Our Word and Welcome to It

Falsehoods of Global Warming, Bad Christmas Music, and Raunchy Glee

2009-12-07T14:24:00.002-06:00

By Bobby Chang

Globull Warming. The Copenhagen Summit on Global Warming is upcoming, and with the numerous charges that the Global Warming Crisis (or as some people call it, Globull Warming) is a hoax, I wonder how much of our economy has been destroyed by this Communist idealism of Gaia worship that has prohibited the manufacture of productive appliances in favour of “energy efficient” unproductive appliances, the prohibition of larger vehicles in favour of tiny cars (and led to the seizure of two US automakers for failure to comply with Chicago Style Policy including contributing to political opponents, and the third caving to the standards requested by other countries after accepting the government’s new standards), the increased mantra of “cap and tax” and “wind and solar energy only”, along with lightbulb bans, television bans (as seen in California), and numerous other types of stupidity brought along by a media and textbook publishers that has provided cover for the numerous activists whose goal is to throw us into a Taliban-like Stone Age in regards to the prohibition of numerous technologies that has provided us extra convenience.

In the excerpts of Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten, the Autumn segment we sang states, “All hail, oh industry from thee brings every good”. The belief system of the Gaia worshipper in the Global Warming hoax feels that industry brings every bad thing and Gaia brings good by prohibiting us from using anything they do not approve. It has turned into a Soviet-style command and conquer with the Global Warming hoax. What industry-killing ideal is the next proposal of this anti-business, anti-industry Administration? Why do we need to cave to the standards of the extreme environmental activists based on their false teachings and not based on safety, logic, or what works best?*

This President and the rest of the ruling Left would envision even if we refuse to ratify any of the hoax, that their transnationalists in the Department of Justice and courts will simply enforce foreign countries’ laws on us in this case.

A Family’s Tragedy, Hope, and An Old Friend. My Bible study teacher’s daughter-in-law is suffering from a recurrence of cancer again, and the opportunity came to participate in her church’s production of Händel’s Messiah this fall as a guest choral member in her honour as she fights this dreaded disease. The irony in all of this was it came as part of visiting her church through a choir soprano who shared the same voice teacher as I had years ago (“The Cheesehead”, who admits she comes from a long line of Packers fans -- not my present teacher which she might call names because she is from the land of the Purple Number Four) as part of not being at my home church on Pink Sunday because of its endorsement of Komen. With just Happy Hour (final practice) remaining, practicing with Suzanne Ringer has been very intense and I admire our entire team as singers and teammates. Happy Hour practice will include members of the Philharmonic, and that just wet my appetite further for great church music from an organization whose concerts I have attended.

Of course, this comes at the expense of the home church, which once again has offered a karaoke programme from Edgar Bronfman Jnr’s Warner Music Group featuring a gaggle of pop tunes accompanied by a $200 karaoke DVD. The music leader turns an AGO organist into a Powerade bottle, punched out, then raising the karaoke disc, similar to a Pepsi product.

But once you’ve paid a pumpkin pie to an accompanist, numerous checks to musicians, and shared in studying music of sound doctrine, what good is it to sing from pop tunes lacking any doctrine or theology and is carried only by the beat of a karaoke machine with the trendy material that fades away?

Not Too Glee-ful. The quality of music in our schools seems to be an issue after I read a few friends were watching the Sony Pictures Television’s Glee. The hit SPT series’ songs have become an issue as I considered how many of these songs sung by the school clubs would be considered appropriate for school use. But again, after we’ve established political correctness by banning the sacred, anything else is now acceptable. Unfortunately, as we see in Glee, the material is highly objectionable.

The list of songs used by the Glee cast include “Jump,” “Last Christmas,” “True Colors,” “Papa Don’t Preach,” “Imagine” (yes, the John Lennon song that envisions a society without God), “Bootylicious,” “Thong Song” (Mark “Sisqo” Andrews), “Gold Digger” (Kanye “I Can’t Stand Miss Swift” West), “Push It” (Cheryl James and Sandra Denton), and other songs that are not appropriate for our schools. Some of these songs are too explicit, yet this generation, watching MTV, BET, and others, think it is suitable for schools, and Sony has placed these songs into the hit show youth watch. Do they know what they are watching?

Jobs or Union Rewards? The “jobs summit” by President Obama was nothing short of the President pushing ahead to spend more taxpayer money to reward unions and states that supported him with union jobs that will not produce but will provide another gaggle of money to his cronies, while the free market dies. Is this another case of this country turning into the USSR this “Dear Leader” envisions for us? No thanks. Unemployment is 20% here and your policies are the problem.

Oh, By The Way. Oh, by the way. Why are we glorifying Festivus and Kwanzaa, but punishing days of faith? Furthermore, what is with the obsession with the Twilight (occult or vampire) series and This Is It (worship of a dead pop star who died of drugs) with their debut nights? In both cases newscasts were showing the long lines of people lining up to see the midnight premieres of both movies. I thought the lines were extremely long from what I saw and seemed to rival those of students lining up at Krzyzewskiville for tickets to a choice games.

* [Ed] Mr. Chang had participated in the University of South Carolina Summer II Chorus production of excerpts of Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten in a five-week period that started in July 2009, with performances August 2 and 4. See the July and August 2009 sections of this blog to read his reflections of all eight practice sessions, the week leading to the performances, the takeoff on classic advertising to promote the concert, and his post-concert reflections.

Only 16 Shopping Days Until Christmas

2009-12-04T10:55:00.003-06:00

By Mitchell Hadley

Last year we offered some Christmas snapshots in the form of videos, advertisements and the like, invoking the ancient memory of Christmases past ("Long past?" "No, your past." Or at least a Boomer's past.) We've got some new images we hope to share with you this year, but in the meantime here's one of my favorites from last year - because, as we wrote then, nothing says "I love you" quite like a new vacuum cleaner...

(Source: Plan59.com)

What's In a Name?

2009-12-03T10:50:00.000-06:00

By Mitchell Hadley

My weekday parish has a reading list of books for Advent. Among the titles: The Essential Advent and Christmas Handbook.

The author's name: Thomas M. Santa.

As Jack Paar would say, I kid you not.

And in case you think I'm making this up, here's a link to the book.

Poetry Wednesday

2009-12-02T14:32:00.003-06:00

By Mitchell Hadley

The finest poem I've read in quite a while (H/T Jonah at NRO):

Tiger Tiger turning right
In the driveway late at night
Your immortal hand and eye
Couldn't make the car comply?

Of whose waiting shapely thighs
Did you dream with bolted eyes
Instigating you to crash
Into the stately water ash?

Was it worth a rendezvous
With some star-struck ingenue
Just to verify you could
Withstand a sliced Norwegian wood?

Tiger Tiger turning right
In the driveway late at night
What covert obsession made
You climb into the Escalade?

With apologies, I'm sure, to William Blake.

Resting and Running

2009-11-27T21:39:00.002-06:00

By Bobby Chang

As I write this [Wednesday night], don't forget that many of us will be helping give thanks and help local charities, and reminding ourselves of Chris Rice's "Candle Song" (1993) that later became, when recorded by Kathy Troccoli, "Go Light Your World" when she made it a #1 song in two years later. The choir where I shall be singing Händel's Messiah sang "Go Light Your World" recently, and I met Miss Troccoli in a benefit for a crisis pregnancy centre (my first encounter with the 51-year old Dove Award winner was for the South Carolina March for Life in 1998).

My voice teacher once told me in her youth, she had sung a song from Miss Troccoli (just like I did). But she did not mention which one, but for me it was not Go Light Your World. However, it's a song that I have loved to enjoy. Please note this version in question was directed by Suzanne Ringer, who will be leading the choir where I am scheduled to sing for Händel's Messiah this fall.

And oh, by the way: Having done a Turkey Trot this Thanksgiving, I probably shall not have much of an appetite after running eight thousand metres at the Colonial Life Arena.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T07:20:00.000-06:00

By Mitchell Hadley

It isn't often that I get the opportunity to agree with the liberal columnist and commentator Mark Shields, but I think he's spot-on with this (H/T NRO):

Do you know why Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday? Because since 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln first declared it a national holiday, no robber baron or swindler has figured out a way to commercialize Thanksgiving. No expensive gift purchases required, no credit-card debt incurred, no fancy costumes to be paid for, no semi-mandatory and painful hangover the next morning.

Thanksgiving belongs to everybody. It is not the property of any one religion or faith tradition. You need not belong to any particular religion -- or any religion --to celebrate fully.

Even with the nation's economy in tatters and millions among us suffering the pain of forced unemployment, there are still reasons in 2009 to be thankful.

You can read the whole thing here.

And speaking of great Thanksgiving writing, Jim Geraghty says this is one of his favorite pieces, and I can see why, as it rings particularly true with me:

For some high schools — particularly within the original 13 colonies, understandably — this is the day of the season-ending football rivalry. In Connecticut, Norwich Free Academy will face New London High School for the 147th time. Boston Latin will square off against Boston English. And Xavier will make the trip up to the Bronx to battle Fordham Prep. Some traditions do end or adapt: last year, Metuchen High School stopped its once seemingly automatic loss to Highland Park in their annual Thanksgiving match-up. Alumni squeezed into old varsity jackets will fill the stands and run into faces not seen in a long time.

By midday, the first round of relatives will start showing up at your door. From California to Maine, families will begin the complicated logistics of who parks where, and who will box in whom in the driveway. Does this need to be put in the oven? Is there room for this in the fridge? Have you basted recently? Has anyone seen the gravy boat?

Down the hall from the kitchen, Americans across the country will check in to Detroit to see if its NFL team has gotten any better. The early afternoon game of the Lions against the Team That Isn’t the Lions has had little meaning or playoff implications — at least since Barry Sanders retired. But that means football fans are able to watch objectively, just to appreciate the game as it is played — and there’s a good chance that a player you’ve never heard of will have an unexpectedly good day, claiming a Turkey-related award from a network color commentator. A few hours later — having established that, no, Detroit has not gotten any better — football fans will bid farewell to the Motor City for another year.

Later in the day, Dallas plays Not Dallas in a game that often matters — but by that time, America’s Team is competing with America’s Feast. Those who care about the game’s outcome will drop utensils conspicuously in order to dart into the den and check the score before returning to the table with their third or fourth clean fork.

Truly it is the start of the most wonderful time of the year. Enjoy the day, count your blessings, don't count the calories, and a blessed Thanksgiving to all of you from all of us here at Our Word.

Opera Wednesday

2009-11-25T19:13:00.002-06:00

By Paul Drew

On this Thanksgiving Eve, let's take a look at the great Swedish tenor Jussi Björling (1911-1960), who was such a towering figure at the Metropolitan Opera in the 40s and 50s. Known as the "Swedish Caruso," with an absolutely effortless style, he was one of opera's more accessible stars, a popular guest on television as well as in the concert hall, what we might think of today as a "crossover" star.

Here we have a clip of him singing "Prayer of Thanksgiving" on a television show from the 50s. No embedding, but you can see the clip here. Enjoy, and a Happy Thansgiving to all!

Happy Feast Day!

2009-11-25T12:56:00.002-06:00

By Mitchell Hadley

Of course, that goes for everyone tomorrow - at least we know we'll be feasting (or is that gorging?) - but today it applies to our friend and contributor Cathy of Alex on this feast day of her patron saint!

A Turkey of a "Church"

2009-11-24T18:51:00.001-06:00

By Bobby Chang

On a social networking site recently, a person wrote that she was attending the new "satellite church" service of a popular "non-denominational" megachurch that's 150 miles away and feeds its signal via satellite from that "church" (which is more of a life enhancement centre) to the building. When I read the information about this megachurch, I saw red lights appear almost immediately.

Earlier in the year, they had as "service music" (no joke here) a popular r&b hip-hop ditty that does not sound appropriate. In another service, this same church offered another silly pop ditty. To top this silliness, what about this tune? How many of these tunes are suitable in church?

And other "churches" have followed the bandwagon. This isn't suitable, sorry, you're headed to the Oval Office.

What has happened to sacred song? Is sacred song not "cool" or relevant to others anymore?

Holiday Entertainment

2009-11-23T20:03:00.001-06:00

By Cathy of Alex

A(mannered ) Cranky Cathy post! Mannered because Mitchell will not have it any other way!

It’s not even Advent yet and the Christmas music is already playing 24/7 on, at least one, local radio station. Another station will start the 24/7 music this week. I know, because the start of the Christmas music on these two stations was worthy enough to warrant several brief newspaper stories in the Pioneer Press

Retailers, already anticipating a dismal shopping season, have started Black Friday a week early.

Sadly, for marketers, Christmas is always December 25th. Yet, I’m sure if there were a way to move the date to maximize sales, they would.

Ads for holiday entertainment have been popping up for about a month now. The day I buy tickets for a Trans-Siberian Orchestra show, please question my sanity. Thank you.

I know Mitchell thinks you can never have enough Menotti and he’s probably eagerly looking forward to listening to Amahl and the Night Visitors again! I know he and Judith are already watching their Christmas Special DVD collection! They told me. God bless them.

There’s nothing wrong with quality and inspiring Christmas entertainment. I admit, openly, that “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee is a song I never get tired of hearing. I’ve seen the “Nutcracker” staged numerous times and love it. I enjoy the Guthrie’s “A Christmas Carol”. “Black Nativity” staged by the Penumbra is very good as well.

But, I open up the Pioneer Press today (I’m old school. I read the print paper daily.) and the front page of the A&E Live section is entirely devoted to those dopey dinner theater “nun” shows.Every Christmas these shows that mock Catholicism, Catholic school education and nuns pop up. Someone must be going to them because a few of them are on version or part two or higher. I’m sure a local drag queen will have his local holiday show as well. In that show, he usually mocks Catholic religious songs like “Ave Maria”. I must have a heart of stone and a complete lack of humor to think this stuff isn’t funny, fabulous and heartwarming entertainment for the entire family, right?

In an attempt to head off any Catholic anger, the Pioneer Press theater reviewer , in recent years, always makes a reference to his Catholic school education when he reviews any show with “Catholic” content. So, that makes it all ok, right? He can get the joke and I can’t? I’ve no idea what Mr. Papatola’s religious views are, but I know from extensive personal experience that Catholic haters are rife within Holy Church.

Even the Lutheran shows often have an anti-Catholic joke or angle in their somewhere. In defense of my Lutheran brethren, I can be upset on their behalf about the continued perpetuation of Lutherans as eating only jello and “hot dish”. I don’t think they settled the Dakotas on jello. I’m pretty sure the Sioux Uprising did not occur over a bad jello mold or the audacity to offer “cold dish”.

Be really careful about what kinds of holiday productions you are giving your money too. Does anyone want to spend this faith-filled and joyous season as we anticipate the Birth of Our Savior sitting thru an hour or more of anti-Christian dreck? I suppose there are some folks who do. If there weren’t, these productions would die a merciful death.

Oddballs

2009-11-22T11:45:00.002-06:00

By Bobby Chang

Now here's an oddball.

At Homestead-Miami Speedway, the track removed the fixed-digit scoring pylon and replaced it with a video pylon, a trend that has been seen at various tracks worldwide. While in F1 it has been seen with just the infamous three-letter driver abbreviations, during last month's IRL race, the track chose to post the rear wing plates in place of the car number (colours and design of wing plates, along with colour of numbers, stays faithful to the car). During NASCAR races, the stylised numbers seen on-track are used, a trend that began in 2001. Look carefully from the IRL race in Homestead and see one of the wing plates on the pylon. Something doesn't look right.

Can you find it?

I Know I Shouldn't Indulge Myself, But...

2009-11-18T14:44:00.002-06:00

By Mitchell Hadley

Mike Potemra at NRO offers the following commentary on a "blogger" which is simply too good to pass up.

After noting the blogger's jeremiad (which is what people of our age used to call what people today refer to as screeds) against "frenzies" about the president's bow to the Japanese emperor, Potemra goes on to say this:

The blogger who wrote this is himself, actually, among those especially highly prone to frenzies. (Look at the tone of the rest of his post — not the substance, some of which I agree with and some of which I don’t — but the tone. You’ll see what I mean.) I point this out not to “gotcha” him with a hypocrisy charge, but to praise him for upholding the principle. It’s well known that we dislike most in others the faults we ourselves share, and this fault — the cultivation of rage in our hearts — is one I’m sure most of us know, only too well. He deserves as much slack on this as any of the rest of us.

And to that, I can only say "ditto, ditto."

Oh, and the blogger to which Potemra refers? That would be none other than the man formerly known here as the "Blogger Who Shall Remain Unnamed," the number two man on my Enemies List, Mark Shea.

Potemra's remarks underline the main gripe I've had with Shea for years, i.e. his tone, which I find incredibly off-putting, not to say malicious. Shea may make excellent points from time to time - in fact, I know he does - but he's so annoying, so condesending, so snarky the rest of the time, it makes me want to disagree with him just on principle. I'm just glad I converted to Catholicism before I started reading him; otherwise, I might still be a Protestant today. I've finally acknowledged that on some issues, I find myself agreeing with him in spite of what he says, rather than because of what he says.

Often Shea conducts his discussions as if he were a child on a playground. And I'd expect more from an adult - wouldn't you?

How the Nazis Stole Christmas (Sort Of)

2009-11-17T21:23:00.002-06:00

By Mitchell Hadley

Christmas decorations are going up all around the town, and so we'll get a head start on our own month of festivities with this fascinating story (H/T Jonah Goldberg at NRO) of how the Nazi propaganda machine tried to subvert Christmas for their own purposes. The Nazi goal (much like that of today's PC secularists?) was "to turn it into a pagan winter solstice celebration."

Most interesting (and perhaps chilling) was this quote pulled out from near the end of the story:

Surprisingly, German churches put up little opposition to the Nazification of Christmas. 'You would have expected them to protest loudly and insist that it was a Christian festival,' said Breuer. 'But instead they largely kept quiet,out of fear.'

But that can't happen here. Can it?

Wish I'd Written That

2009-11-13T14:25:00.000-06:00

By Paul Drew

They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours."

Margaret Thatcher

Opera Wednesday

2009-11-11T07:07:00.000-06:00

By Paul Drew

For those of you who think we spend too much time trashing modern opera, here's a clip of the great Beverly Sills in one of her signature roles, "Baby Doe" Taybor, in Douglas Moore's 1956 The Ballad of Baby Doe.

Pelosi's Socialised Medicine

2009-11-09T16:17:00.001-06:00

By Bobby Chang

The utter arrogance of Congress to pass a Communist-style health "care" policy is outright arrogant. As I mentioned in July, I have a friend who tore her ACL and needed surgery (fortunately it was caught early, and she is doing very well; saw her at a show for her group; another friend of mine danced in it).

Once again, the rules of Congress created the Communist style rules - One Side Only from the Left.

One Congressman noted the current leadership has a "command and control" style of governing, demanding people do what the government tells you or penalties will be severe. We saw it with automakers, and we saw it with industries. Now they want us to do it with healthcare.

As Glenn Beck says, we have a new National Anthem. Please Stand for the National Anthem.

While We're At It

2009-11-06T07:20:00.004-06:00

By Mitchell Hadley

By the way, you'll indulge me one last bit on Tosca, won't you? There's been a lot of ink (and pixels) spilled on the Met's recent fiasco - er, production - and there is the misocnception that those who hated it are simply tradition-bound trogs who hate any kind of change.

One of our favorite writers, Alex Ross of The New Yorker, has a very nice piece about why this just isn't so - why the ultimate reason for the Met's failure was director Luc Bondy's fundamental misunderstanding (or at least misreading) of the music was a part of it. And do be sure to listen to the soundbites he uses to illustrate his points - this kind of teaching brings back the good old days of Bernstein's Young People's Concerts. (As well as the recent PBS series Keeping Score, and let's hope we see more of that next season!)

Misunderstanding the Church

2009-11-05T07:06:00.002-06:00

By Mitchell Hadley

If you're like me (and hopefully you can do better than that), you've run into more than your share of people who just don't get Catholicism. (Unfortunately, many of them happen to be Catholics, but we won't go there just now.) Many times you run into well-meaning, good-intentioned people whose notions of Catholicism have been shaped by years of ignorance about what the Church really teaches.

For those times, as well as for your own education, I suggest Anna Miller's brief 10 Common Misunderstandings of the Catholic Church - EXPLAINED! It's a nice overview of those common mistakes people make, as well as some nice talking points you can use with friends - without, hopefully, things turning into an argument. It's a good piece to keep handy, particularly in these times - for if we aren't prepared to defend our own faith, who will do it for us?

Opera Wednesday

2009-11-04T10:42:00.005-06:00

By Mitchell Hadley

One’s reactions to last month’s run of Tosca by the Lyric Opera of Chicago will depend in great part on how you feel about opera in general, and this opera in particular. If you’re of the opinion that opera is stuck in the hidebound past, and that Tosca is little more than a piece of hoary melodrama that needed Luc Bondy’s recent innovations, then you probably wouldn’t much care for this production. If, on the other hand, Franco Zeffirelli's mammoth, opulent setting fits your definition of grand opera, then you were in luck. Count me in the latter camp.

The Lyric purchased Zeffirelli's staging a few years ago from London’s Covent Garden (for whom it had originally been designed) as a 50th anniversary present to itself, and if the sets were starting to show their age a bit, it was still wonderful to see what has become an all-too infrequent occurrence nowadays - the idea of opera as theater. And not minimalist, abstract theater either, but theater as spectacle - grand opera, in other words. While some complain that singers are dwarfed by the mammoth scale of Zeffirelli's sets, I have no sympathy for anyone who fails to be spellbound by the Act 1 finale, the Te Deum sung inside Zeff's massive recreation of the Basilica Sant'Andrea della Valle, jam-packed with altar boys, priests, a bishop vested in mitre and flowing cape, incense billowing about, parishioners kneeling before life-size statues - and yet, in the midst of a stage crammed with people, the lone figure of Scarpia singing of how Tosca makes him forget God, dominates the scene. The set overwhelming the singers? Nonsense.

Many were surprised by the casting of Deborah Voigt and James Morris, better known for heavy Wagnerian opera, as the two leads. However, Voigt portrayed the diva in a concert version of Tosca at the Minnesota Orchestra a couple of years ago, and if it is true that she didn’t bring back the echoes of Callas with her performance, neither was she any less suited for the role than, say, Karita Mattila in the Met’s production.

The Lyric’s rich history with Tosca stretches all the way back to the company’s beginning, with the famed Tito Gobbi, who played Scarpia to Callas’ Tosca in so many great performances. Gobbi was something of a godfather to the newly formed Lyric back in the 50s, appearing as Scarpia in several of those early productions. Perhaps Morris wasn’t quite in that class, but the man who’s become famous as the great Wotan of our time has actually essayed the villainous Baron more times at the Met than he’s played Wagner’s one-eyed anti-hero, making him well aware of the complexities of this deceptive character, who relies on charm in order to wrap his tentacles of corruption through and around his victims. Whereas Bondy was content to portray the police chief as little more than a cheap thug, Zeffirelli (and by extention Morris) understood that, as with the Devil, it is the smooth exterior and unctuous manner that make evil truly chilling. To be able to say that you once saw Morris playing Scarpia is to say a lot.

The real show-stopper is, of course, the showdown between Tosca and Scarpia which closes Act Two (as well as bringing down the curtain on Scarpia himself). It's a scene of immense drama, with Scarpia at his most sinister and Tosca at her most vulnerable. With Puccini's magnificent score as backdrop, it really is possible to imagine this as true drama, the only difference being that the actors are singing rather than speaking their lines. From Tosca's celebrated aria
“Vissi d’arte,” to her sense of utter despair as Scarpia writes her safe-conduct pass, to her sudden and startling discovery of the knife on the table, to Scarpia's smug sense of victory turning stunningly into tragedy, and Tosca's final, frantic escape from the death room - this scene has it all. Were Voigt and Morris up to the task? Absolutely. And for you Bondy fans out there, the candles do make a difference.

As for the third member of this little triangle, Vladimir Galouzine, who plays Tosca's doomed lover Cavaradossi, more than held his own. It's a role for big tenors, from Pavarotti (literally) to Domingo to Corelli and more, but when you've got such famed names at the top of the bill there may be a temptation to make Cavaradossi an afterthought. However, Galouzine wouldn't allow that, particularly in his big first and third act arias, and his performance completes the character's transformation from a doomed man facing execution to a man suddenly filled with hope - only to have it dashed at the end.

But the real star, as is always the case, was Puccini’s magnificent music, and the Lyric's music director, Sir Andrew Davis, brought his orchestra home in style under what could only be described as unique circumstances - the musicians, playing without a contract, actually held an informational picket outside the theater prior to opening night, and the threat of a walkout was present throughout the initial performances.

No fear on this score or any other, for that matter. This was Tosca as it was meant to be, with all the drama, power and lyricism that involves. The Lyric was a winner, Franco Zeffirelli's staging was a winner, and perhaps Puccini himself was the biggest winner of all - after all, if the master could survive a debacle such as that in New York, think how glorious it is when he's given the respect he truly deserves.

A Declaration-Sized Take on this Presidency

2009-10-29T08:07:00.001-05:00

By Bobby Chang

Liberal activists have once again used the Defence Authorisation Bill to stuff policies that are detrimental to the country. Two years ago, a defence funding bill was loaded with an unrelated 40% minimum wage hike to appease liberal activists such as ACORN and union bosses that has led to the current economic malaise, as corporations find this country to be uncompetitive against Asia because of the severe minimum wage hike, and have decided jobs will not be placed in the United States, but in lower-wage countries such as India, the PRC, Mexico, and other rising giants, while real unemployment is over 15% nationally, with much of this area into the 20% range. Our legislators were never informed, and the policy was quietly stuffed by liberal activists such as the dictatorial Nancy Pelosi, who has ensured the elected legislator Mr. Wilson was never heard (which led to his comments on the floor in front of the President).

That reminded me of what happened recently with Mexican pop star Ariadna Thalía Sodi Mottola Miranda , who danced with the President at Fiesta Latina at The White House in September. Mrs. Mottola's 1997 song “Echa Pa'lante,” used by an adult dance class that I participated as part of cross-training, was actually a political protest against the ruling PRI for the ensuing parliamentary elections in Mexico. The real version (not the illegally-altered version used in the movie “Dance with Me”) stated (translated), "Politician, now you're asking for mercy now / After you've plundered the nation's riches / The currency is devalued and corruption prevails / Unemployment is worse and (liberal) pollution grows".

Now, another defence authorisation bill was used by liberal activists to stuff another absurd law into the country that would have never passed except for other states running over us again. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Act, which would never have passed, was loaded into the current bill as a “memorial” to the late Sen. Kennedy to force special protection under law.

The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence starts, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Unfortunately, the new law, signed by President Obama in a special event with homosexual special-rights activists, destroys that sentence. Homosexuals now receive special protections and are not created equal, but are given special rights, while others are punished to reward these special deviants.

This has been proven in Sweden, where pastor Ake Green was indicted for a sermon that called homosexuality a sin and in Canada, where two notable Stateside radio shows – Focus on the Family and Dr. Laura Schlessinger – must be edited (and cleared by censors) to purge all references to sinful behaviour as dictated by a federal commission, and also where sharing truth about the dangerous and deviant lifestyle that was listed on the American Psychiatric Association as a psychiatric disorder until activists ran roughshod in 1973 is declared a hate crime. Also in Canada, a Catholic bishop was charged for a hate crime for defending teaching stating marriage is between one male and one female.

The Attorney General has blatantly admitted that the new law can be used to punish speech – a violation of the First Amendment – that is not compliant with homosexual activists' requests.

Our Declaration of Independence is now under attack, since now, the President and Congress have declared that certain groups are created special with special rights not available to other people. When God's Word is declared illegal and the “gospel” of homosexual activists is now federal law, the doors have opened to more hazards

That is another facet of the homosexual agenda being pushed by liberal activists with one foot already in the door – they want to eliminate the Defence of Marriage Act and eventually want both same-sex “marriage” legalised federally in the other 44 states where it is not (an episode of Sony Pictures Television's The Newlywed Game 2009 (GSN) featured a celebrity show where one “couple” was a homosexual “married” couple married in 2008 when California courts dictated marriage before Proposition 8 properly reversed the judge's call) and a new “Employment Non-Discrimination Act” that rewards “sexual orientation” as a protected employment class that would reward pedophiles. In fact, the new law was called the “Pedophile Protection Act,” and ENDA, another Kennedy “legacy” bill, would further reward pedophiles since it would be a “sexual orientation” and schools who refuse to hire pedophiles would be in violation of federal law if ENDA was passed.

How dangerous would it be for parents if schools, child-care centres, or other venues where children are involved had sexual predators and pedophiles working in the facilities, and the law rewards them and prohibits punishing them, as ENDA would do in cooperation with the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Act of 2009?

Two years ago, we saw the price we had to pay with an absurd “pork” rider that killed our economy with a severe minimum wage hike as jobs moved overseas. Now we are seeing that our First Amendment rights and the Declaration of Independence are violated in the new Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Act of 2009. Both were stuffed into defence authorisation bills.

In learning about this attack on Christians by passing the hate crime bill that rewards one class of sexual deviants while punishing other groups of people, let us look at these lines of the Declaration again.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

This paragraph was proven by fast-tracking bills and people cannot read them before voting on them.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

While he hasn't dissolved them officially, opponents are chided and shut out and mocked, as Bachmann and Wilson can prove.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

This is proven by the protection of ACORN and other leftist groups.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

After blocking the Bush judges, now we see new tyrants. The new judges use foreign laws to overturn local, state, and federal laws. The President blocked many of those judges in the four years in power.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

All of the "czars" we have seen is evidence.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

His groups, not the military, have superior power.

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

See the proposed Socialised Medicine and what has passed in Porkulus.

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

Those lines hold true when courts use foreign laws to overturn local, state, and federal laws.

"In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

Those paragraphs I have just posted are from the Declaration. This is the dangers of the Hate Crimes Act, and the entire Presidency by just citing the Declaration of Independence.

* NOTE: The term “illegally altered version” reflects how some songs have been altered without permission, and in other cases ruins the song. In 2003, I called a publisher's office in Nashville and then in Manila after popular Filipino star Mary Jane Mendoza (aka “Jamie Rivera”) recorded a Kathy Troccoli song with gross alterations in the lyrics.

Opera Wednesday

2009-10-28T20:29:00.002-05:00

By Mitchell Hadley

The latest issue of Opera News honors this year's winners of the Opera News Awards, and in his tribute to the great Shirley Verrett, F. Paul Driscoll writes that his own favorite Verrett performance was as Eboli in Don Carlo.

Fair enough. Here in this 1971 BBC telecast, is Shirley Verrett singing "O don fatale" from Don Carlo. Exquisite.

Wish I'd Written That

2009-10-27T20:59:00.001-05:00

By Bobby Chang

HARVEST FESTIVAL TRUNK OR TREAT OCTOBER 31. “Trunk or treat” I can understand. Some Mormon congregations do this too. It’s a way to suck all the fun out of trick-or-treating by handing out candy in a church parking lot from a row of car trunks. But “Harvest festival”? Uh, for the last time, people: Halloween is the eve of All Saints’ Day, part of the Christian liturgical calendar! “Harvest Festival” would be the pagan holiday! Not the other way around! This would be like a church replacing “Christmas Eve” with “Yule Festival” because some overzealous Sunday regular is anti-Santa. Okay, pastor, I get that you have some nuts in your congregation telling you that Halloween is all about the worship of Satan and his bastard stepchild Harry Potter. I don’t care. It’s time to man up to the weirdos."

-- Ken Jennings, author and three million dollar game show legend.

The List, Part 2

2009-10-26T05:13:00.001-05:00

By the way, the next time you run across one of the people mentioned here, be sure and tell them you saw them on the Our Word Enemies List. I'm sure they'll be grateful for the recognition.

And now back to the list. Mitchell launches into these people and organizations for whom he has a deep and abiding, if impersonal, contempt:

Rod Dreher – what’s that old saying about “with friends like this”? Having this crunchy con blogger on your side is like going into a gunfight armed with a butter knife. I’m sure Rod’s a nice guy, a good family man, someone you’d like to have as your next-door neighbor; but on his blog he shows a most unbecoming side. He snarks at conservative talk radio for being snarky, and honestly believes conservative bloggers have done more damage to civility than liberal ones. He wonders about Gingrich’s conversion to Catholicism, while he himself has bounced from Protestantism to Catholicism and now to Orthodoxy. He seems to want so badly to be taken seriously by those with whom he disagrees that he bends over backward to give liberals the benefit of the doubt, assuming their good intentions while questioning those of his “fellow” conservatives. (He reminds me of a boss I once had who was perfectly willing to believe every complaint he ever received about his staff, while dismissing any concerns his staff might have had in turn.) I don’t question Dreher’s sincerity; why does he seem so suspicious about that of others?

For his extremely irritating manner, Dreher lands the number one spot on my list by pure merit.

Mark Shea – his brilliant work as a Catholic apologist is frequently obscured by his frequent rants about the "unjust" war in Iraq, his unbecoming snarkiness about the Bush administration, and his unwillingness to grant that those with whom he disagrees might be acting with good faith and sincere beliefs of his own. Sarcasm and irony, when employed effectively, can be an art form - but Shea doesn't have that particular gift.

Shea is a passionate opponent of the war in Iraq. He can make a compelling, if not persuasive, case against it. Shea's overheated rhetoric may be an accurate reflection of his personality, but it does him no favors when it comes to convincing others of his argument. He can be so nasty about the whole thing, and so dismissive of others, that his arguments have the effect of making one passionately disagree with him regardless of what he's talking about. If he were to insist that the sky was blue, I'd say it was red just to oppose him. Having that effect on people is not the trademark of a particularly useful advocate.

For a long time, Shea held first place on my list, but he’s become better about apologizing for some of the things he’s said, and these mea culpas have softened his image in my eyes somewhat. I truly think he regrets much of what he says in the heat of the moment, but by the same token he continues to put himself there, in what we might consider the proximate cause of sin. Perhaps he’s just someone who should stick to writing articles and forget blogging. Or eliminate his combox, at least.

David Letterman – after what I wrote here, need I say more?

ESPN – it was a good idea to cover the story, but now they’ve become the story. And sport itself becomes secondary to its purpose of filling a spot in the network’s schedule: games with ridiculous start times, college football every night of the week, meaningless bowls created by ESPN simply as a source of cheap programming. Not to mention announcers who think it’s amateur night at the Improv, and their incessant self-promotion. Their “This Is SportsCenter” commercials are great, but not enough to make up for the rest.

Jimmy Carter – one of our worst presidents ever, now one of our worst former presidents ever. I know all the talk about what a great humanitarian he’s supposed to be, but he also constantly denigrates this country while giving aid and comfort to our enemies. He’s shown himself to be a bitter, vindictive, little man. Ronald Reagan deserves to be on Mt. Rushmore for no reason other than having ridded us of this meddlesome president. He's a useful idiot for America's enemies - emphasis on idiot.

Organizations with the word "Christian" in their name but not their mission - you know who you are. Shame on you.

Cathy of Alex castigates not a person, but the mindset that governs such people: mediocrity. In doing so, she ridicules those who believe in the following:

We're all the same. Congratulations! You have not won a thing. There are no winners. There is no such thing because then there would have to be losers and our fragile Western psyches can’t handle that.

Thank God I'm not like those sinners. Heaven may or may not exist but if it does you can be sure the almost perfect are in it. They’ve nominated themselves for the honor.

This is all there is. Nirvana is probably just a band.

Obamamania. Our nation’s leader, who may or may not be an American, is good for the job (not perfect) because he tells us that as a nation we are not perfect. We should be ashamed of ourselves. We have an entire weight of history that we didn’t even live to atone for. Get on that. Don’t work on improving yourself; work on apologizing.

Education. In school, over 90% is no longer the top grade and an A; now, we are graded on a scale so we can be graded with our peers who may or may not actually know anything.

For these people, there is nothing to strive for, she says in conclusion. Good enough is good enough.

And Paul Drew condemns:

The public school system – really, little more than legalized child abuse. (And this is not to besmirch those teachers in that system that do care – prisoners, I dare say, every bit as much as their students.)

Keith Olbermann – is there, honestly, anyone more wretched, angry, and nasty on television today? I’ve seen programs on Animal Planet where the wild beasts weren’t as vicious as Olbermann. (Perhaps he’ll name me Worst Person of the Day for saying that. I’d take it as a badge of honor.)

Mike Antonovich - the Los Angeles County Supervisor who wanted the L.A. Opera to drop Wagner's Ring Cycle because the composer was anti-Semitic. Earth to Antonovich: where have you been the last few years? Did you just hear about this Wagner guy and find out what he believed in? Love or hate him, the man wrote some of the most sublime music ever, and to suggest that politics pull rank over art is, in this case, rank. What a knucklehead.

Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, et al – why are we even listening to these fools? It only encourages them.

Sportswriters who can’t keep their politics out of their columns - don’t try this at home, boys. Leave the heavy intellectual work to the professional political pundits, boys. (P.S. I probably know more about sports than most of you, too.)

*****And there you have it - the 2009 Our Word Enemies List. Feel free to email us with your additions to the list, or suggestions for next year's. And if you don't see your name here, don't give up hopee - we all need something to which we can aspire. There's still plenty of room for more names!

Opera Wednesday

2009-10-21T07:18:00.002-05:00

By Paul Drew

Apropos of our list-making, here is the world-famous D'oyly Carte Opera Company with "I've Got a Little List" from Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado. As is the custom, the lyrics have been updated to include references to contemporary events.

The List, Part 1

2009-10-20T19:09:00.006-05:00

As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list — I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed — who never would be missed!
There's the pestilential nuisances who write for autographs —
All people who have flabby hands and irritating laughs —
All children who are up in dates, and floor you with 'em flat —
All persons who in shaking hands, shake hands with you like that —
And all third persons who on spoiling tête-á-têtes insist —
They'd none of 'em be missed — they'd none of 'em be missed!

W.S. Gilbert, The Mikado

As P.J. O'Rourke once pointed out: Santa has a list, Saint Peter has a list, Joe McCarthy said he had a list. Ko-Ko sang about his list (above), while Richard Nixon recorded his.

And now we've got a list, too.

The purpose of the 2009 Our Word Enemies List is, of course, to be entertaining. But after all the fun, keep in mind there's a serious side to it as well. Many of the names on this list - people, institutions, organizations, and other various flora and fauna - are, as O'Rourke said of those on his list, "useless, politically disgraceful, and downright foolish." For all the good points they may have, they've done at least one thing that merits being denounced, at least by someone. That doesn't mean they're necessarily bad people, although some of them come pretty close. We're not trying to attack them personally, even though many of them have no reservations about doing so. Some of us may even venture a few constructive suggestions as to how our honorees can avoid a repeat appearance on next year's list.

Happy reading - and if you're so inspired, feel free to email us with your list of enemies. As long as none of us show up on it, we'll be glad to share.

*****

If you're a regular reader of Bobby's columns, you'll recognize many of the names he offered. Whether they're from the world of politics, sports, entertainment, or "culture," they all have one thing in common - they've made the list based on merit.

Barack Obama - Chicago-style politics and now the idea of seizing political opponents who contributed to his opponents (see the automakers; Wagoner and Nardelli gave to Romney). The late Peter Tomarken would probably have said to America, (Foghorn sounds) "Stop at an Obammy!"

Leo Hindrey Jnr - Even though he owns the Nelson Bible publishing house, he is responsible for corruption (Daschle's tax situation) and printing bad theology.

Rick Warren - The kingpin of the life enhancement instead of God's Word "churches" that are too prevalent anywhere.

Luc Bondy - What he did to Tosca.

GIA Music, Oregon Catholic Press, EMI, Universal, Warner Music, Kona (Integrity) - For bad church music that has no doctrine or theology.

Nancy Pelosi - For imposing her totalitarian regime that led to Joe Wilson's complaints.

MTV - For causing the demise in morals, standards, and music. Witness the rapid demise in church music.

Title IX - For becoming a Quota Queen, making boys second-class citizens in our schools, and telling boys there is no place for them to play sports because the percentage of boys to girls in the school is not enough.

Al Franken - For helping South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama become irrelevant in the Senate.
Susan G. Komen Foundation - For promoting Pink Sunday in churches to fund them. To declare Pink Sunday relevant and supporting abortion is not a church.

ESPN - For the idea of bad sports coverage, and to make college football for the worse by the premium television package that I believe will lead to pay-per-view BCS Championship Football. And what was with the crazy Monday Night Football gimmick of Bocephus en español during the opening?

*****

Judie's list also includes names from the world of opera and sports. It's short, but to the point. She upbraids:

Peter Gelb, who simultaneously brought thousands of viewers to the Metropolitan Opera thorugh HD transmissions and gave them nothing to see.

Mike Hill, the ESPN announcer who helps each night to ruin the English language with his mispronunciations of words beginning with "ST" by inserting an "H" in between. Got that shtraight?

And, of course, a woman who truly desrves to be denounced - Oprah Winfrey [only Elvis goes by one name around here], for making men believe that she knows what women think.

[Well, Judie, now she knows what at least one woman thinks.]

*****
Are we having fun yet? Yes, we know, too much of anything - even an enemies list - isn't necessarily a good thing. That's why you'll have to wait for part 2. Hope you can stand the suspense. And for those of you who haven't seen your names pop up yet - well, you've still got at least twenty-four hours to mend your ways.