Ramblin' with Roger

Green Day meme

His point is that we should do more than tolerate our differences, but that we should embrace them.

There’s this meme called Rock ‘n Roll Fridays. “…our little ‘twist’ is that each week we will pick a singer, band, era, or category and pick thirteen of their lyrics. Each of our questions will be based on the lyrics.”

Back in August, they did one for Green Day.

1. 21 GUNS:
“Do you know what’s worth fighting for?
When it’s not worth dying for?
Does it take your breath away and you feel yourself suffocating?”

What was the last cause/reason that you signed a petition or joined in a protest?

Actually, I sign a fair number of petitions. In the past couple months, I’ve signed them for political candidates and for a variety of peace, justice and ecological causes. I’m not keeping track. Possibly the last protest was when the evil Fred Phelps came to Albany, but it could have more recently than that; probably was, actually. Oh, it was a gay marriage rally this spring.

2. AMERICAN IDIOT:
“Don’t want to be an American idiot
One nation controlled by the media.
Information age of hysteria
It’s going out to idiot America”

Where is the best place for trusted information about world events?

It’d be cliched to say Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, but I do tend to appreciate it when he puts politicians’ and FOX News’ feet to the fire. That said, I get lots of news from lots of sources, from differing points of view, and winnow it out.

3. GOOD RIDDANCE:
“Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test and don’t ask why.
It’s not a question but a lesson learned in time”…

What was the last lesson or message about life you learned?

I’m not sure I’m having “aha” big life lessons lately, as much as mini-lessons regularly, too numerous, or subtle, to mention or even notice until much later. OK, here’s one: if I eat after 7 p.m., it interferes with my sleep. Not the LAST lesson, but that is something.

4. WELCOME TO PARADISE:
“Dear Mother, Can you hear me whining?
It’s been 3 weeks since that I left your home.
This sudden fear has left me trembling
Cause now it seems that I am out here on my own
And I’m feeling so alone”…

Where was the place you went to live when you first moved out of your parents/guardians home?

My college town of New Paltz, NY. During my tenure there, my parents moved to Charlotte, NC.

5. MINORITY:
“I want to be the minority
I don’t need your authority
Down with the moral majority
Cause I want to be the minority”…

When have you ever felt like an outsider?

I feel like an outsider surprisingly often, actually, even in the midst of a party or other event.

6. WHEN I COME AROUND:
“Oh I heard it all before
So don’t knock down my door
I’m a loser the user
So I don’t need no accuser
To try and slag me down because I know you’re right”…

What was the last bad thing you discovered about yourself?

I don’t know that I’ve learned any NEW bad things, just the same old bad things, notably impatience.

7. MISERY:
“Mr. Whirly had a catastrophic incident
He fell into the city by the bay
He liquidated his estate
Now he sleeps upon the Haight
Panhandling misery”…

If you have ever been poor, what lesson, skill-set, or experience came from it?

Mostly it’s patience for those who are currently poor. To the point of the lyric, I don’t always give money to panhandlers, but I usually don’t act as though I didn’t hear them, as though they weren’t there.

8. 80:
“Sometimes I wonder if I should be left alone
And lock myself up in a padded room
I’d sit and spew my guts out in the open air
Cuz no one wants to hear a drunken fool”…

How do you relax after a stressful day?

Really depends. Sometimes, I go to bed early, or read, or blog, or watch TV, or have a glass of wine.

9. REDUNDANT:
“We’re livin in a repetition
Content in the same old stick again
Now the routine’s turnin to a contention
Like a production line goin over and over and over roller coaster”…

Do you do something over and over the same way, even though you know there is a better/simpler way to do it?

Well, no and yes. I’m sure there are better ways to use certain technologies – cellphone, digital camera for two – that would probably make my life easier in investing the time learning how. Don’t know if it’s simpler in the short term, getting past the learning curve, but it’d definitely be better.

10. ANDROID:
“It makes me wonder when I grow to be that age
Will I be walking down the street begging for your spare change
Or will I grow that old? Will I still be around?
The way I carry on, I’ll end up 6 feet underground and waste away”…

What age do you believe is OLD and why?

85, mostly because it’s 20 years past 65, the traditional retirement age.

11. WAITING:
“I’ve been waiting a lifetime for this moment to come
I’m destined for anything at all”…

What is your biggest dream in life (so far)?

I was reading some LOC, and the letter writer was complaining about the word “tolerance”, used in the context that we should be more tolerant of gays, Muslims, et al. His point is that we should do more than tolerate our differences, but that we should embrace them. While I don’t disagree, the cultural milieu seems to be sometimes SO intolerant and even vile, mere tolerance these days would be perfectly acceptable.

Wait a minute: was I supposed to say “end hunger” or “world peace”, and I’m reducing my dream to a Rodney King quote? Certainly, it cannot be something that’s already happened, for what would be the point of the pursuit of life otherwise? OK, that my daughter grows up to be smart and well and happy, not necessarily in that order.

12. POPROCKS AND COKE:
“I don’t care is you don’t mind
I’ll be there, not far behind
I will dare, keep in mind, I’ll be there for you”…

What is the biggest favor you ever did for family or for a friend?

Lent money that I really couldn’t afford to lend.

13. BASKET CASE:
“Yea, I went to a shrink to analyze my dreams,
She says it’s lack of sex that’s bringin’ me down…”

What would you like more of in your life?

Free time, by myself. And massage – a lot more massage.

Election Day predictions

The French word for sea is MER + COW + SKI = Murkowski.

I predict that, no matter what the outcome of the election:

members of the Republican Party will claim that the vote was the rejection “by the American people” of “the failed policies of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid” cabal.
the Democrats will talk about opportunities for bipartisanship.
*some bills that should have passed between January 2009 and October 2010, will get passed in November 2010, without much, or any Republican support, which will lead the Republicans to complain that the Democrats “rammed” the bill “down the throat of the American people”

As for the vote today, I can’t make predictions. My gut says the Democrat will win the Senate race in Colorado, but lose in Illinois. Do you want predictions? Go to fivethirtyeight.com.

But I will go out on a limb to say that I think Lisa Murkowski will barely retain her Senate seat in Alaska. Three-way polling is much less reliable than that done for a two-person race. Good news: her name will appear on a list of potential write-in candidates. Bad news: there are about 100 people on the list. Good news: she has great name recognition in the state. Bad news: she’s been around a long time, and her father before her. Good news: it is established that a vote for a write-in candidate must be counted if the intent is clear. So someone drawing the three pictures on this page could be seen as voting for Murkowski, like so:

The French word for sea is MER + COW + SKI = Murkowski.

Anyway, I am voting today. I will vote for at least one non-Democrat. and by non-Democrat, I don’t mean voting for a Democrat on the Working Families line.

I will vote for my junior US Kirsten Gillibrand. I was going to anyway, but the bizarro Republican candidate for Governor Carl Paladino said some disparaging remarks about her recently, and that’s good enough for me. Nice profile of the senator in Vogue, of all places.

VOTE!! And if you choose not to, PLEASE don’t tell me about it, because THESE people are voting.

P is for Polly Ticks

So VOTE!

(With apologies to Anthony North):

Some largely nonpartisan things that have been bugging me about the electoral process in the United States recently, and not so recently.

MONEY: It has long been an issue, and there have been a series of legislative actions, Such as McCain-Feingold trying to limit the effect of money on the campaign. However, in January 2010, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court decided that corporations and unions have the same First Amendment rights as individuals, and as such may now directly and expressly advocate for the election or defeat of candidates for federal office, as long as they do not coordinate their efforts with campaigns or political parties. Without getting too wonky here, social welfare organizations may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not their primary activity. As a result, there is a lot more election spending this cycle than ever before. GOP political operative Ed Gillespie said last week on ABC News, and someone said similarly on NBC’s Meet the Press, that the American people do not care about outside spending; I care– a lot.

RANCOR: With that much money, candidates are even more willing and able to run negative, misleading, even inaccurate advertisements. One can and should debate the issues, but it’d be nice if they could get along better while doing so.

Someone’s Photoshop of 2008 Democratic candidate for President Barack Obama, and Republican candidate for Vice-President Sarah Palin

NO REAL CHOICE: A growing number of people believe a third party is needed in the US. Now, there are third-party candidates legitimately doing well this political season, but it doesn’t reflect a sustained, or sustainable national organization. My sense is that there never will be without instant runoff voting.

VOTER SUPPRESSION: Latinos for Reform is running ads on television, radio and the Internet telling Nevada’s Hispanic population not to vote on election day so as to teach Democrats a lesson for failing on the promise to deliver on immigration reform. Others have reported intimidation tactics of voters likely to vote for the opposition.

Another form of voter suppression, I believe, is the overuse of polling. When one hears that Candidate X is a “sure thing” to win or to lose, voters often lose interest and stay home, skewing the results. I’m not sure what to make of poll results anyway. I’ve read that the Republicans may win 100 seats in the House of Representatives. I’ve also noticed another poll, which includes people whose only phone is a cell phone, Democrats lead by 6 points on the generic ballot.

All that said, and in particular, in response to the voter suppression tactics, I encourage people to vote at every opportunity. Not only do I believe it is one’s civic duty, but, for me, it is a personal necessity. I’ve had ancestors who could not vote, so I would be dishonoring those who fought for the ballot not to exercise the franchise.

Did you ever notice that a large number of the Amendments in the US Constitution, after the Bill of Rights, deal with voting?

Amendment 15 states that race or previous condition of servitude (i.e., slavery) is no bar to voting (1865), passed right after the Civil War.
Amendment 17 requires that US Senators be elected by popular vote, rather than by the state legislature (1913) – someone please explain to me why some candidates this year have indicated repealing this amendment?
Amendment 19 provided for nationwide women’s suffrage (1920), though some individual states had allowed women to vote earlier.
Amendment 23 gave the Presidential Vote to Washington, DC (1961) – now if they could only get a voting member in Congress.
Amendment 24 bars the imposition of a poll tax as a requirement for voting (1964), eliminating that particular voter suppression tactic.
Amendment 26 set the voting age at 18 years (1971); unfortunately, statistically, the group least likely to use it.

So VOTE! And if you’re elsewhere in the world, VOTE when your next chance occurs.

ABC Wednesday – Round 7

The All Hallows Eve Conspiracy

The church organist played the postlude, which was Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. My absolute favorite chords, possibly in all music, appear in the last minute and a half. My wife asked if I were crying…

OK, what’s up with the change of Daylight Saving Time a couple years ago? Most countries in the Northern Hemisphere changed their clocks today, if they had not done so earlier. The former nations that were in the USSR, Europe, Lebanon, Iraq, Cuba, Mexico all change today …you can see the list HERE. And what are the countries that are holding off changing the clocks until NEXT weekend?

The United States and Canada. I blame the candy companies. By pushing the “fall back” until the following weekend, it assures more light for Halloween, thus more trick-or-treaters, and thus more candy sold. And the dentists are in on the plot, too!

In fact, here is the Halloween Duplex Planet: one song called Halloween by Duplex Planet, and six recollections of old people remembering the holiday. Note in Greed that the conspiracy theory is alive and well.

I was at church a couple of Sundays ago, and the organist, Nancy, played the postlude, which was Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. My absolute favorite chords, possibly in all music, appear in the last minute and a half. My wife asked if I were crying, and the answer was absolutely yes. Here’s an organ version and an orchestral version from the movie Fantasia (1940). And since I was in a Fantasia mood, how about Night on Bald Mountain?

From Ken Levine: The Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in Halloween. So the one night of the year when people would actually open their doors to them, they stay home.
***
Dance of Death.

Happy Halloween Day from Sesame Street.

Peanuts: BOO!

From 1910, this is the first screen version of Frankenstein. It’s less than 13 minutes long; check out this piece of history.

Freaky Frankenstein Friday.

The World’s Most Haunted Places.

Talk about laziness: Me linking to Progressive Ruin linking to OTHER people’s stuff.

Reformation Rap QUESTION

I’ve long wondered what God did think of all of the different denominations, some created more by differences of style than of doctrine. Is God pleased with the diversity of worship experiences, or is She really ticked off?

It’s Reformation Sunday tomorrow. As a long-time Methodist, I had no idea what that meant and had barely heard of it. But now, as a Presbyterian, in a church in the “Reform tradition,” it’s a bigger deal. It commemorates the day in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to a church door.

Someone sent me this a couple of days ago:
We religious instruction teachers are always looking for ways to engage the students. In my class last year, I likened Martin Luther’s dilemma to: how would they (the students) feel, if they came home to find their families imprisoned and tortured, and it won’t stop until they say that Sammy Hagar was Van Halen’s better frontman? We’d all agreed, beforehand, that Van Halen’s a great band, “but you MUST renounce Diamond Dave, and embrace Sammy, or you’ll get your dad’s OTHER EAR in ANOTHER package!” They stood up at their table, and shouted & pointed in my face, and I had soooo much fun getting them all stirred up while humming “Why Can’t This Be Love?” and dissing the tune to “Panama…” It’s why I teach 🙂

There was also a link to something called the 95 Theses, a 2007 rap done to the tune of Jay-Z’s 99 Problems. I’ve provided three links; the third starts with a short commercial.

95 Theses
95 Theses
95 Theses

Found these lyrics in several places, including here:

If you havin’ Church problems then don’t blame God, son
I got ninety-five theses but the Pope ain’t one.

Listen up, all my people, it’s a story for the telling
’bout the sin and injustice and corruption I been smelling:
I met that homie, Tetzel, then I started rebelling…
One Five One Seven – that’s when it first went down.
Then the real test was when it started spreading around.
Sixty days to recant what I said? Father, please!
You’ve had, what? Goin’ on fifteen centuries?
“Oh snap, he’s messin’ with the holy communion.”
But I ain’t never dissed your precious hypostatic union!…

I was struck most by this section:

But you forgot about me and my demonstration?
Like you can just create your own denomination?
“We don’t like this part, so we’ll just add a little twist.”
Now we Anglican, Amish, and even Calvinist.
I gave you the power, you gone and abused it.
I gave you God’s truth, you just confused it.

Shout out to Johann Gutenberg … I see you baby.