Accepting the Challenge…Kind of

I was challenged the other day during a phone conversation with a friend who had several comments to make on last week’s Freedom Friday post. Though her comments will remain between us, she seriously stimulated my thinking. She succeeded in motivating me to re-think the direction of these posts because as a result of our conversation I’ve been asking myself a lot of questions. Questions for which my answers lean more toward opinion rather than well researched, clear and rational understanding.

I’m not liking this about myself. I may be able to defend my opinions with well chosen rhetoric, but that’s not good enough. Rhetoric isn’t reason. Rhetoric may support it, but it isn’t a very good replacement.

Here’s the thing. I’m a freedom lover, an advocate for liberty. I’m very much aligned with the “Leave us alone” crowd. The question that most stimulated me after my discussion with my friend was: “Am I a liberty advocate based on the principles advanced by America’s Founding Fathers, or because I’m an independent cuss who simply wants to do as he pleases?”

Other questions I’ve been playing with are:

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SNJ091909 — A Night with Diana Krall

What can I say about this lady? Her sensuous voice just sends me. Her piano playing is as near perfect as one can get. She’s a Grammy winner whose consistently at the top of the jazz charts. She brings a unique contemporary interpretation to all sorts of wonderful jazz standards. Her “Quiet Nights” album (released on March 31, 2009) has fixed her in my view as the absolute Queen of Jazz .

So for your listening pleasure I bring to you the following wonderful jazz from the Queen herself — Diana Krall. I hope you enjoy.

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Is there a way out?

Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you’re on you can’t help but be impressed by the event that took place in Washington, D.C. on September 12th. A huge number of people (yes I know the numbers are being questioned — no matter, they’re still big) from across America showed up to protest a radically arrogant and out-of-control federal government. No riots, no looting, no violence, no arrests, just outspoken outrage and peaceful protest. Amazing.

The “sleeping giant” of true freedom-loving Americans is starting to stir. The question now is, “Are we really going to have an impact? Is it enough, or is it too little, too late?” Is there really a way out of this mess?

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SNJ091209 — A Night of Random Goodies 2

Not much to say tonight, just playing around with Grooveshark and following wherever its recommendations lead me. Its easy to do and a lot of fun. You can discover some great music this way. Give it a shot. Just go to Grooveshark and type in your favorite artist. Then click on a song and give it a listen. With each song comes recommendations and links to other similar music. Click on one of the recommendations and play that one. Then rinse and repeat for as long as you wish. A great way to spend some time with your favorite artists and discover new ones. Hope you enjoy this evening of random jazz.

Christo Redentor — Duke Pearson
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Christo_Redentor/10853627

Black Orpheus — Cassandra Wilson
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Black_Orpheus/10382996

The Best Thing For You — Diana Krall
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/The_Best_Thing_For_You/23034167

You and the Night and the Music — Elain Elias
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/You_and_The_Night_and_The_Music/9646404

Mood Indigo — Rosemary Clooney
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Mood_Indigo/3736048

Bird Alone — Abbey Lincoln
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Bird_Alone/2554173

Learnin’ The Blues — Katie Melua
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Learnin_The_Blues/8556669

If You Can Dream — Lena Horne
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/If_You_Can_Dream/7182981

Hey Big Spender — Peggy Lee
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Hey_Big_Spender/3408723

I Didn’t Know What Time It Was — Anita O’day
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/I_Didnt_Know_What_Time_It_Was/3735363

In a Sentimental Mood — Nancy Wilson
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/In_a_Sentimental_Mood/18181579

Backlash Blues — Nina Simone
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Backlash_Blues/950863

Who’s Really to Blame, Democrats, Republicans or …?

No matter which side of the political spectrum you are on you can hardly escape the feeling that America is in a real mess. Our politics are full of corruption. Our culture promotes the absolute worst of what it means to be human. We are involved in a multiple front war that seems to have no end in sight. Our future seems to be, at best, dismal if not outright catastrophic. What’s worse is that most of us feel that there simply is nothing we can do to divert disaster.

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Hi, All. I’m Back for More

Well, it’s the seventh and as promised, I’m going to start posting again. Took me a while to remember how to do everything. I also had to adjust how I do things because I got a new iMac and am still transferring stuff off my laptop to the new machine. So my return post is being posted a bit late and without much editing. Me at my worst.

It’s good to be back even though things will be a bit different. During my brief hiatus, when not trying desperately to breathe during the two weeks in August where temps were in the 90’s with 90% humidity, I did some thinking about the blog and decided to make some changes. Some were internal and not visible on the blog (i.e. adding and subtracting various WordPress plugins) and some were or will be more visible as time goes along. Here’s some of the more visible changes I came up with: Read the rest of this entry »