third world county

Aha! What goes around… Adam got in a lil third-hand tagback on me with the playlist meme pool tag game. He was tagged by the Random Yak who was tagged by Lyn Perry who was tagged by… me.

*heh*

But since Adam seems to be having trouble coming up with seven to tag *cough* I’ll play again (not that it’s all that difficult, since songs and musical motifs run through my head all day). In fact, one-a the folks I tagged tagged another who has an open invitation to tag me any time, so I may get to play this one over and over again… And yeh, most of the music from last week’s tag are still running loose in here, somewhere… The meme pool tag game has some “rules” such as they are:

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

I’d suggest linking here and tracking back, or I might tag you again, what with my Early Oldtimer’s Disease (or whatever it is–probably coffee deprivation–heh)

😉

1-“Rescue the Perishing–I like to play this one on my cornet (an old–1929 Vincent Bach Strad) with a shift to the relative minor for part of the verse that reads,

Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore (back to major here with a shift one step up)
Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,
Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.

I don’t play it (or my “Strad”) often, but it does keep coming back and playing itself in my mind’s ear.

2-If I’m walking around shopping, I’m likely to be stopped by someone and asked “What is that song/tune?” and like as not it’ll be the opening to “L’Arlesienne.” If not it might well be

3-Don McLean’s “Vincent”. Don’t ask why, cos I’m not sure.

4-“Night on Bald Mountain”–Moussorgsky/Rimsky-Korsakov. Yep. NOT a song, but the thing’s so compelling, strong. And while that is still echoing, in marches

5-The Ravel orchestration of Moussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”–mostly “The Great Gate of Kiev”… nice piece. (Oh, I also “hear” Moussorgsky’s piano piece, cos I once heard a particularly good rendition in recital that has stuck with me, but the Ravel is the standard, I suppose.)

6-“Take the Chance”–Peter Yarrow and Judy Collins from the PP&M “Lifelines” album. The same album that features Noel Paul Stookey and Emmylou Harris (!?!) singing

7-“For the Love of It All”

In the beginning, as life became form,
The oceans heaved, the mountains were cleaved,
The firmament stormed.
At the center of being, immensely small
Was the master of now, don’t ask me how
The Love of it all

And the seasons were many.
Creation was new.
And there on a tree (deceptively free)
A forbidden fruit
Upon leaving the garden, after the fall,
One thing was clear; we chose not to hear
The Love of it all…

And that’s some of what’s been running through my head recently.

Tagging…

Lingerie Lady (HAVE to know what’s on her “playlist” :-)) Hope she checks in, cos I can’t seem to find her email addy…

Kentucky Dan, at Committees of Correspondence, has been featuring the varied “ear” of American music recently, and I think his playlist would be interesting, don’t you?

Lisa Renee, of Liberal Commonsense may have played this, but if she did I just missed it. I still wanna know what she’s listening to, as do we all, of course. 😉

And I do wonder what Jake and The Bald Chick are listening to over at Freedom Folks.

And here’s hoping The MaryHunter’s schedule has cranked back juuuust a hair, and he’s got the time to list his playlist, at least. “Ave Maria,” bud? (Gounod, Schubert or other? :-)) Uhmm, don’t shoot me, TMH; I’m just the cornet player.

The Mauser Girl mentions she’s down in the dumps over chocolate milk (not really) and looking for inspiration, and I hope this lil tag will inspire her to… something. *heh* 🙂

And lastly, but certainly not “leastly,” Mark, of uhm, well, Mark My Words (wish I’d had something witty to name my blog, although I do blog now and then at My Dog Boo) seems to be a man whose playlist will “clast” some icons…

Thaz it folks. Let’s see who can keep the hits comin’.

Noted (*heh*) at TMH’s Bacon Bits

Well, for a couple of weeks I tried to insult Muslims so I could get a few death threats of my own. They’d drop in from Dubai or Saudi Arabia after searching for “filthy whore” in Arabic (long story) and go scooting off with their tails between their legs, though.

*sigh*

What’s a guy gotta do to get a little “respect” from our brothers in The Religion of Hate, Intolerance, Butchery, Rape and Slavery?

Heck, I even posted a realo nice pic of The Butcher of Medina in a pink dress! And what did I get? Not one illiterate scrawl from a splodydope moose-limb.

If it weren’t for alla you nice folks linking here and tracking back, I’d begin to think I was all alone in the world… *wah*

*heh*

Just link to this post and trackback, ‘K?

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Mental Rhinorrhea has a thoughtful post, Morning After Pill Redux and Open Trackbacks, up responding to a comment I made to an earlier post there that deserves a fuller response from me than just a brief comment on her blog. Read her post first and come on back here.

Even posting this in response doesn’t do her entry enough credit, since I’m only commenting on a portion of her post—and then taking off on one of my trademarked rabbit trails. 🙂

I particularly commend her comment, “I would love to think that, God forbid, I were raped and became pregnant that I would have the emotional support needed to deliver the child to term…” My personal prayer is that no woman would ever have to face that particular decision, but if one should, Lingerie Lady’s outlook would be what I’d pray prevails.

Still, if one truly believes abortion is murder, then what? Simple logic compels the thought, apart from religious beliefs: if the fetus is not human, what species is it? Porcine? And if so when does it switch from being a pig to being a human? (OK, in cases of fetuses that grow to become politicians, the answer would be “Never” *heh*)

If the answer about when a fetus becomes human is the silly, “When it can sustain life outside the womb,” then that would suggest that most of the folk on “welfare” are abortable… among other classes of not-humans (by that definition). The question is silly, but it’s also either dangerously stupid or dangerously disingenuous… or both.

The answer is for those of us who have a moral sense to legislate that moral sense into law. After all, every crime against persons is a legislation of moraility, is it not? If murder is only “criminal” and not “immoral” then where is the justification for criminalizing it?

It is the bane of civilization: postmodern (and even sloppier post-postmodern) relativistic humanism that makes the disingenuous argument that one cannot legislate morality: if laws are not legislations of morality then they are purely arbitrary.

OK, almost hung myself on that one, didn’t I? Granted, many of the laws we are saddled with today are arbitrary, disconnected from morality, and also, not coicidentally, the prime factors in what Jerry Pournelle has labeled as the increasing presence of “anarcho-tyranny”–loosely, the arbitrary and unjust rule of subjects (no longer genuinely citizens) by bureaucrats and political elite, resulting in a disrespect for the rule of such arbitrary and unjust laws.

And make no mistake here: I have no respect for the current crop of abortion laws on just that very basis alone, apart from moral arguments: they are arbitrary and unjust. If they were just, they’d allow for the baby to be born, grow to maturity and argue its own case for being allowed to continue living or be “aborted,” but fetuses are allowed no rights in abortions. Arbitrary, because the assessments as to the humanity of the fetus are all subjective, with no foundation in fact.

Coming around to the original post by Lingerie Lady on the “womb broom” morning after pill and pharmacists who refuse to dispense it: On the grounds that abortion laws are arbitrary and unjust, alone, I would argue that anyone who refused to dispense those pills would have not only the right to assert their displeasure with the laws by refusing to dispense the poison but the responsibility to themselves and a just society to do so.

As in respect to such laws as require dispensing drugs against the personal moral judgements of citizens, “The law is a ass.*”

I heartily recommend putting Mental Rhinorrhea on your watch list. It’s going on my blogroll. Lingerie Lady’s post referred to here deserves a much fuller response than I have made, but I trust at least a few readers here will hop on over and check her blog out, and perhaps leave a few comments of your own.

Continue reading “Agreed: Abortion is murder…”

Today’s Stop the ACLU Blogburst is a reprint of Stop the ACLU article covering a significant issue in The War Against the West that was originally published at Gribbit’s Word on 28 August 2005:

---

“ACLU & CAIR Promoting Islam While Suppressing Christians & Jews”

For a year now, Stop The ACLU has been bringing information to you about the evil ways of the ACLU. We’ve been telling you about their war on religion, the Boy Scouts, Christmas, religious icons in public, the 10 Commandments, children, and the United States. But are you listening?

Judging by the comments that we receive, I’d say the only people listening are our own members and those who are poised to argue the ACLU cause. But we must have some readers who are in shock or out-right disbelief that any organization called
“American” Civil Liberties Union would be fighting for causes contrary to the best interests of this nation. But they are.

read Continue reading “ACLU and CAIR Stacking the Deck”

Because I am the sick, twisted, and bizarre person God has made me (THANK You, Lord, LOLOL), I have promised a quilt to David and his Lady Wife.

I requested a general color preference, and David’s Lady granted that she likes sage green and creams, with other accents, and so I offer – through God’s rich grace and Providence – a kit I bought two years ago (Oh, yeah, yet another chance to reduve my “stash” — so I can buy MOREMOREMORE!).

David, here are the colors – and make sure your Lady isn’t completely nauseated by them, OK?

Continue reading “Oh, David…”

Click on the thumbnail for the rest of the story.

Snickering over at Basil’s Picnic

This article at SANS Internet Storm Center warns that

…a serious vulnerability has been found in Apple Safari on OS X. “In its default configuration shell commands are execute[d] simply by visting a web site – no user interaction required.” This could be really bad. Attackers can run shell scripts on your computer remotely just by visiting a malicious website.

You’ve been warned. Be careful out there.

PSA’d at Conservative Cat

While inferring the “strained” Southern argument for apportionment in Federalist #54, James Madison outlines three criteria applicable to slaves:

In being compelled to labor, not for himself, but for a master; in being vendible by one master to another master; and in being subject at all times to be restrained in his liberty and chastised in his body, by the capricious will of another — the slave may appear to be degraded from the human rank…

Hmmm… two out of the three chracteristics of slavery seem adequately fulfilled by our present income taxes. Who has first claim on your labor? Who can put you in prison or otherwise “chastise [your] body” for failing to give your labor FIRST in its service? That you are not—yet—”vendible” by this master is the only manner in which income taxation fails the benchmarks of slavery mentioned by Madison.

Ironic that the first successful efforts to implement both the incremental involuntary servitude of income taxation and the absolute involuntary servitude of compulsory military service were implemented by… Abraham Lincoln.

Both income taxation and compulsory military service were eschewed by the Founders in their Constitutional deliberations for very good reasons. Among them, concerning taxation, is something very like what we have today in our inconcievably large (in the Founders’ day) Republic with a nearly universal suffrage—specifically avoided by the Framers!—which has resulted in a set of circumstances the Framers wished ardently to avoid (read Madison’s exposition in Federalist #10). As Scott Johnson and John Hinderaker wrote for The Claremont Institute in 2002 in Regressive Thoughts on a Progressive Tax, citing the Founders views,

“Given the fact that the poor everywhere outnumber the rich, political philosophy had held that a government based on majority rule was likely to lead to the misappropriation of the property of the few rich by the many poor.”

/sarcasm/ No, really?

*sigh*

We do not have the Founders’ Republic any more. Don’t believe me? Just read the Constitution, really read it. It’s a relatively short document—kinda long for a blogpost *s*, but still relatively short—written in fairly simple terms.

Here’s an idea: how about pressuring your congresscritters for a return to at least a shadow of the Republic the Founders envisioned by ditching the abhorrent income tax?

It’s doable, folks. For a start:

The FairTax.

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