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A few days ago I was talking to a co-worker regarding Scott McClellan’s book that was recently released. The part that truly stuck out to me was the fact that here is a guy that was basically Bush’s Bitch for how long and is now coming out to say that his entire job was based on propaganda and lies. That Bush did what most of us already know- he lied.

Don’t you hate it when your bitch bites back?

Anyway, I brought out the propaganda point, and my co-worker’s response was, “All governments do that.”

Oh, so why should we be any different? We like to pride ourselves on being such a great nation, but it’s all smoke screens and bullshit.

Prior to the Memorial Weekend, gas prices skyrocketed in preparation for people who wanted to do some traveling over the longer weekend. Predictable as it was, it was still annoying and amazing. Gas is already high and the oil companies are bringing in record profits. Any decency toward human beings has been lost.

My wife expressed her frustration and outrage to her parents, who faithfully support the president and everyone of his policies because the church and Rush Limbaugh tell them to, and their response was simply, “Oh, they always do that.”

Oh, my bad. Why change now? Carry on. Anything else you would like to let people get away with because they always have?

It didn’t matter. Gas was purchased by the ton as RVs loaded up and headed east for the three day weekend. I guess they should always do that?

A friend of mine, who leans libertarian, and I were discussing the economy and the dive that it had been taking sometime a couple years ago. My argument is simple, with every penny of inflation that does not match my raise in pay, I’m losing and so is he. Unless he can find for me a way to counter the rise in goods, our economy is on the verge of crisis. This was before gas prices had really skyrocketed and before houses started to foreclose left and right.

His argument as he continued to argue the corporations’ right to fuck us anyway possible since it is their right in a free market society was, “Economies go up and down. It may just be time for it to go down.” Oh, so same argument as my father-in-law. So disregard the fact that the administrations continue to make decisions based on what’s right for the corporations and not the consumer because the economy always does this.

When I took over a department a couple years ago I tried to implement changes in several areas to create measures of accountability and hope for efficiency gains. First, though, I would try to understand why they did tasks the way they did. I would ask people who were doing tasks in a very inefficient method why. The response, “That’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Well then stop right fucking now!

So I’ve learned that governments and corporations will fuck us over any chance they get because that’s what they’ve always done and resistance is futile and that people are such creatures of habit they will continue to do the same things repeatedly because they are too goddamn stupid to change their patterns.

I’ve never been one to accept those stupid arguments. How the hell does anybody get anything done?

I’m resolving to verbally assault anybody who ever uses this lame-ass argument on me again. It’s not an argument, it’s a weak excuse for laziness.

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As I pointed out before, I’m a huge lover of music.  Rock specifically, and I love progressive rock.

One of the best sites for finding progressive rock is progarchives.  While I take their reviews with a grain of salt, it is a great site for finding bands and determining what they style is and whether or not a band is worth checking out.

As I was doing some reading the other day, the progarchives boards had this discussion.  The title is theism vs. atheism in prog.  Well of course that caught my eye, but why stick to prog or even religion?

Does anybody care what anybody has to say?  Does most of the world even know what the song is about and does it effect their opinion of the song, artist, or in their own life at all?

Popular opinion in the seven pages was that religion or spirituality did not matter as long as it wasn’t too much or too preachy.  Fine, and somewhat agreed.

I recall a conversation I had a few years back with a Libertarian friend of mine who is basically willing to give up social rights and privileges for money.  I would ask him why he listens to much of the liberal rock that is out there in the world.  Rage, System, Disturbed, and many more.  These bands write songs that do not support the politics nor the president that he supports.  He told me that he didn’t care what people sang about as long as the music rocked.  OK.  I don’t agree.

The lyrics of music are the poetry of today.  To me they define the music and can truly ruin a song if not in line with my way of thinking.  I look for and support bands that I can get into due to what they are saying.  Sound is not everything.

I know that Rage Against the Machine was discussing their political views several years back and were disappointed because the kids just didn’t get their message.  The music rocked, the kids got into it, and they completely missed the point.

Sometimes bands give ambiguous messages or their message just isn’t very clear.  Or maybe we define the message to suit our own needs.  We’re far less interested in what the band is saying and far more interested in how it fits what we want and desire from the music we like.

The band Chevelle was labeled a Christian band after their first album.  I’m not sure how they felt about it and I know it was only because their debut was on a label famous for supporting Christian acts.  I personally don’t see them as a Christian band, but I could be missing something.

Thoughts?  Do lyrics make the song?  Do we tolerate lyrics that don’t quite align with our attitudes because the music is good?

Are you the type of person who only listens to The Girls Got Rhythm and She Rides to avoid having to think too much?

Maybe you could care less.

Honestly, I may like a band until the band says something in the media or writes a song that I simply cannot listen to.  Once a band writes a song that disappoints me lyrically, I often cannot listen anymore.

Sometimes…. the song remains the same.

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Three students were suspended in Minnesota for not standing during the pledge of allegiance.

According to the school district policy, students must stand, but they do not have to recite the pledge.

Now the principal of the school is reviewing the policy after, according to FOX news, she found out that it may be unconstitutional. Gee whiz, it might be?

Now, this is a junior high, so chances are good that the original three suspended didn’t do it for any good reason. One claimed she didn’t hear the call. The others may have been lazy. No matter.

I always have had issues with the pledge anyway. Words forced down our children’s throat without explanation as to what they are saying, why they are saying it, and what it all means. We have passed legislation and required them to pledge to a symbol why? I know my children both practiced and practiced memorizing the words when they were in first grade because their teacher told them they had to know it.

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Music, to me, is the place of peace.  Today’s music world is full of cookie-cutter music.  I suppose this is not any different than at any other time of our society, but we have the opportunity to find music that would otherwise not see the light of day now more than ever.

So how does the wide range of music get countered?  Why with American Idol (or whatever version your country may run) and Disney and Nickelodeon singing clones and producers who spend their entire careers creating one sound alike after another.

How do we purchase music?

Well, iTunes is now the number one seller of music.  The modern version of the 45 sells more than anybody else as people clamor to get the one song of these shitty albums that they like.

The success of iTunes comes at Wal-Mart’s expense.  Wal-Mart is now #2.  Frustrating me is that Wal-Mart sells only censored music.  I know that they call it “clean,” but let’s really call it what it is- fucking censorship.

Other options?  Target, Best Buy, Circuit City?  Selection is thin, and all those box stores only carry music as additional opportunity to make money and attract customers to their store.  Best Buy has often said that they can afford to sell their CDs so cheaply because they expect that a CD isn’t the only thing the customer will be coming into their box to purchase.  I’m guessing they are correct.

People have a tendency to purchase Best Buy gift cards for me because they know how much I love music.  I can wander around forever at Best Buy and not find a damn CD I want.  Selection at any of these boxes is pathetic at best and if I do purchase anything, it’s likely something I will be disappointed in owning.

Other options are FYE and Sam Goody; the mall music retailers.  For $17.99- $19.99 per CD the selection is a little better, but hardly worth my money.  I guess it’s OK, but the extremely loud rap in these stores drives me crazy.  Or, worse yet, they’ll be playing country.  I can handle it if it wasn’t so damn loud.  My wife knows I cannot make it very long in any store that is playing loud country.

I could purchase my music at any of the various online retailers, but when I purchase music, I want it now.  I don’t have much patience for mail.  I want to go to the store, pickup my CD, and pop it in the car on my way home.  Sometimes, online is the best option though.

Here’s the point of this post.  Independent retailers of music is the best way to go.  I here there was a time when independent retailers almost thrived, but the boxes have put them out of business over the years.  The margins are small if one is solely selling music and it’s hard to keep quality staff.  The boxes don’t have to worry about quality.

I live about 25 miles from the closest quality independent retailer.  I heard yesterday that they are closing that store down.  They cannot keep up with the changing market and have basically been priced out due to high overhead costs in the region.  They will still be running the three other stores that are quite a bit further north from me.

Why have we allowed this to happen?  Are people really so satisfied with Hannah Montana and Mariah Carey that they are not willing to explore further?  They are really so happy with the fact that all the music sold at any box is either cookie cutter or censored that they don’t care to support independent retailers in any form?

I know people have been complaining about the walmartization of our society for years.  I agree.  It bothers me.

The better question is how do we reverse this trend?  How do I get my music back?

How can I get something useful out of my Best Buy gift cards?

Popularity: 40% [?]

I really don’t care for pop culture and try to avoid all the hoopla as often as possible.  People whore themselves our for publicity constantly and it’s not anything that interests me.

This becomes tougher for me as my daughters get older.  At 12 and 10, I have to be ready to discuss and approach most topics that catch their eye or that their friends are discussing.

Such is the case with Miley’s back.  Yes, the 15 year-old daughter of a country music singer and Disney’s most cherished possession recently took off her shirt and they took a picture of her back.  I’m indifferent.  She didn’t show anything that would truly upset people.  It’s more what she didn’t show.  The public has become worked up over what is not seen in a picture and that seems poor.

My oldest daughter said that she thinks it’s wrong.  The picture.  I asked her why and what ensued was a rather lengthy discussion about when others determine what is wrong and right for us- the public.

We covered language and who determines what is proper for us to say and what isn’t.  How the trouble she can get in at school is based on some crazy meeting held years ago.  I asked her to tell me the difference in meaning for the following four statements.

• God Damn It
• Holy Fuck
• Holy Crap
• Wow

Based on when they are used- nothing.  Two of those, though, will get her in trouble.

We discussed television and how it’s perfectly fine to show murder, dead bodies, and violent acts against people.  Yet, it’s not fine to show any ounce of nudity… or Miley’s back.

We discussed the fine line that is created by society regarding art vs. pornography.  This discussion began with Renaissance era artwork.  Michelangelo was a great artist, yet much of his work involved unclothed people.

We even discussed prohibition briefly.

It was a great springboard into a discussion of socialized norms.  Of course with cautionary words regarding the consequences of breaking those accepted norms- no matter how conservative the rules we break seem.

I would like to thank our conservative Christian nation for have such terrible norms.  For making a ridiculously unappealing picture such as that one become such a great controversy that I was able to have a discussion of such great magnitude with my daughters.  That I was able to discuss with her how we are seemingly unable to make up our own minds and that we are often expected to accept that society’s judgement regarding most issues.

It was also a perfect opportunity to remind her to think for herself and ask questions.

Popularity: 42% [?]