An outcome of the focus in America on the elections was the Chinese did not get the coverage deserved for their outstanding accomplishments in space this week. They put a crew of three in orbit and their first spacewalk was successful.
Space buffs like me who grew up in the town that built the Saturn V and watched the improbable success of the American space program understand the exhiliration the Chinese people must feel.
Congratulations from the home of the Saturn V!! Well done!!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Something From The Americans
i love Presidential debates. These are where the real election season starts. As debates go, it was better than some, but a snoozer at the start. Obama seemed nervous going in and McCain seemed feeble. It got better.
Two moments:
1. Lessons from the war: Obama has it right. The critical decision is to go. Then he blows it. The critical American value lost was non-preemption. Our not being a first strike nation regardless of our power was the value we prized and for which we are admired. The lesson is the Bush Doctrine while tactical is not strategic. Instead, Obama talked about the effect on the economy and my wife muttered, "Bean Counter!" and the list he followed with followed that line of thinking.
He had a choice to make points on values but left them on the table for money. McCain was able to recover with the "not the decision the next President has to make. When to leave and what to leave behind are" which is exactly right and a smart way to get out of answering the question.
2. "I looked into Putin's eyes and I saw three letters, a K and a G and a B".
Classic straight talk McCain. Funny and understandable.
A wash except in style points. McCain looked old but deeply passionate about what he cared about. Obama looked young but easily irritated.
McCain wins this one but not by a knockout.
So on this most American night, something from the Americans.
Two moments:
1. Lessons from the war: Obama has it right. The critical decision is to go. Then he blows it. The critical American value lost was non-preemption. Our not being a first strike nation regardless of our power was the value we prized and for which we are admired. The lesson is the Bush Doctrine while tactical is not strategic. Instead, Obama talked about the effect on the economy and my wife muttered, "Bean Counter!" and the list he followed with followed that line of thinking.
He had a choice to make points on values but left them on the table for money. McCain was able to recover with the "not the decision the next President has to make. When to leave and what to leave behind are" which is exactly right and a smart way to get out of answering the question.
2. "I looked into Putin's eyes and I saw three letters, a K and a G and a B".
Classic straight talk McCain. Funny and understandable.
A wash except in style points. McCain looked old but deeply passionate about what he cared about. Obama looked young but easily irritated.
McCain wins this one but not by a knockout.
So on this most American night, something from the Americans.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Life's A Long Song
Sitting here waiting for the Boss to call and tell us how the demo is going, Southern breeze blowing windy and warm outside, I remember the night Jethro Tull came to play and the lords of our local civic center pulled the power plug on them promptly at 11PM in the middle of a flute solo.
I ran into Jeffery Hammond-Hammond in the parking lot walking back to the hotel. Boy was HE pissed.
"They pulled the f**** plug on us. How can you live in the sh**hole of a town??"
"ummm.... I understand. It's home."
"But what a rotten pissy thing to do!!!"
"Yeah I agree. Want to get high?"
"THOSE BARSTARDS!!!! ummm.... what... oh yeh"
Watching this election accompanied by the economic tsunami pouring over our shores as predicted, being personally pummeled on other blogs because I defend McCain and Palin and refuse to toss in with The One, I am somehow upbeat. I don't know if it's the cancer diagnosis that left me feeling every day above ground is a good one, or just my own curmudgeonly obstinacy, or that sense that neither of the parties has much moral high ground to retreat to and the mainstream media is going down in the suckage, but I just don't feel the terror and panic I see in the faces on the boob tube.
They tripped over the economy and now their acts are just short wonks whacking away at strings without amplification and all I hear is the shrill flute noises of their anger and rage at being left on stage in the dark with an audience filing out to continue their parties elsewhere.
Life's a long song.
I ran into Jeffery Hammond-Hammond in the parking lot walking back to the hotel. Boy was HE pissed.
"They pulled the f**** plug on us. How can you live in the sh**hole of a town??"
"ummm.... I understand. It's home."
"But what a rotten pissy thing to do!!!"
"Yeah I agree. Want to get high?"
"THOSE BARSTARDS!!!! ummm.... what... oh yeh"
Watching this election accompanied by the economic tsunami pouring over our shores as predicted, being personally pummeled on other blogs because I defend McCain and Palin and refuse to toss in with The One, I am somehow upbeat. I don't know if it's the cancer diagnosis that left me feeling every day above ground is a good one, or just my own curmudgeonly obstinacy, or that sense that neither of the parties has much moral high ground to retreat to and the mainstream media is going down in the suckage, but I just don't feel the terror and panic I see in the faces on the boob tube.
They tripped over the economy and now their acts are just short wonks whacking away at strings without amplification and all I hear is the shrill flute noises of their anger and rage at being left on stage in the dark with an audience filing out to continue their parties elsewhere.
Life's a long song.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Undisputed Truth
2008: The year when sexism trumped racism because holding women down is what men do to stay on top and keeping other women out is what women do to stay on bottom.
One Tin Soldier
History might repeat itself, but never the same way. Thus purpose and revisionism conspire to create the delicious ironies of history.
William Ayers put Barack Obama in charge of ACORN. The Board of Elections in Cuyahoga County, Ohio and the .S. Attorney’s office in Michigan accused ACORN’s paid workers of submitting fraudulent registration cards.
But wait, there are more recent heart warming associations.
This week, Barack attends a do at the Standard Club ballroom last night, where he raised about $1 million for the Obama Victory Fund. That’s ok. Not the grassroots image, but no one buys that anyway. Then he was off to the $28,500 a plate “Greeks for Obama” Victory fete where he lavishes a two minute meaty praise on Alexi Giannoulias.
What do the ChiTown papers have to say about Alexi?
He is a “man who has long been dogged by charges that the bank his family owns helped finance a Chicago crime figure” and “who became Illinois state treasurer” in 2006 after Sen. Barack Obama vouched for him”. Alexi then “pledged to raise $100,000 for Obama.”
The September 5, 2007, Chicago fundraiser was omitted from Obama’s public schedule and the event was closed to the press,” Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
“Before he promised to raise funds for Obama, Giannoulias bankrolled Michael ‘Jaws’ Giorango, a Chicagoan twice convicted of bookmaking and promoting prostitution.
“Giannoulias is so tainted by reputed mob links that several top Illinois Dems, including the state’s speaker of the House and party chairman, refused to endorse him even after he won the Democratic nomination with Obama’s help.
“Giannoulias was the bank’s vice president and chief loan officer for most of the more than $15 million in loans,”. The Obama campaign disputed any suggestion that Obama is tarnished by the association.”
The phrase that comes to mind is ‘lay down with dogs’.
Now consider this: the left has been aching for the Great Get Even ever since the 1972 election when a man with known mob associates, banking improprieties and a campaign willing to ratf*** its opponents won by 60+ per cent. Two years later, he was resigning in disgrace.
So in this election, the left presents a man with mob associates, strong links to the financial crisis and a campaign using illegal registrations.
Barack Obama isn't Jimmy Carter. He's Richard Nixon.
The irony of that is delicious.
William Ayers put Barack Obama in charge of ACORN. The Board of Elections in Cuyahoga County, Ohio and the .S. Attorney’s office in Michigan accused ACORN’s paid workers of submitting fraudulent registration cards.
But wait, there are more recent heart warming associations.
This week, Barack attends a do at the Standard Club ballroom last night, where he raised about $1 million for the Obama Victory Fund. That’s ok. Not the grassroots image, but no one buys that anyway. Then he was off to the $28,500 a plate “Greeks for Obama” Victory fete where he lavishes a two minute meaty praise on Alexi Giannoulias.
What do the ChiTown papers have to say about Alexi?
He is a “man who has long been dogged by charges that the bank his family owns helped finance a Chicago crime figure” and “who became Illinois state treasurer” in 2006 after Sen. Barack Obama vouched for him”. Alexi then “pledged to raise $100,000 for Obama.”
The September 5, 2007, Chicago fundraiser was omitted from Obama’s public schedule and the event was closed to the press,” Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
“Before he promised to raise funds for Obama, Giannoulias bankrolled Michael ‘Jaws’ Giorango, a Chicagoan twice convicted of bookmaking and promoting prostitution.
“Giannoulias is so tainted by reputed mob links that several top Illinois Dems, including the state’s speaker of the House and party chairman, refused to endorse him even after he won the Democratic nomination with Obama’s help.
“Giannoulias was the bank’s vice president and chief loan officer for most of the more than $15 million in loans,”. The Obama campaign disputed any suggestion that Obama is tarnished by the association.”
The phrase that comes to mind is ‘lay down with dogs’.
Now consider this: the left has been aching for the Great Get Even ever since the 1972 election when a man with known mob associates, banking improprieties and a campaign willing to ratf*** its opponents won by 60+ per cent. Two years later, he was resigning in disgrace.
So in this election, the left presents a man with mob associates, strong links to the financial crisis and a campaign using illegal registrations.
Barack Obama isn't Jimmy Carter. He's Richard Nixon.
The irony of that is delicious.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The Gift
Craig Carodine asked me to write something for the church contemporary Christmas program. The theme of the program is The Gift.
My contribution is HERE. Not fancy but fun. Sorry about the cheesy midi. This stuff takes about fourteen musicians to record right.
The lyrics follow.
My contribution is HERE. Not fancy but fun. Sorry about the cheesy midi. This stuff takes about fourteen musicians to record right.
The lyrics follow.
The Gift
Moses reached out with a mighty hand
Holy Father won't you part the sea?
With the water before us
And the Pharoah behind
There's not an awful lot of desert between
Jehovah looked down with a mighty grin
Like the ocean rolling out from the shore
And when the gift was given
It reached down from Heaven
Saying, "Pharoah, let my people go!"
His Gift His Gift is Given (repeat)
Shadrack stood in the fiery furnace
Shouting, "King on your worldly throne
For as warm as it is
I'd rather be with my friends
In the company of all I adore
There's a Heaven above you
There's a Hell below you
What you think about that, I don't know,
But when the gift is given
It rains down from Heaven
To the fire on the valley below.
His Gift His Gift is Given (repeat)
Oooooh His Gift is greater than the power of the sun and the sea
Oooooh His Gift is promised to the people that they shall be free
Oooooh His Gift is strong enough to last for eternity
Oooooh His Gift is given by the man from Galilee!
Jesus stood on a hill in Canaan
Looking out at their beautiful souls
They had come to hear about the gifts of God
His joy His peace His love
Come as children to my Father's house
For his love is as great as my own
And when my gift is given
It will reach right up to Heaven
Praying, "Father let your blessings flow"
When The Gift is given
God reaches down from Heaven
Giving Peace
Blessed Peace
Lord Your Peace!
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