This was inspired by a friend of mine who is a delegate in the great state of Utah. She said that in Utah, a very conservative state, 58% of the workforce draw a paycheck from the public sector. Huh???? How is this healthy. Check out her story here. This made me think of my three ideas that would change the country for the better, but are too "impractical." Here they are.
What other impractical ideas do you have? -Think men, think! All my life I have been hearing about tolerance. When it comes to religious tolerance, this has basically meant "no displays of Christianity whatsoever". I have been told that wishing someone a Merry Christmas amounts to insulting other religions, that having a religious - themed calendar at my desk is "forcing my beliefs on others", and basically that simply believing that Christ is the Messiah is a hateful thing.
Isn't it interesting that in Mumbai, India - where I am currently staying - these ideas would be considered paranoid and childish? According to Wikipedia, "The religions represented in Mumbai include Hindus (67.39%), Muslims (18.56%), Buddhists (5.22%), Jains (3.99%), Christians (3.72%), Sikhs (0.58%), with Parsis and Jews making up the rest of the population." In a city where there are 22,000 people per square kilometer, these religions simply must get along. The way they get along is not to deny anyone religious expression, but to make it ubiquitous. At work, every desk has some religious token or expression. A woman wears a full burqa next to a Westernized Hindu with a picture of Sai Baba on her desk. Across from them sits a Sikh with his turban and beard.the supervisor has a catholic calendar that actually says "God loves children - born and unborn", and a picture of Mother Theresa. You might imagine that HR would be all over that supervisor about his insensitivity to those who report to him. You'd be wrong. In a place where atheists are virtually nonexistent, everyone is completely secure in expressing their religions. Isn't that the opposite of what we are told will happen? I know that there are occasionally terrorist attacks here. In a place where almost 1 in 5 are Muslim, there are bound to be enough radicals to cause issues. Nevertheless, wherever you look there are idols, religious images, people worshiping in their own way and not in the least concerned that others are doing their own thing. Again, I think that is because there are so few atheists. After all, it's only the atheists who really complain about religious expression "offending" other religions. Atheists seem to believe that all religious people are affronted and threatened by different beliefs - as if religious beliefs made one insecure and childish. I believe the term for that is "projection". In a place where everyone has and is free to express their beliefs, no one is offended. John Lennon, in the throes of communistic ecstasy, wanted us to imagine a world without religion. I believe that with Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Red China, we have seen the unimaginable bloodshed that arises from that idea. India seems to be a world without atheism. Very nice people who have only the vaguest notion of what Christianity is have asked me about my plans for Good Friday (!) and Easter. In 30+ years in America, no one has ever asked me about Good Friday, which is actually a bank holiday here. Imagine that! ~ Just Jim, Ghostblogger Ann Coulter really is brilliant! This is from her latest article:
"...A few weeks ago, The New York Times ran an editorial noting the amazing fact that, by the middle of this year, there will be an estimated 6.8 billion people on Earth -- and 5 billion will have cell phones! (Even more astounding, at least one of them is seated directly behind me every time I go to the movies.) How did that happen without a Democrat president and Congress using bribes, parliamentary tricks and arcane non-voting maneuvers to pass a massive, hugely expensive National Cell Phone Reform Act? How did that happen without Barney Frank and Henry Waxman personally designing the 3-foot-long, 26-pound, ugly green $4,000 cell phone we all have to use? How did that happen without Obama signing the National Cell Phone Reform bill, as a poor 10-year-old black kid who couldn't afford to text-message his friends looked on? The reason nearly everyone in the universe has a cell phone is that President Reagan did to telephones the exact opposite of what the Democrats have just done with health care. Before Reagan came into office, we had one phone company, ridiculously expensive rates and one phone model. Reagan split up AT&T, deregulated phone service and gave America a competitive market in phones. The rest is history. If you can grasp how inexpensive cell phones in a rainbow of colors and wonders like the iPhone could never have been created under a National Cell Phone Reform Act, you can understand what a disaster ObamaCare is going to be for health care in America." - Think men, think! Rachmaninoff died today in 1943. When I was a junior in High School I was chosen to be the alternate to go to Boy's State. (I went to a small school with only one representative and one alternate) At the interview I was asked to describe myself in one word. I said I was a "romantic." Of course, that made everyone laugh, and they asked me to clarify. I tried to explain I didn't necessarily mean romantic, in the "romantic" sense. (am I speaking in circles yet?) I meant romantic in the historical sense. The idea of romanticism in art and culture goes back to the late 18th and 19th century. This was a time of the American (Good) and French (Bad, but necessary) Revolutions. It was a time, in music, that honored soaring melodies and individual technical proficiency. This was the era when the soloist was KING! All the rules and forms were broken. It is still my favorite style of concert music. Beethoven defined the Romantic Period in music and in my opinion, Rachmaninoff perfected it. He is the last of the great romantic composers. We've already talked about his G minor Prelude and his Vespers. If you haven't yet, click on the link and listen to them. They are simply sublime. Today I add the First Movement of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano concerto, and the entire 3rd Piano Concerto. We've already talked a little bit about the concerto here and while the principles still apply, these piano concertos are less overtly competitive than Beethoven's First. I think you can still feel that tension which makes the concerto so great and so universal. Notice at about the 9:40 mark of the Horowitz version, the orchestra is trying to take control and it is up to the soloist to bring things back into order. In the end, it is the haunting Russian melodies that I can't get enough of. They fill my soul with their emptiness. (Yes, like a true romantic, I am now talking in circles) For example listen to around minute three of the part 2. That melody is so beautiful! I have two versions of his third concerto. The first is from 1939 so the recording is really bad. I just want to you to appreciate what a great pianist Rachmaninoff was. The second version is of a recording Horowitz did in 1978. You can hear the orchestra so much better. Also in the video notice the conductor completely deferring to the soloist. (Beethoven would be proud) Not only is Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto my favorite concerto of all time, this video (all five parts) may be my favorite video of any performance, ever. Patiently work your way through it and I believe you will be richly rewarded. It is over forty minutes long (less time than to watch 24 or your favorite tv show) and I think you will understand the dynamic between soloist and orchestra better by watching the entire video than anything I could explain in the blog. Just immerse yourself in it one time and I believe you will be hooked. - Enjoy I hope you enjoy this. How to take a piece from over 300 years ago and enjoy it in two different and distinct ways. As you listen to the two versions, think about things that make them different (i.e. rhythm, structure) and what is similar. I find that by listening to a new version, it really helps me appreciate the genius of the original. Also, enjoy the live version, it's classic Tull, in all his craziness, snarls, and weirdness. Too fun. You thought you owned your body? Not after tonight. The government now officially owns you. Get ready for taxes on "bad" food, abortion on demand, and death panels all in the name of controlling health care costs. ...is the left wrong on everything? Even a clock is right twice a day. Not with the left. They are wrong 100% of the time.
Maybe the bigger question is why do people keep falling for these silly ideas that never work? Why? Many of you may have heard this on Mark Levin's radio show. I, personally saw it on www.therightscoop.com . A website I highly recommend. Ronald Reagan was called "The Great Communicator." His response to this title was "... it's because I communicated great things." And nobdy did it so well. This is why speeches he gave as far back as 45 years ago his ideas are still applicable today. If Obama and Reagan debated I don't think Reagan would say much different. It is the principles that matter. It is the principles and the ideas that made this country great and if we don't pass these principles on to our children, personal, individual freedom will be driven off the face of this earth. One last point I must make. There are no new arguments. The agents of "change and hope" have played by the same playbook since the beginning of time. Universal healthcare, education, unions, so called "positive government rights." These are ideas that go back at least to the French Revolution. There will always be a small group of people who will try to dominate the majority in the name of the "common good," security and peace. They think they are smarter than we are. They think everything should be micromanaged and controlled to create a "new man." A "better world." They may be called Pharasees, Kings, Emperors, Kingmen, Nazi's, Communists, Democrats, Homeowner Associations, etc. But their institutions eventually crumble to ash. Why? In my opinion it is because these institutions supplant our God-given moral agency for the servitude to the loud and obnoxious few. -Think men, think. "Physical death is not the worst thing to happen to a human being. The worst, spiritual death."3/7/2010 I will not write very much because I think the interview speaks for itself, but allow me to point out two things:
-Think men, think! |