Jedi Mind Tricks Redux- These Are Not The Unions You Want

I was a little hasty in posting my previous blog. I did not fully appreciate the reason why it was ok for Police and Fireman Unions to retain their collective bargaining rights (ok I agree that fireman and policeman are a lot scarier than teachers carrying signs-mostly saying horay for our signs). Turns out that teachers are only Jedi Masters In Training.

Scott Walker "These Are Not The Unions You Want".

 

http://garygms.blogspot.com/2011/03/scott-walker-fraidy-cat.html

Best Non Beatles Single Song?

A case can be made that A Whiter Shade Of Pale is the best non Beatles song ever. Ok so I am making it! I remember hearing this song and watching Procol Harum perform this song on Top Of The Pops while on vacation in England in 1967. At the time I did not care much for it all, but when I came back to Vegas that summer it began to grow on me.

Every time I hear A Whiter Shade Of Pale I get a warm feeling; it transports me back to England and being with my Grandmother. I can pick this tune in one note. All these years later I still have no idea of what the words mean; it just has such an evocative mood, something to do with the Bach like Organ. Anyway next time you hear this song see what you think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Whiter_Shade_of_Pale

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1131

We skipped a light fandango,

Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor.

I was feeling kind of seasick,
But the crowd called out for more.
The room was humming harder,
As the ceiling flew away.
When we called out for another drink,
The waiter brought a tray.

And so it was that later,
As the miller told his tale,
That her face at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale.

She said there is no reason,

And the truth is plain to see
That I wandered through my playing cards,
And would not let her be
One of sixteen vestal virgins
Who were leaving for the coast.
And although my eyes were open,
They might just as well have been closed.

And so it was later,
As the miller told his tale,
That her face at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale.

California How To Not Pass A Budget Redux

Three men walk into a conference room. Two look at the hole in the roof and decide to pay to fix the roof, the third man eyes the same hole and says "I don't agree with you, what we need is less roof, and I won't vote to fix the hole unless you also agree to reform the of doors and windows". *

*- of course this is an over simplification, or is it?

Rubber Soul

 Do you have Rubber Soul? On vinyl? On 8 Track? On CD? Can you imagine what it would be like to hear this album for the first time once again? I have been listening to this pop/rock gem from 1965 with new ears recently, and I am amazed at the music of The Beatles ability to move me like no other 40 years on.

Starting with Drive My Car (A Final Jeopardy Question today) through Norwegian Wood, Girl, Michelle, Nowhere Man, In My Life, and the ringing guitars of George's If I Needed Someone this is music that connects to the DNA. Clone these stem cells and Say the Word Love!

note: for those of you who must know these things I prefer the English version of Rubber Soul to the American version because it is more honest in its presentation of what the Beatles wanted to release, but you've got to love how I've Just Seen A Face and It's Only Love fit into the flow of the Album. They do, however, change the overall mood of the American version to a more folk rock affair than the British version by excising Driver My Car, Nowhere Man, and What Goes On. But how can you miss? Either version will suffice and if you don't have the original American Capitol version burn your own! And hey It's like 1965 Again : )

Liberal, Conservative, What's In A Label

 Re-posted from 4/24/05

I invited a friend to visit my blog the other day. I related that my father thought I was a liberal, my brother thought that I was a conservative, and that I thought of myself as an enlightened moderate. I suppose that this was by way of warning her about the content that she might find on my blog. Sort of a TV style rating for Blogs; warning the following content may be philosophically contrary to your views.

But then I got to thinking how can I be liberal, conservative, or moderate to different people. I know who I am at my core and what my beliefs are, and I am pretty much in agreement with myself most of the time. Is it their problem? Or is it mine?

But why have these labels “liberal”, “conservative” become such red flags? It’s as if the nation as a whole is keeping score deciding who is red or blue, who is righteous and who is wrong. It only seems to be more prevalent today because of the media blasting at us 25-7. Our founding fathers, as I have been reading in a recent book “Founding Brothers” were as irascible, cantankerous, and vitriolic, as any of today’s crop of knuckleheads and lunkheads (and they did it without the help of CNN or Fox). I say deity bless them (red herring humor for those of you weighing me on the left-right scale). But as for me I wont be subscribing to any one point of view. I will be pretty much sticking to my “core values and beliefs”:

• Abortion should be a woman’s right between her and her god not a politicians.
• Abortion should not be used as birth control.
• I believe in personal responsibility especially for elected officials and televangelists.
• No civilian needs a semiautomatic assault weapon.
• At the heart of every tax crusader is a tax cheat.
• Rap Music is vile soul destroying music and just not as good as anything else including country music and polka.
• Liberal do-gooders should get a full time job at a soup kitchen.
• Conservative televangelist should get a full time job at a soup kitchen
• I support our troops not the war.
• Vladimir Putin has no soul and single handedly bombed Chechnya to the ground while we whistled WMD.
• There are almost three billion people in China and India. How many jobs do you think we can outsource before we become a third world nation?
• The three branches of government are pretty inefficient and often times get in the way of getting real work done but until politicians stop thinking that theirs is the only right way I say what’s a little delay in our march to forcing you to do it my way.

You Say You Want A Revolution Best Double A Single Ever

Consider

The Beatles Double A Side Single  Hey Jude/Revolution 

http://beatles.com/#/

Heard this on the radio the other day. Hey Jude. Takes you back, way back doesn't it? And then throw in Revolution (sample lyrics below) can you believe that these two great songs were released at the same time on the same single. These two songs would have been a career for most bands. But wait, there's more, they were left off of the White Album as the Beatles did not believe in including songs that you had already paid for on a single.


So what did you get for your 7/6d or your $.99? Only the most soulful McCartney ballad/rocker ever and John Lennon's take on using your loaf; a most literate response to blind allegiance of any kind and a full out rocker to boot. Of course its no "Baby One More Time", and A Hard Days Night is no Justin Beiber: Never Say Never, but then what is?




You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan


You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow

Jedi Mind Tricks

Scott Walker is right. Collective bargaining rights have to be stripped from teachers and public workers in Wisconsin. For years Union negotiators have been employing Jedi Mind Tricks during negotiations and Scott Walker and his negotiators are afraid of Union Negotiators. They are just out of their league, the Union Negotiators are so scary the only option is to end collective bargaining rights.

Scott Walker "These are not the cuts you want".