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Comments Posted By Buddy McCue

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Friday Music Thread–The Woodwinds–Flutes and Reeds

The Chieftains are great.

I went to see them when they came to my town, and they sounded wonderful (I had to go out and get a new pennywhistle that weekend!)

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 18, 2011 @ 3:32 pm

Some jazzed-up Bach from Jethro Tull : Boureé

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 18, 2011 @ 3:24 pm

Tenderfoot No More

Probably not the song you’re talking about, but the verses to this song sound like someone going through a 12-step Palin program:

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 18, 2011 @ 7:15 am

Mid-Atlantic Trip Part 15: D.C. by Night

I agree.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 18, 2011 @ 10:04 am

I don’t know. I stopped listening to the commercial radio and the Top 40 playlist in the early 80’s. Everything just went downhill fast.

Before market research became the glittering gem of science it is today, record companies used to have to take a chance on performing artists. Who knew what people would listen to? Better just sign a lot of bands and see what happens.

Music has always been a commodity of course, but the industry just didn’t have the tools to produce a purely cynical product before.

If art is to be good, the process of making it must be sincere. In my opinion, that’s what was lost in commercial music.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 18, 2011 @ 9:34 am

Alright!

That’s “Tijuana Taxi,” isn’t it? It sounds kinda like a game show theme song.

The marimba solo is cool.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 18, 2011 @ 9:09 am

I like this song. The mandolin really works well in this arrangement:

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 18, 2011 @ 4:52 am

The Dark Times are Here

Yes, it’s a war on the worker.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 17, 2011 @ 12:15 pm

Worth sharing….”The Disease called ‘Perfection’ “

By the way, Brian Kilmeade of FOX “News” apparently thinks that people of different nationalities are of different species.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2009/07/08/qotd

People that uneducated should not be in any kind of position of responsibility.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 17, 2011 @ 11:23 am

I’ve heard that, too.

Clearly, racism is BS no matter how you look at it.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 17, 2011 @ 11:01 am

Excellent comment. I’d like to add to some of the different points, if I may.

People who are not skinny, but can sing. Aretha Franklin springs to mind (and a whole lot of opera singers.)

Piano players with small hands: Ludwig Van Beethoven. Nothing more needs to be said.

“At the core of racism, isn’t there also a belief in perfection?” Absolutely. I’ve argued with racists before. I try to make them see that the idea of “pure blood” is completely wrong-headed. I remind them that “pure-bred” and “in-bred” are the same thing. Genetic diversity is healthy.

Two examples are useful to illustrate this: European royalty was inbred, and that gave rise to genetic defects, such as the famous “Hapsburg Lip.” Second example: the Manx cat. I’ve known cat breeders who point out that you really shouldn’t breed them “true;” you must bring non-Manx cats into the line or else there will be deformed kittens. A common genetic defect caused by this is a fused spine.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 17, 2011 @ 6:40 am

I work with people like that too.

I try to leave politics at home so we can work together peacefully.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 16, 2011 @ 11:44 am

I don’t get it.

Why was your co-worker waiting to listen to those CDs? I read your comment over and over again, and I still don’t get it.

Maybe I’m just being dense or something.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 16, 2011 @ 11:25 am

Help Keep The Planet In Orbit – Donate Today

Alright, I’m in.

Just subscribed. This place is more than worth it.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 16, 2011 @ 5:26 pm

Endless Embrace

Wow! I love that painting.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 16, 2011 @ 5:30 am

From a union worker family standpoint…

I think you’re exactly right about those low level management types.

Also, I find that many salesmen are regular listeners of conservative talk radio. They tend to spend a lot of time driving around; that may be one of the reasons for it.

Also, many salesmen are habitual “magical thinkers” and self-deluders. Maybe it makes it easier to sell things if you’re capable of believing whatever you want to believe from moment to moment.

If I’ve insulted any salespeople out there, I’m sorry. I’m sure there must be many fine, upstanding people in sales (that I’ve never met.)

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 15, 2011 @ 10:33 am

Stupid is as Stupid Polls

… but I didn’t feel too good about it…

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 16, 2011 @ 11:59 am

FOX news viewers were always reminding us (“over there”) that more people watch FOX than any other news channel.

The fact that so many people believe things that are not true (the Death Panels, Obama being a Muslim, etc.) isn’t surprising.

Like I mentioned before, I work in a shop full of Rush-listeners, and I usually try to refrain from bringing up politics at all. But that morning when Mubarack resigned, and the protesters in Cairo were celebrating, I had a live feed on my computer screen at work.

One of my co-workers stepped into my office and looked at the screen.

“What’s going on?” he wanted to know. I explained briefly, while different scenes from Tahrir square were being shown. One of the scenes showed a tank with Egyptian flags on it.

My co-worker (an ex-Marine) noticed the tanks and asked what the military’s role was. I told him that mostly they were on the side of the people, while the police force was mostly pro-Mubarack. I mentioned the repressive police-state conditions that Egypt has been living under.

“I heard that’s what Obama’s doing too!” he said, “he’s recruiting young people through AmeriCorp to form a National Police Force so he can…”

I cut him off, laughing. I said, “Obama could never be a tyrant or a dictator!”

He demanded, “WHY NOT?”

I said, “He’s too wishy-washy!” and that made it alright. We laughed together. Apparently he was satisfied because I had insulted the “enemy” Obama.

I let it go at that, and we both returned to work.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 16, 2011 @ 11:57 am

It seems to me to be a triumph of perception management.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 16, 2011 @ 8:43 am

You’re certainly right about that!

I just got the latest issue of The Nation in the mail, and the cover story is about the Left wing “Tea Party” in Britain. I read the first few paragraphs before heading to work this morning, and I wondered, “Are the English people just smarter than we are, or what?”

I don’t think that’s true; I think they’re just a little bit better informed. I think it’s the media.

Most people over there get their news from the BBC. Most people over here get their news from FOX. That’s got to make a difference.

Here’s those first few paragraphs I mentioned:
http://www.johannhari.com/2011/02/04/how-to-build-a-left-wing-tea-party-a-guide-for-americans

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 16, 2011 @ 7:46 am

You know, I heard that about 50% of people are of below average intelligence…

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 15, 2011 @ 11:26 am

We’ve got a lot of churches down here in Decatur, Georgia. There are at least three within walking distance of my house.

I was curious to see how we compared to your town, so I clicked that local.yahoo link and put my town in.

Decatur has 1,863 churches and a population of 16,752. That’s about 1 church for every 9 people.

I wonder about that data. That can’t be right!

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 15, 2011 @ 10:15 am

The Deficit of Truth About Obama’s Budget

Man, that’s depressing.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 14, 2011 @ 3:50 pm

Budget, Deficits, the Debt and the lies from the right

Perhaps instead of using the phrase “saw it coming,” I should have said “said it was coming in public statements?”

Alright, I’ll concede that. But my main point stands: why should anyone listen to the Right when it comes to economic policy?

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 15, 2011 @ 8:20 am

Thanks for the link. I’ll read that.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 14, 2011 @ 3:46 pm

Speaking for myself, I look forward to it.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 14, 2011 @ 3:43 pm

“War machine”is exactly the way to put it.

The Department of Defense used to be called the Department of War, right? Maybe they should go back to calling it that, just to be honest about it.

When’s the last time we actually fought a war to DEFEND our country anyway? WWII? Seems like we’ve been fighting offense, not defense since then.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 14, 2011 @ 3:42 pm

It IS the wrong issue.

And here’s the thing about the Keynsian economists (like Dean Baker and Joseph Stiglitz.) These are the people who actually SAW the economic crisis coming, even when the Right did not.

In the last few months of 2008, when McCain and almost all the other conservatives were denying that there was a crisis coming, I was hearing Rush Limbaugh telling callers to ignore their real life experiences. He told one caller (a loyal listener who was struggling to pay the bills) that the economic bad times were all in her head. He advised her to stop reading the New York Times, and to see if that made her feel better.

The Right never saw the crash coming. When McCain said “the fundamentals of the economy are strong,” he was repeating the consensus view of the Right. Why in the world should anyone believe them now when they tell us what the economic policy of the nation should be?

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 14, 2011 @ 3:34 pm

Yep.

Thanks for the article, BTW. I learned a few things I didn’t know.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 14, 2011 @ 12:12 pm

What bugs me is how the Right can turn deficit hysteria on or off like a light switch at their convenience.

Sometimes it matters; sometimes it doesn’t.

» Posted By Buddy McCue On February 14, 2011 @ 11:55 am