"). <br /><br />I'm trying not to engage in schadenfreude, but when people defend Rush because "he's obviously a victim of his addiction" while letting other victims of their addiction die on the street ("they're just criminals, you see, and most of 'em ain't even white!"), I'm kinda hoping he gets nailed to the wall on this one. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:42 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, November 17, 2003<br />From The Halls Of Montezuma To The Shores Of... <br />Via Atrios, blogger extraordinary and plenipotentiary, we find this little nugget about A Marine's Girl, also a very fine blogger. <br /><br />Seems a retired USMC (alleged) Gunnery Sergeant did not like the fact that the girlfriend of a Marine stationed in Iraq was disagreeing with Dear Leader Bush. So, he trumped up charges that she was disclosing classified information and reported her, attempting to get her blog shut down. <br /><br />Well, just like the men (and women) of honor that REAL Marines are, Marines rushed to her rescue. Seems this "Gunny" fella may not even be a real Marine. Now, as you know, I'm not exactly the military type (to put it mildly). But even *I* know - DO NOT MESS WITH THE USMC. If "Gunny" was impersonating a Marine, and Marines find out who and where he is... <br /><br />Semper Fi, folks. Good to know the American military is still defending American ideals, the current commander-in-thief notwithstanding. I'm not alone in thinking the GOP can't count on the military vote being the lock it usually is for them. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 2:02 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, November 16, 2003<br />Laissez les bon temps roulez! <br />The state that gave us Huey Long, David Duke, James Carville, and (my personal favorite), Justin Wilson, the Cajun Cook now gives us as its new governor...(drum roll)... <br />Kathleen Blanco. <br /><br />She beat Bobby Jindal, a Republican of Asian-Indian descent and the hand-picked protege of current Republican governor Mike Foster. <br /><br />On the social issues, there wasn't a lot of difference. So why am I, as a professed progressive who would disagree with both of them on many issues, doing my happy dance? <br /><br />Two reasons: <br />(1) Just like last year, when Senator Mary Landrieu won re-election over Suzanne Terrell, this stems what had been a GOP tide in the south (and maybe nationwide). The elections in Kentucky and Mississippi that gave us GOP governors were arguably simply the final manifestation of the shift from Democrat to Republican in those states' politics. Louisiana is more of a toss-up state, and no Democrat running for President should forget that. <br /><br />(2) I believe in a big-tent party, and unlike some of my friends in the progressive movement, I firmly believe there is a place for moderate and (yes, even) conservative Democrats in the Democratic Party. It shows that we progressives truly are tolerant and willing to listen to other viewpoints. Joe Lieberman, right-wing as he is, still votes with the Democratic party more often than not.* If we are going to re-take the White House in 2004, it's going to take everyone from the Ralph Nader voters to the NASCAR dads. <br /><br />WF <br /><br />(*Note - the exception to this is Sen. Zell Miller. Why he continues to call himself a Democrat is completely beyond me. It's a big tent, but it doesn't abut the Conservative Circus.)<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-6836431558483481431?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377900447446129200.post-33242211337463324812003-09-20T23:19:00.000-07:002007-07-06T23:25:34.569-07:00<div style="display:none"><br />Saturday, September 20, 2003<br />May not be blogging as much... <br />Picked up a FOURTH class at school this semester, so that is gonna take up so much of my time. I'll still try to do something every couple of days. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 3:21 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Friday, September 19, 2003<br />Yaaaarrrrrrrrrrr!!! <br />Avast, ye lubbers! <br /><br />Today, the 19th of September, be national Talk Like A Pirate Day! <br /><br />Ye scurvy dogs! Go and walk the plank! Yarrrr! <br /><br />Ye Olde WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 2:09 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Thursday, September 18, 2003<br />EUREKA!!! <br />I found a chapter for my dissertation. <br /><br />I'm still working on the analytical methodology, but it will be the central thesis of the chapter that the Barenaked Ladies' "Be My Yoko Ono" is an ironic recasting of "Help!" by the Beatles. <br /><br />Seriously. <br /><br />I'm doing the same thing with Mahler and Berio, so my advisor can relax. :) <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 11:12 AM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Wednesday, September 17, 2003<br />LA Times in Flyover Country <br />I see this tonight (just before I'm off to bed): <br /><br />In A Bush Stronghold, Some Are Losing Heart (you may need a free registration) <br /><br />Xenia is about 45 miles NNE of here. I've been there several times. If Bush is having trouble THERE, minor though it may be, it does not bode well. <br /><br />Especially since Bush is now backpedaling and saying there IS no link between Saddam and 9/11, when Cheney has been going to great lengths to imply that there is. <br /><br />This would be funny if it were happening anywhere else. Hooray for Captain Spaulding. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 10:39 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Weird thought of the day... <br />This may surprise you, but I really like The Barenaked Ladies. <br /><br />That's all! <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 6:23 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Tuesday, September 16, 2003<br />Out Of The Mouth Of Rummy... <br />So I see THIS tonight. <br /><br />THIS is particularly telling: <br /><br />And Tuesday, in an interview with ABC's "Nightline," White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said that one of the reasons President Bush went to war against Saddam was because he posed a threat in "a region from which the 9-11 threat emerged."<br /><br />That's right, folks. "Oh, sure, there's no ACTUAL connection, but hey, he's FROM them thar parts! Ain't that enough? Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go put on a stuffed flightsuit." <br /><br />Using that logic, I should be able to flip off drivers from Clermont County, because the guy who cut me off on I-471 today was from Highland County, and they're in the same region. <br /><br />WF <br /><br />UPDATE: Tom Tomorrow has more on this (thanks to Kos for the heads-up).<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 9:41 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Monday, September 15, 2003<br />Kinda like giving birth... <br />...with slightly more screaming. <br /><br />I just shipped off my newest piece, Rational Exuberance, to the DuPage Symphony Orchestra's Fanfare for the Fiftieth competition. <br /><br />You put your best stuff in there, you tweak, you bend, you sacrifice, and then, before you know it, it's out there, on its own. Here's hoping. <br /><br />WF<br /><br /><br />// posted by Wes @ 4:49 PM |||Comment (0) | Trackback (0)<br />Sunday, September 14, 2003<br />And now, a football score <br />Why let Brian Griffin have all the fun? <br /><br />Morehead State 31, Coastal Carolina 6 <br /><br />Far above the rolling campus <br />Resting in the dale, <br />Stands the dear old Alma Mater <br />We will always hail. <br /><br />Shout in chorus, raise your voices, <br />Blue and Gold, praise you; <br />Winning through to fame and glory, <br />Dear old MSU.<br /><br /><br />Hey, it doesn't happen often. <br /><br />WF<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5377900447446129200-3324221133746332481?l=straightmute.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>BRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01664501005392664884noreply@blogger.com