Laughter IS The Best Medicine

This gets funnier and funnier. The world is ending because of a video. Last time it was a magazine cover. When will it ever end? Scandalous!

Look folks, all week you argued like crazy people about the race card, and you know racism is like herpes: no one really wants to talk about it or give to it anyone else. It's a bummer.

But a good joke where lots of people laugh and Friday comes easy? That is pure gold. So thanks! Laughter is the best medicine as Reader's Digest said.

Have a good weekend!!

Sibelius: My First Published Score

Just a note to those who express interest in my musical scores. I put the first one up at Sibelius.com today. You can find "Epiphany" there under "Claude Bullard" (defaults to my first name).

Epiphany was originally an instrumental piece for the University in Perth (Western Australia) 3D web world project headed up by Chris Thorne who commissioned the piece. (Thanks Chris and OZ!!) I used the funds to buy Sibelius V. The score is a choral version with lyrics and orchestration I wrote at my wife's request for a piece for her ladies section at Hazel Green United Methodist.

A Proper Ettiquette for Adultery

jane sez:

I would like to finally have a POTUS that I can be proud of.

Me too. Unfortunately I'm stuck with these turkeys.

I can remember being in Paris during the whole Bill and Monica thing and my host saying that French politicans have mistresses, but are smarter than to mess with plump little girls and are too discreet to get caught. UGH.

I guess we have a lot to learn from the French about the proper etiquette for adultery. Here, cuckolded wives have to stand next to their husbands at the press conference. In France, wives stand next to the mistresses at the funerals of their husbands.

Flip Flop and Splish Splash

Predictably, Obama is trying to move to the center and the volatile elements of his coalition are angry. The agent of change is seen to be the agent of the same old same old. Obama is for Obama.

Big surprise. Yawn.

Is he flip flopping? There is a difference between changing one's mind in light of new evidence and doing it to follow polling numbers.

Take the changes individually and ask what new evidence caused his reconsideration. If he replies that a change signifies leadership, in other words, he defends his character but does not present new evidence, he is flip flopping.

Whoda believed Obama could make Dick Cheney look like a man of integrity and character? Sometimes it really is a well-scrubbed, well-polished act but that is all it is.

Now we have the New Yorker page. Liberals go crazy. Yawn.

Some complain "The satire is lost on average folks." and that they will believe it.

How many of them are reading New Yorker? Of course the right wingers will use it to make their case and so will the left wingers.

That's how satire works. People are up in arms because it is Obama and everyone knows he needs to be cuddled and coddled. And after that, they still expect us to vote for him?

Cluetrain: we don't care about white guilt. We don't feel guilty. In fact, the longer this goes on, the less guilt there is to be found. THAT is the cost of this campaign. It isn't making us more aware. It is desensitizing us not because we are haters but because we aren't hypocrites.

Sheesh. They said nothing about Hillary's picture on a urinal target and dozens of other tasteless displays. The elite needs to figure out another way to play Spy vs Spy because no one really cares what that cover means. They want to know how to keep themselves on the road at $4 a gallon and if their money is still IN the bank.

Annie Getcher Gun

The question is did Obama flip-flop on his position on the right to bear arms in the case of the District of Columbia law that prohibited handguns. The answer is that based on his prior statements that this was constitutional law, yes he did.

But not so fast.

"A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." Second Amendment of the US Constitution

Try to find the bit that says individuals have the right to own guns.

Try to find the bit that says a State or municipality can't pass laws about the kinds and types of arms that an individual can bear.

Try to find the bit that says this applies to women as well as men.

Try to find the bit that says a felon can't bear arms.

Try to find the bit that says deranged lunatics can't bear arms.

Try to find the bit that elaborates individual vs States rights.

Obama's statement that the new Supreme Court ruling striking down the DC law is useful guidance is correct. The Court did its job. Trying to determine if this makes sense in an era of ubiquitous unregistered Uzis and Glocks is an altogether different problem. That is the essence of Obama's dilemma or really any thinking person with an understanding of the implications of open borders and a society with a wide chasm between haves and have nots.

Understanding constitutional law is not the problem. Understanding the role of the executive in context of the oath of office in real world events is.

Guidance is not always given and there isn't enough time to ask for it in some situations. Caveat emptor.

Shaq Attack

Some days are just more interesting than others at my job. Really... my boss is the master of schwooze. Shaquille O'Neal was here a few minutes ago to meet with us. That's my programming team standing out front. They're the best crew I've sailed with in many a moon. In case you can't tell, Shaq is on the back row with his hand on the ugly guy with the glasses and thinning hair.

The difference in this job and my last job is simply astounding.

Very Old Possum Miss

The seal said "Vero Possumus"

The segull squealed, "Very old possum miss?"

The turtles exclaimed, "Not nice. Possums have rights too."

(a) Whoever knowingly displays any printed or other likeness of the great seal of the United States, or of the seals of the President or the Vice President of the United States, or the seal of the United States Senate, or the seal of the United States House of Representatives, or the seal of the United States Congress, or any facsimile thereof, in, or in connection with, any advertisement, poster, circular, book, pamphlet, or other publication, public meeting, play, motion picture, telecast, or other production, or on any building, monument, or stationery, for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States or by any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

In case we need to impeach him later.

Just Keep Saying It Until They Believe It

Michelle Obama goes on The View to be one of the girls. She praises Hillary, talks about sexism, tries to make nice. This is the political makeover a very highly paid PR firm is putting together.

Yet this is now and this is what she was saying a short time ago.

I don't mind the Obama's being blatant hypocrites. I mind them doing that while their supporters are still engaged in destroying Hillary Clinton to break that 18 million voter bloc Clinton controls. The Obama's believe possibly rightly that Goebbels was right: just keep saying it until they believe it.

Meanwhile the Obama campaign moved two women wearing hijabs from behind the platform for the appearance with Al Gore. This kind of staging has occurred before and Obama apologizes afterwards, but his campaign continues the practice so it isn't something he can honestly say he isn't aware of. "All for the show, ya no", as Mick Jagger said. His supporters defend it by saying Fox would have a field day with the photos. And they are right. On the other hand, courage is doing the thing that is dangerous because it is the right thing to do.

He is the rock candidate alright. Or as Reverend Wright said, "Just a politician." Whatever. This isn't change anyone with half a brain can believe in.

Obama isn't about change or hope or us. Obama is about Obama. That's what rock stars do... or candidates for the job anyway.

Come The Day

I've forgotten much about the music that affected me in the early days. Going from being a kid playing folk in the churches in the 1960s to the boy playing pop in the restaurants in the 1970s to the man playing rock/blues/jazz in the 80s to originals in the 90s, and now, back to folk, one rediscovers the roots and some surprises.

1960s folk was not just protest music. Grounded in the Hootenannies of the late 50s, it was very spiritual. Gospel is as much the tap root of 1960s folk and pop ever since. We tend to forget that as we have become dance-centric. Now that I'm past the time I really need or want to play in the loud bands, I am enjoying rediscovering these roots and wondering how this will affect my songwriting. The influence has always been there with different emphasis but as my son pointed out when I was orchestrating "Fee Fi Fo Fum" for the children's play, "Dad, that's really the Mamas and the Papas soundwise" and he was right.

Come the day, I find I want these sounds back in my life. Perhaps as a fan once noted about "Sam (for Liz)", we come to an age where we need a little innocence back.

More Seekers... Judith Durham is medicine to the wounds.

A World of Our Own

I read at YouTube this song became a gay/lesbian anthem.

Excellent!! Songs of freedom are for everybody!!

Free The Slaves

If you are one of the women who bought into the Obamalosi campaign, remember that the only reason he is the Democratic nominee is because the media was allowed to stomp on his competition while giving him a free ride.

If you don't get that, come Independence Day, be sure to clean house, wash dishes, iron shirts and all that. Free slaves is an oxymoron.

The Devil In The Details

An opinion piece worth reading...

There are wars and rumors of wars. The devil is in the details.

Finding Judith Durham

Father's Day is when I miss my Dad. We shared life and music. It was a grace-filled relationship. Evenings spent playing old songs, I miss that. I have my own song for Dad, but I found something special this year.

The web has delights for the finding. Judith Durham is one. Georgy Girl had me from the first note. For a long time I didn't know what became of the beautiful chestnut-haired singer so beguiling when I was a boy of twelve.

It has been a pure delight to discover she became even more brilliant and heartfelt.

A musician born is a musician forever. I love this one. She was first in a boy's heart and as she sang, "I know I'll never find another you", I knew I never would.

The Cruel War

Then there is the issue no one talks about in any way that makes sense: the war.

I've never been to a war. I've lived in a country at war. I've lived with a family where my brothers and my father went to war. I've seen only the aftermath.

This is the issue that tears me in the middle. Obama doesn't have a solution and McCain can only tell us how terrible war is but how terrible it is to lose. Of the two, he knows the most but I don't know if he has the best solution.

And this is an issue I will puzzle over because although it seems that while we all can agree it is terrible, we can't agree on much else.

But we know that.

I'll Never Find Another You

The problem of the economy as an issue is it is like sitting at a crowded table eating an expensive meal; the crowd blames the restaurant, the waiter is asking if anyone wants more, the chef wants a compliment but no one wants to pick up the check.

Obama's weakness is he projects the feminization of America and that isn't a sexist or racial issue. It is leftist and this is a right-center country except for the millenials and they aren't nearly as large a voting bloc as the baby boomers who are increasingly conservative and had enough of rock stars about the time hip-hop was born.

What is interesting is the current punditry on the veepstakes. The McCain pundits are saying he needs a VP that will brighten his image given his age. The Obama pundits are saying he mustn't pick a VP that dims his brightness.

The Obama camp is still afraid of Hillary Clinton even having taken the nomination. It doesn't matter that she is out of the race; it does matter that they keep working the message of Obama Girl that his image needs to be protected. That's a real fear and a real weakness that can be exploited: rock stars can't lose the bad boy image or they become working stiffs.

Will Google Make Us Stupid?

I read that Nick Carr published an article in Atlantic Monthly asking if Google will make us stupid?

Google won't make us stupid. We will make Google stupid.

Google will make us boring.

No Dog In The Hunt

It's another day on the political blogs. Now that Clinton is out of the race, I can relax and taunt the contenders. Some such as Jake Tapper at ABC are still beating on Hillary Clinton but that may just be bad boy habits. He misses her.

The first part of the day is the expected attempts to humiliate Clinton supporters to come over to Obama. I suspect some will but I know a lot won't. It's just been too painful and insulting an exchange over the last few months. People who only know Obama from CNN's glowing adoration miss the real action which is where his supporters spent those months insulting and kicking in the teeth of the Clinton supporters. Those angry attitudes about Barack are quite real. One can only be called 'racist', 'idiot', 'fear monger', 'geezer' and so on for so long before it becomes a reason to not vote for their candidate.

jeanne sez:

I understand your feelings about Obama, but he claims to kick out the special interests and that is a start.

Think Jeanne. How many so-called reformers have told us that? Has it ever worked? All interests are 'special interests'. Satisfying them and getting elected are what politicians do. So try not to be as disappointed as you probably will be when yoou realize that as his classmate at Harvard said, "Obama is about Obama".

The campaigns will only give us a hint about his special interests. If his past performance is a clue, it will include prodigious amounts of tax dollars going to his cronies who espouse extreme ultra-left causes.

He can do little about the war until the conditions improve there. As Colin Powell said, "You break it; you own it." That's non-negotiable at this point.

The real interests are purely economic. A tsunami of debt and price hikes are coming our way and so far, nothing in his speeches suggests he has a single clue about what to do.

It comes down to what he is for, not what he is against.

ObamaKnew sez:

Hillary does not want the VP spot.

I hope you are right and that Senator Clinton returns to the Senate where she can do the most good for the causes she has fought for her whole life.

Otherwise she is betting her career on a campaign that has a less than even odds of winning. We really need her to stay viable. An economic tsunami is hitting our shores. The only color it favors is green and the only race it discriminates against is the one to the gas pump every Sunday night just before the prices go up.

She has already made history. If she wants to support Obama, that's her choice to make. She has an enormous amount of power right now. I'd like to see her use it to help people the way she always has. Obama's candidacy might not be the best place to leverage it in the months to come.

On the other hand, the Manly Man Contest is heating up and becoming real fun for those of us with no dog in the hunt. Obama is trying for that virile thing and so the first thing he does is push Joe Lieberman against a wall and demand his lunch money. Typical.

Now that's classic mau-mau. Push someone against a wall and demand they give you their lunch money.

Lieberman should have decked him. At some point, someone will.

So now we see that not only is Obama arrogant, he has a need to act out his aggression in public for others to approve.

This will get interesting as the heat turns up. The Republicans just got the Golden Compass to where his character flaw buttons can best be pushed. We saw flickers of it in the debates. He is a disciplined guy, but that breaks down when he thinks he has the upper hand.

That explains why McCain asked for Town Halls. McCain only needs to make him angry one time with enough surprise that Obama reacts as he did with Lieberman.

anon sez:

Lieberman is simply a mouth piece for Israel..

Which has historically been a position of some influence in American elections.

So are you pitting the Internet noveau riche against the pro-Israeli lobbies and New York wealth based on a guy who pushes old Jewish men around only when the guy has Secret Service agents to watch his back?

He's going to get creamed.

@mr coffee says Obama and McCain should

both be psychologically evaluated:

Not a bad idea. So will Dr. Phil do the evaluation? They have to get health exams. Maybe a psych eval is a reasonable request.

McCain wears his temper on the outside. That's a fighter jock. Obama wears his temper on the inside. That's a thin walled teapot waiting to blow. Experience is that if you have to deal with either of those types, the outie is a lot easier and more reliable. The innie is very unpredictable and hard to manage.

Pelosi has her work cut out for her. Obama will be a PIA to manage. She needs a waterboy and he won't be that because he is only servile until he gets the power. As we say, don't use attack dogs because they circle back to the hand that holds the leash.

That incident in the hallway with Lieberman is a loser for the ticket. Qui bono? Not the Democrats. It just made them look bad right when they were trying to keep the spin cycle pointed at Hillary to humiliate her into being more generous with her mail list. Obama needs that desperately and she doesn't have to do anything but be polite, supportive and let him self-combust.

Or his supporters will light the fire. They are his Achilles Heel.

Enuff stuff! Let's ROCK WITH THE BO THAT KNEW DIDDLEY!!!

Viva Puerto Rico!!!!

The people picked Hillary Clinton.

The party elite picks the nominee.

The people will pick the President.

VOTE IN 2008. Let them hear you roar.

If ye divide ye olde songs t'will be sung...

Of Ministers and Mad Men

It’s the eve of the Big Meeting in Washington of the DNC Fools Committee and from where I sit, Michigan and Florida are losing. Meanwhile, another close associate of Obama comes out of the closet as a looney spouting racist rhetoric that would make John Brown spin in his grave. The death march to the sea continues.

The DNC and the Obama supporters know what mainstream Democrats know: these ministers are Obama's friends, not Johnny-come-lately admirers seizing fifteen minutes of flame. These are the people he chooses to associate with. This is who Obama secured many thousands of dollars in Federal grants for. These ARE his people, white, black, racist, sexist or just crazy. This IS the Obama Nation.

That is why Hillary is winning the national vote. This is why he loses the general election.

The fascinating bit is the narrative arc. Nancy Pelosi sets up a candidate with money and support, pushes all the right buttons to set him against her chief rival, Hillary Clinton. With his delegate count soaring but his campaign losing in the popular vote, she steps in as the great power broker to “stop the fighting”, anointing herself as the queen while her knight errant is sent off to slay the monster but leaving her with the magic money machine and the voter list. She doesn't care that he is losing; she needs him to create the perception of herself as the real power in the party. Very slick moves by Pelosi one must admit to set her self up as the presumptive nominee for 2012 and the hegemon during his presidency.

Almost Shakespearean. Very Grendel. At least, bad Disney.

Except it is falling apart in the third act. Why?

The scenario in the beginning was Pelosi brokering Silly Valley money and making deals with Chicago politicians to take the White House and both houses of Congress. It seemed simple. The Republican numbers were in the basement. They could run a fresh face if a weak candidate and use the dry tinder of white guilt and intimidation to fuel the fire.

So far so good, but elite liberals who use black politicians seldom associate with them in black social circles; so they know less than nothing about the culture of blacks among blacks. They don't understand the depth of anger, hostility and racist rhetoric or how much of that signal is there on the very instrument they use to fuel the money machine: the Internet.

Now it is too late to weasel out and in the mean time, the enemies of America in the Middle East are supporting Obama in public. How easy will it be to create the perception of a loose confederation of like minded left wing liberals who espouse causes that threaten Israel, the US and the European allies? Too easy. Why? Pelosi didn't understand what she was setting in motion. She is blinded by her ambition to take down Hillary Clinton. She forgets that once Hillary is out of the picture, the MSM and the hard right wing will defile Obama with the same tactics and more money. She and hers spent theirs defeating Clinton.

This begins to look like the voyage to Hell for Pelosi and her band of merry Internet Pranksters as they are sucked down into the maelstrom of anti-American sentiment and actions, a twister she fueled by heating the atmosphere with racism and sexism.

Pundits want to make this about Hillary but Pfleger made this about reparations. It's a one two punch with Wright delivering the message and Pfleger delivering the terms. Obama is simply expected to deliver.

Because of the events that have transpired, there is going to be a lot more of this between now and November. The problem with Obama's Big Speech is it is a one trick pony. His support has been clearly eroding in the popular vote since the Reverend Wright fiasco. Because his entire political career is built on association but no substantive work, all he can be judged by ARE his associations.

That will be enough to put McCain in the White House by a blow out. We had a better than even chance with Senator Clinton at the helm. Now we have less than one in three and those odds depend on the voters worrying about McCain's age. That is pretty weak. So then it becomes about the war. That is two edged. If the surge keeps working and there are draw downs between now and the election (something Bush can be sure to make happen), all they need is for Osama and his merry band to repeat a performance somewhere in Europe, something they can manage, or for the Middle East terrorists to make a campaign video endorsing Obama which they probably will do.

Nothing is certain but the odds on favorite is McCain at this point courtesy of Nancy Pelosi whose blind ambition had split the Democratic Party and ruined the one chance it had at the White House.

Past performance is a predictor of future performance, but only McCain and Clinton have a genuine legislative record. Even there, the campaign never focuses on the issues. In this election, no one owns the real issues. Everyone has a plan. In the case of the Democrats, the plans are close in nature kind and objectives. Some are not achievable because they go too far too fast or cost too much. People know this. It is part of the campaign.

So in the end it comes down to who do you trust to do their very best. Character assessment is precisely how most make that decision. Hillary is ahead in the popular vote and her lead is widening. The Democrats woke up and paid attention to Obama too late because they didn't take him seriously. Pfleger is right about that. They already know her or think they do. The $40 million character assassination done by the Republicans had a lasting effect.

Now they are wide awake and seized with a horror of what seems unavoidable. They have not only set up the weaker candidate for nomination, but one who's associates guarantee a scandal a week for years to come. So we get four years and the Republicans get another twelve and that is the BEST we can do.

It didn't have to be this way. Maybe we learned something but history indicates lessons learned are lost one generation after they are acquired.

Let's see if we can untangle the pundit spin.

1. Obama is a likable guy even if arrogant and aloof. He is an election 'horror' because his associates’ positions plus the pile on from the Middle East put Pelosi and her Pranksters on a day-glo bus to hell. They can't lead, they can’t follow, they can’t get off, they can’t stand still, they can’t slow down, they can’t take Hill, and if the thunder doesn’t get them, the lightning will (apologies to the Grateful Dead). The electorate will tire very fast and the down ticket races will reflect that. IOW, it’s woody weeding time for the DNC.

2. He hasn't earned this nomination. Pelosi's Amazing Money Machine bought his delegates and his ability to outspend 4 to 1. Nothing in his legislative achievement says he can govern effectively when it comes to world policy. Then there are those pictures of Hillary Clinton in the green zone with John McCain among thousands of others showing she goes where the crosses grow and comes back with the facts. Say what you will about Bosnia, she was there.

What I am saying is 'THIS' first lady is far more qualified, and THIS Senator is the strongest candidate. That the Pelosi cabal in the DNC chose to use all their resources to destroy her says clearly we need to push them out of power. They fear her more than they want Obama.

The Democratic nomination process is straight out of MAD Magazine. Even Alfred E. should worry.

Incredulous???

Incredulous!!!! This is Obama's church. This is what the Democrats want to run the country???

We thought Bush was bad. We were right. This is simply unbelievable. Voting for McCain just got a whole lot easier.