[Hattip Sharon] There’s not much more I can say about Prez SCOAMF’s actions, here. Well, actually, there’s a lot I can say, but it would inevitably end with me frothing at the mouth and chewing the furniture, and fixing that sort of damage is out of my budget right now. . .
From Riehl World View: . . .

The claim is that a decision by the Obama administration put a political speech meant to bolster his chances at re-election, above the desires, traditions and practices of many Vietnam-era military members and their families, who have been coming together at The Wall on Memorial Day for decades, now. No notice was given regarding the closing due to Obama’s decision to use The Wall as backdrop in his Memorial Day speech.
Sources insist it remained closed for hours, until most simply grew frustrated and went away. For decades, individuals have been coming together there on Memorial Day to perform simple acts and observances in keeping with America’s established Memorial Day tradition.

As the man says, read it all. It’ll make you cry and want to engage in some manner of destructive activity. Also see Thoughts From a Conservative Mom’s Blog.
UPDATE: If you just swallowed some poison by accident, and are in need of an immediate purgative, check out Hotair’s Obamateurism of the Day today. ‘Scuze me while I loose my breakfast. . . .

{Initially posted at American Slytherin. Yes, I’m having an extended Gryffindor moment. If I can handle it, so you can you ^_^ )
There’s a cliché running around the world these days: “Do one thing every day that frightens you.” Taken in its tritest form, this little saying could mean something like “Zophiel should pick up and kiss one spider every day.” Which is ridiculous, as everyone knows that spiders are the handmaidens of Satan, and thus should be exterminated with extreme prejudice. That aside, the sentiment is a good one, with the understood caveat of “But don’t be a stupid-head”: I am afraid of accidentally driving my car off a steep mountain pass, this does not mean that I should seek to do so.
However, the true sentiment of the phrase is to confront your fear on a daily basis. Not necessarily your phobias, whatever they may be, though if your phobias impair your ability to function in your daily life, they need to be addressed. Still, phobias and reasonable wariness aside, we all have fears that hold us back. Fears that sap our will and our ability to be who we want to be. These are the fears that must be confronted on a daily basis.
This has never been more necessary than in these chaotic days, when it often feels like reality is unraveling all around us. We need to be courageous. We need to stand up without fear, to raise our voices and plant our spears and push back against those who would destroy all that is Beautiful, Good and True.
But how? So many of us are so well groomed in “Civility” and being “Nice”, which is really just training in “STFU” and “Censor Yourself!” Sadly, there have been but a few, shining examples of courage, and so many of us stand by saying “I wish I was like that!”, but no idea of how to get there from here.
(more…)

It’s not quite as silly as you might think. See, some anti-gun group is boycotting them today, because they decided that whatever state law is in a given state, they will not impose further restrictions than on their customers. Which is to say: If the state allows open carry, so does Starbucks, and they won’t prohibit a person from wearing said firearm on their premises. Seems sensical, but those freedom-hating, uncivilized brutes who are scared by their own shadows are all in a tizzy. That’s why the PA Gun Blog decided to annouce a Buy-cott for the same days as the boycott. Thus, Starbucks Appreciation Day.

See, what the provicial-minded neaderthals trying to boycott didn’t realize is that Starbucks–my former employer– does in fact have a history of violence in its stores, with lessons learned and passed on. On the night of Sunday, July 6th, 1997, three employees of the Georgetown, DC Starbucks were murdered in a  case was sadly never fully resolved. The bodies were discovered early the next morning by the opening shift supervisor, and within hours, Howard Shultz (CEO) had broken his vacation to fly to DC to spend time with the other employees of the store. I remember, when I worked for the company, senior staff who had attended the funerals of each employee telling how the CEO had cried at each service, clearly and visibly upset at what had happened.

DC had, and still has, some of the strictest gun controls in the nation– and at that time, Schultz learned that all the gun control in the world wouldn’t keep his employees safe. While Starbucks may overall market itself to the over-grown hippy crowd, it’s not so much of a “lefty” company as a company pursuing enlightened self-interest.

In honor of my former employer, I would like to present readers with some things about Starbucks that they may not have known, specifically in regards to complains I constantly see blog-commenters make.

(more…)

Some days, you run across an article so flaming retarded and transparently deceptive, you have to double-check to make sure you didn’t accidentaly end up at the Onion. . .

But no, in an editorial in USAToday, MiniHealth Head Kathleen Sibelius writes how the recent ruling on contraception and STD testing near me “respects religion.” I suppose she means “respect” in the same way that boys “respect” easy girls in the morning.

Here are some excerpts, with some commentary interspersed.

(more…)

Having done an initial brief touch on the Time elements of music, today I highlight the first Space element of music– melody. Like the other basic elements of  music, melody is familiar to us as, from the earliest lullabies sung by our parents, the songs learned in kindergarten, to hymns and patriotic songs and drinking songs . . .

The purest use of melody remains the chants of various religions across the world– Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu. . . the simplest things are the easiest to convey across generations, and so they last. They persist through the centuries, unchanged, until their very  sound is at once exotic and hauntingly familiar, a greeting from the roots of a culture to the leaves.

As a Christian woman, I am most familiar with the Christian chants. As a Catholic Christian Woman who sings quite a bit, I have long been in love with the chants written by Hildegard von Bingen. Among Catholic singers, she is like Mozart or Bach, needing only to be named with a single name– Hildegard!– for folk to know exactly of whom you speak.

I chose this video because I am a sucker for space imagery. The text is (mostly) from Psalms 109 and 110, with an antiphon (refrain) invoking the Trinity. Lean back, sip your coffee and or Jack, and let this clear the air about you.

No, sorry, not pulling out the KC and the Sunshine Band quite yet! I’ve been starting this series by addressing the roots of music– history, elements. . . In terms of tlements we’ve addressed the origins of “beat” and we’ve touched o the origins of “melody” with the impassioned prayer last week.

Today, I’d like to touch on rhythm. If beat is the steady drive beneath a song, the heartbeat or ticking second hand, then rhythm is non-pitch specific rhapsody upon the bead. If Og over there is pounding out a steady “Doom, Doom, Doom. . .” upon his big drum, it’s only a matter of time before Ug get’s bored, and starts playing around. In fact, we see this clearly with small children who discover the wonders of wooden spoons and pots. . . I don’t know that all that much needs saying about the relationship between beat and rhythm, really, since most people already know what they are. . .

With the dawning of both in human consciousness, it can’t have been that long for dance to arise– dance seems to be almost instinctual with most humans– we start tapping out feet to the beat, swaying back and forth in our chair, head bobbing to the rhythm . . . our bodies seem made to express music in anyway possible.

(more…)

Today is the 39th annual March for Life. This takes place every year on the anniversary of the Roe V. Wade decision to legalize abortion. This decision had been called “terrible” even by such pro-choice constitutional authorities as Glenn Reynolds (The Instapundit), because the issue was clearly one best decided by individual states. This decision started the trend of judicial legislating, and to my mind, became the opening salvo in the “Culture Wars”, and in many ways, created the “Religious Right.”

But beyond the legal aspects and the political repercussions, there remains the horrible fact that as much as a full third of my generation was killed before birth. One out of three of my friends, perhaps even loves, was killed before I got a chance to meet them. Yeah, I do take this personally. (more…)

I want to thank Menagerie for cluing me in to the amazing voice I’m sharing today. I admit I’m kind of ashamed that I was not familiar with this man before Menagerie brought him to my attention. . .

Last week, I touched on the idea of rhythm, of heartbeats and clocks. . . the other natural rhythm natural to song is the rhythms of speech. In fact, one can look at singing as elevated speech–energized speech. All languages have natural rhythms created by the words used, pitch indicating anything from meanings, to inflection or emotion. Singing simply adds energy to the already existent music in speech.

So it makes a ton of sense that the oldest running traditions of music are religious, sung prayers handed down from generation to generation, whether hymns to Durga in the East or the Psalms in the Mid-East, or the laments of the North . . .

A couple weeks ago, Menagerie introduced me to the amazing Cantor, Gerson Sirota. His amazing, tragic story can be found here, at the Judaica Sound Archive. He was one of the first Cantors to have his singing recorded, and his sound has withstood the distortions of time.

I chose the following recording because Victrolaman gives a bit of an introduction to the piece . . . and because that wooden horn is simply lovely, and you don’t get to see these machines in this condition that often . . .

According to Fox News, the final certified votes for the Iowa primary will have Santorum winning by 34.

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum received 34 votes more than former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in this month’s Iowa caucuses, the Des Moines Register reported Thursday. (more…)

I have no intention of presenting these posts as straight music history, presented in chronological order. That’s perfect for Music History class (taught by a professor that looks like a grown-up Hermione Granger, no less)– but for the weekly post at a blog full of rag-tag misfits that enjoys discussing the finer points of politics, philosophy, and bacon? No, I think a more meandering presentation is better. Granted, I felt a duty to start off with the oldest complete recorded piece in the world. But a second post has no such weighty considerations, only that I try to make it connect, somehow, to the previous post in some manner.

Our connection is theme. The song is a recent one, from 2009. I know nothing about the guy singing. It’s possible he was on American Idol. But you’ll notice that the lyrics are taken right from the same philosophical vein as the Epitaph of last weekend.

But the song, when I was listening to it, called to mind the central idea of this particular presentation. Before I get to that idea, though, I have to present another, by way of a question: What is music?

(more…)