This is a great video. Another reason, for us, the school system is not an option.
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I simply find it funny that women-folk are demanding sex drugs from "old white" men. I thought the women's movement was all about "independence" and equality. What a joke!
Think men, think! The Affordable Care Act is found as a constitutional bill by the Supreme Court. I don't understand the argument. The court said that if the "individual mandate" is a "mandate" then the law is unconstitutional, however if it is considered a tax then it is constitutional. Here is the problem, constitutionally: All tax bills MUST begin in the House of Representatives. Why? Because the House is the MOST accountable to the people. Every two years the House is turned over and the people choose whether they like the taxes the House raised of lowered. The Affordable Care Act began in, you guessed it, THE SENATE! So did the court find a sneaky way to pass taxes against the people? Bottom line: Never trust a liar...err lawyer to do the right thing. A moral attorney/judge is an oxymoron.
The equivalent of "The Great American Novel" for readers, the concept album is, in my opinion, the most exciting listening experience in rock music. A story embodied into 60+ minutes of music is a tremendous challenge that few musicians even try to pull it off. The most famous of these is clearly "The Wall" by Pink Floyd (who has made a career of concept albums) with The Who's "Tommy" being another strong favorite. Some, incorrectly, call these magnus opi :) as rock operas. Sorry, this is not right. A rock opera would be more appropriately "Jesus Christ Superstar" or "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (both of which is not great music nor compelling story lines). In other words, with a rock opera the performers actually take on the personas of the characters where in a concept album the performers tell the story without "being" the characters. The concept album takes many forms. Technically, the story or idea should be threaded throughout the entire album. So while Rush's "2112" or "Hemispheres" may not technically be concept albums but rather epic songs (aprox. 20 minutes each) but since they would take up the entire side of an LP, I would still call these concept albums. I think the origins of the concept album actually comes from the oratorio as opposed to the Opera. The Oratorio, which is a musical performance where orchestra, choir, and soloists tell a (normally religious) story. The oratorio became popular in the 17th century because the Catholic Church put a stop to spectacles (operas) during the time of Lent. This left a gap which was successfully filled by the oratorio. While the concept album is rarely religious in nature, the idea of creating a long form musical program that tells a compelling story comes from this rich tradition. Rush's newest album, Clockwork Angels is it's newest addition to this genre. It is interesting in the fact that while the story line follows through the entire album, the songs are separate and can stand on their own. The musicianship is really phenomenal and the songwriting is tight.
For more examples of modern concept albums, check out the following: Dream Theater's Metropolis Part 2 Scenes From a Memory Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance Neal Morse's Sola Scriptura The Mars Volta De-loused in a Crematorium Porcupine Tree's The Incident Twenty-five years ago President Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate at gave a speech that was for the "... freedom for all mankind." I took the short thirty minutes to listen to the speech and I'm not too proud to say that tears flowed as President Reagan, in a show of strong, Presidential leadership he demanded Gorbachev to open the gate and to "tear down this wall!" Maybe I cried because we don't see this kind of leadership in our country today. Maybe it is the universal struggle against tyranny and for liberty that touched me. It's probably, more than anything, witnessing one of God's servants doing exactly what he was put on this earth to do; and as the Great Communicator, freeing millions and millions of people from the Evil Empire. Like it is impossible for me to understand the fear and terror of Hitler and World War 2, it is impossible for my children to really understand the terror of the Soviet Union and the real courage it took for President Reagan to make this speech. It's impossible for them to know how important it was for the loudspeakers to be pointed toward East Berlin. This is the moment when the wall, publicly began to fall. It only manifested itself two years later. Rangers lead the way!!
Thank you to the families who lost our heroes in protecting our freedom. Over the past four years much has been said about Mitt Romney and how his Mormonism will negatively affect his campaign for the Presidency. As a Mormon, myself, I understand these arguments, allow me to share a few arguments how his Mormonism may help him. The question isn't whether you think Mormonism is true or not. That doesn't matter. The question is how does a person's religion (in this case, Mormonism) color a person's perspective on the world.
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