Opera Wednesday

By Drew

From the 1992 world premiere production of John Corigliano's seldom-performed opera The Ghosts of Versailles (based on characters from The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro), here is an all-star cast: Renée Fleming as Rosina, Stella Zambalis as Cherubino, Teresa Stratas as Marie Antoinette, and Häkan Hagegärd as Beaumarchais (author of the "Figaro" plays, and a financier of France's role in the American Revolution). This is "Come Now, My Darling."

Out of the Past

By Mitchell

I don't often talk about myself here. For one thing, I lead an incredibly boring life. But I've been in a somewhat reflective mood lately. As some of our regular readers know (through personal conversation), I have recently become - temporarily, please God - unemployed. Among other things, this has given me more time to get into mischief than usual.

One of the things people tell you, when you're looking for a new job, is to network. You'd think that a guy who edits a blog would have no trouble networking, but alas such is not the case. So I've been pounding the keyboard lately, trying with all my might to connect with as many people as I can, friend and acquaintance alike. Such is the state of my desperation that I've even allowed someone, who shall remain nameless other than that she goes by the handle Cathy of Alex, to talk me into joining a networking site.

Curiosity being what it is, it didn't take me long to start looking for people I new, both at this site and at others. In doing so, I eventually ran across some of my old classmates from high school. Now, I have to explain that I was a transplant from Minneapolis to a very small town for grades 7-12 (what we old-timers used to refer to as junior and senior high school), and most of the kids in my class had all grown up together. As such, it was a tough area to crack. I eventually did so, I think (I was voted Most Likely to Succeed, which just goes to show you can fool all of the people some of the time), but it isn't as if I've stayed in touch since then. I haven't been back to that small town since I moved to college, hadn't attended any of the reunions, and in fact there are only a handful of classmates with whom I've come in contact.

Now, suddenly, here come some of those names from out of the past. And the thing was, even though I'd only known them for six years, there wasn't a name I saw that didn't produce some kind of memory. Many good, some not-so-good, most of them neutral. But they were there - one of a quiet boy whom I probably hadn't thought of for twenty-five years; another the name of a classmate who had faced down a serious illness; another who actually ran across my name while I was organizing a 4th of July parade and she was doing the publicity for one of the sponsors. There weren't that many of my classmates on this list but, as I say, I had a memory for each one of them.

It made me wonder - do they have any memories of me? After all, they'd all grown up together, but I'd been the outsider, the one who had come in for a brief (albeit brilliant) moment, only to disappear, returning from whence he came. There's no particular reason for me to stick in their memories. I'm not saying I was forgettable, but after thirty years with seldom a word (discouraging or otherwise), it's an understandable thought.

I suppose I'm going to have to follow this road. Curiosity, as I say, plus in the world of networking one never knows who might know someone who knows someone else. Can't take a chance on missing something.

If this surprises me, I really should wonder why. As most of you know, I write a great deal about television of the past, among other things. Shows that were only seen once, events that came and went, still made that indelible impression on the young skull filled with mush. Why, then, should not real, live people have the same effect? Is the life of someone you knew for a half-dozen years more important than a program you saw one autumn night in 1968? Maybe not, I suppose, but I'm not sure that's the right answer.

Anyway, one has to assume that the impact of the here-and-now is a lasting one, and so I suspect (and fear) that a good many of these people do remember something about me, and I cringe at what that might be. And yet I'm about to dive into that memory pool, not knowing quite what waits for me underneath those waves. Could be sharks, could be an oyster with a pearl. Might even be a job. Who knows? But go we must, because one of the few things we know for sure is that the past is bound to us forever, for better or ill; there's no way to escape it, so we might as well embrace it.

All the World's (Failures) a Stage

By Drew

Happy Friday everyone.

Our esteemed leader Mitchell sent me this email last night. I think he wanted me to do something with it, since he feels he's already been posting enough for one week - especially since he's technically still on sabbatical until the end of this month. (And on that score he keeps muttering something about "publishing later this year" or something like that, so I guess we'd better keep our eyes open.)

Anyway, what he sent me was a link to a quote from business writer Jim Collins, who has a new book out on how good companies go bad. Among other things, he lists five stages that lead to a company's self-destruction: (link courtesy of Stephen Spruiell at NRO)

Stage 1 is hubris born of success. The company's people become arrogant, regarding success as virtually an entitlement.

Stage 2 is the undisciplined pursuit of more — more scale, more growth, more acclaim. Companies stray from the disciplined creativity that led them to greatness in the first place, making undisciplined leaps into areas where they cannot be great or growing faster than they can achieve with excellence, or both.

Stage 3 is denial of risk and peril. Leaders of the company discount negative data, amplify positive data and put a positive spin on ambiguous data. Those in power start to blame external factors for setbacks rather than accept responsibility.

Stage 4 is grasping for salvation. Common "saviors" include a charismatic visionary leader, a bold but untested strategy, a radical transformation, a "game changing" acquisition or any number of other silver-bullet solutions.

Stage 5 is capitulation to irrelevance or death. Accumulative setbacks and expensive false starts erode financial strength and individual spirits to such an extent that leaders abandon all hope of building a great future. In some cases their leaders just sell out. In other cases the institution atrophies to utter insignificance.

Mitchell accompanied this with a cryptic note asking if this reminded me of "anyone you recognize?" I think we probably all do, whether a past or current employer, or a company we've witness hit the wall and sink without a trace (or even more frequently, to self-destruct spectacularly, creating more flames than the immolation scene from Götterdämmerung.

But, as NRO noted in linking to Collins' points, this doesn't apply simply to companies. It can apply to countries as well - and presidential administrations. Look at each of those five stages carefully. We may be looking not only at the past (as in a post-mortem), but at the future as well. And it isn't a pretty picture.

Regardless of the context, as always, we must keep in mind that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. We have before us the blueprint for failure - will we choose to learn from it before it's too late?

Wish I'd Written That

By Mitchell

Lisbon: And you know what’s weird about these guys? None of them seem to give a damn. A colleague of theirs falls out of the sky and they seem OK with it. Is that guilt or indifference?

Jane: Corporate brainwashing. Turns them into robots. Grief isn’t productive, and that’s all.

Lisbon: I don’t buy that. People make up their own minds. You can’t brainwash them.

Jane: Sure you can. That’s what these corporate retreats are all about. It’s primitive brainwashing via group suffering. It’s like office karaoke or fraternity hazing.

Lisbon: How so?

Jane: When the individual is humiliated, their perceived value of the group is raised.

Lisbon: I went on a retreat when I got promoted to head of the unit. I mean, I wasn’t humiliated. I wasn’t brainwashed.

Jane: So you say.

- Patrick Jane to Teresa Lisbon, The Mentalist, written by Bruno Heller.

Opera Wednesday

By Mitchell

Robert Merrill and Roberta Peters had some serious star power. Peters, who made her Metropolitan Opera debut at the age of 20, was vivacious, cute, perky - and enormously talented. Merrill could do it all, from high opera to "Autumn Leaves" with Victor Borge, to singing the national anthem for his beloved New York Yankees. Together, they made for a dynamic duo both on- and off-stage (they were briefly married in the early 50s), and were fixtures on popular television, appearing often with stars such as Sullivan and Carson. Ah, those were the days.

Here they are singing the conclusion of the aria "Dunque Io Son" from Act I of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia in a 1962 broadcast of NBC's Bell Telephone Hour - a wonderful program that brought the best in classical music to the television audience through first-rate productions. (Little-known fact: every episode of the Bell Telephone Hour, from 1959 to 1968, was taped in color - a very forward-thinking move.)

Talk to the Hand (and What's Attached to It...)

By Mitchell

I've been in something of a classic TV rut lately. (I know, what else is new?) I might even get an article or two out of it, although quite frankly I think my claim that buying new DVD sets and TV Guides "for research purposes" is starting to get a little thin.

At any rate, check out this opening from one of the best TV Westerns of the late 50s and early 60s - Have Gun - Will Travel. Starring the brilliant Richard Boone, Have Gun was the story of Paladin - an intellectual, sophisticated gentleman who lived in high style in San Francisco, eating the best foods, associating with the best in society, well-read, speaking many languages. He was also a gun for hire, as evidenced by his calling card, with the words "Have Gun - Will Travel" set against his logo, a black chess paladin. Whenever he went to work, his wardrobe changed from an expensive suit to the black hat, shirt and pants of the gunman. Paladin held to a high standard of ethics, even turning against those who hired him should he find that he had been misled.

Have Gun - Will Travel existed in syndication for many years following the end of its original run on CBS. In 1968, it was singled out as one of the most violent programs on television in the witch hunts that followed the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Today, such a claim would be laughable - the violence in a typical episode would pale in comparison to the opening credits of programs such as The Sopranos.

Speaking of opening credits, here's the memorable opening of Have Gun - Will Travel, with the ominous music and imposing figure of Boone, heard but not seen, addressing the audience with a line of dialogue from the upcoming episode.

Opera as a Metaphor to Society?

By Bobby

It continuously hit me throught performance Saturday at the Festival dei Due Mondi USA (as the great Gian Carlo Menotti would say) in Charleston (a short drive from home, considering I have friends there from college, and that's where I usually attend everything from minor league hockey -- Congratulations to the Stingrays for that third Kelly Cup -- to professional opera) that Gustave Charpentier's Louise. set to an original libretto by the composer, had me wondering about the current State of the Union, and how the opera's main characters symbolised this nation when thinking of the people (Louise), the values of the Grand America (her parents), the attractiveness of the Obama Administration and Staff (Julien and the Bohemian lifestyle of the people in Paris), and the battle between the worldviews.

As I watched the verismo opera, Louise, her parents, Julien, and the entire Paris, I had myself thinking how art could truly imitate life. I could see how an entire country (Louise) is lured into the "dark side" by the attractive Obama administration (Julien) and its values (the entire Bohemian lifestyle of Julien and his gang) going after the entire factory where Louise worked), and the resulting anger of those in support of strong Biblican values (the parents). I also noted unfortunately how the "free love" thoughts of that era could have led to some of the ugly culture of today, especially with the "freedom to marry" of the librettist that unfortunately has become code for the deviants who want to rewrite marriage to fit their own feelings, instead of what's in the Bible.

The Bohemian lifestyle, shown with the burlesque outfits and questionable behaviour, of Julien and the poets society that lured those workers, is seemingly to me shown as one which I would never want to be, while the parents are just angry at what has happened to their daughter, and it seemed that the parents' anger at the end with that has happened to Louise reminded me of what many have seen with the people (Louise) being attracted to the bad values of the Administration (Julien).

Sometimes, opera does seem to be a metaphor for our society. Louise, her parents, and Julien show what I've seen in this country with the Obama administration -- loss of common sense in favour of the attractiveness of something that's dangerous, and wrong.

The Quality of Mercy

By Drew

We seem to be on a classical music bent this week, so let's continue with the first and third movements of the Kyrie from Bach's Mass in B Minor. As was the case with the Verdi Requiem, the Bach Mass is not meant for liturgical use. Nonetheless, this represents one of the most profound of readings of the phrase, "Lord, have mercy."

The first movement, lasting nearly ten minutes, contains the "shock and awe" of the Last Judgment; one can almost imagine the appearance of the Archangel Michael, towering before us.



The second movement, containing the phrase, "Christ, have mercy," has always been - to me - a secondary part of the three-movement Kyrie; hence, we won't be dealing with it here. It does, however, with its female chorus, introduce the angelic concept that we see fulfilled in the patented Bach fugue that comprises this third movement, lasting a little less than four minutes. There is a sinister, dark tone in the deep male chorus, lightened by the hope contained by the female voices. Which, come to think of it, neatly bookends the pleading, yet confident, voice with which we utter the phrase. The orchestra is the Munich Bach Orchestra, conducted by Karl Richter.

More Gill Money: More False Marriage

By Bobby

Ah, yes.

Tim Gill's money trail is at it again. New Hampshire has now fallen to the Gill Project's false-marriage ideals with the passage of a bill that legalises the false "marriage" ideals of San Francisco's "Any Two-Some Newsom," as Dr. Weiner says. And once again, an investigation turned up the homosexual activist's cash in the hands of the ruling liberals in the Granite State. While the New Hampshire Motor Speedway is all about "Live Free and Race," the homosexual activists have a "Don't Let Anyone Live Free, Let's Put Our Facist Policies In" ideal. "If you're pro-family and support the Bible, you must die. You have no right to live" is the philosophy of the state leadership, bought and paid for by the homosexual activist Mr. Gill.

And it's a plan that he worked in many states, and now has more in his sights. I found he had contributed to a lesbian candidate in Charleston who lost, and nearly claimed the Congressional seat thanks to that cash. That candidate was an heiress to the empire that built a North Carolina supermarket that is now Belgian, and remember, Belgium is a country that accepts the false marriage.

Please, it's time we stop this push to false marriage. Can anyone stop this dangerous train?

Sources:
Star Tribune
Citizen Link

Get the Point

By Drew

A friend of mine was complaining recently about one of those "team building" exercises that companies are so fond of. This one involved going to a outdoors camp where, he grumbled, they'd get to "sing camp songs and practice hatchet throwing." "I can't carry a tune," he said darkly, "but I wouldn't mind having a shot at the hatchet throwing."

As it turned out, the team building was cancelled due to "budget considerations," but that he wouldn't completely miss out on the experience, I offer you one of classic television's most famous clips:



Notice how, during all the laughter, you can literally see Carson's mind at work, the wheels turning to shape the one-liner to follow. And when he does spring it, it's carefully timed to coincide with the dying-down of the original laughter, prompting an even bigger roar from the audience. Carson not only knew how to think on his feet, he had the timing of a comic genius - which, in fact, he was.

Opera Wednesday

By Drew

OK, it isn't actually an opera, but Verdi's Requiem is generally found in the opera oeuvre because of its length, its operatic style, and its dazzling solo parts. Its theatricality prevents it from being appropriate for liturgical use, but it is a dazzling, powerful piece. Here's a clip from the harrowing Dias Irae, conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

The Inside Scoop

By Ray

If you are at all inclined to read political gossip, one of the best that I have come across is Tom Roeser, a man born in Illinois but who got his degree some 60 years ago or so from St. John's, who dabbled in politics for a time, worked for a Minnesota Governor and a Congressman, and ended up back in the Chicago area where he ended up the publisher of a large suburban newspaper, and became one of the grand poobahs of Illinois political columnists. He's a joy to read.

Last week Roesser had a piece on Congressman Walter Judd (a medical doctor and a missionary) and Governor Elmer L. Anderson (an entrepreneur) who were two of the finest politicians that Minnesota has known. And lest you think it's all about politics with Rosser, some of his finest writing in his eponymous (I love that word) blog has been about Father Ernie, his philosophy professor up at St. John's in the 40s. Delightful and surprisingly instructive about the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, mind you. Check it out.

And if you are interested in the gang that grabbed our president off of the streets of Chicago, made him an Illinois state senator and then a U.S. Senator and then the President of the United States, well, Tom Roeser has a lot of the inside story. You can find him at www.TomRoeser.com I won't give you any details on what Roeser has to say about Chicago politicians. I might end up in jail with him.

Mediocrity Isn't Good Enough

By Mitchell

In the interests of full disclosure, let me state at the outset that I consider myself a tried-and-true capitalist. If there's a better economic system functioning right now, I haven't met it.

Having said that, longtime readers of this site also know my healthy skepticism (read: contempt) for "Corporate America," which I consider more of a culture or a way of thinking than I do an economic entity. Suffice it to say that Corporate America, in my opinion, is its own worst enemy, and in many ways an enemy to all of us.

It was, therefore, with a great deal of interest that I read a piece by David Goldman (aka "Spengler") entitled "Mediocrity and Corruption in Corporate America." If there's anything in this piece I didn't agree with, I haven't been able to find it. A few choice bits:

Mediocrity breeds corruption. The business world is crawling with affable, industrious, intelligent people with nothing to distinguish them from ten thousand other affable, industrious and intelligent people, but who very much would like to be rich. . . These are the people most inclined to cheat, for they know that they have nothing unique to offer the world, and their ascent depends either on luck or unfair advantage. They cheat in every way possible, whenever they have a chance. One way they cheat is to steal from the stockholders by front-loading profits and back-loading risks. That is what destroyed the banking system. At the top of the market in 2006-2007 when risk compensation was stupidly low, bank managers made their return-on-equity numbers by adding leverage on top of leverage. Every one of them knew that it was a dumb and dishonest thing to do, but they all hoped that they would be promoted by the time the problem blew up in someone else's lap.

[...]

Dogged-as-does-it, steady-as-she-goes, unimaginative CEO's of the sort [David] Brooks' praises sat in front of spreadsheets, demanding that their subordinates make their numbers. Without keen insight, they simply piled on risk just as the portfolio hit the fan. The most imaginative, intelligent, and daring firm on Wall Street, namely Goldman Sachs, took out massive short positions against the subprime market. So did J.P. Morgan. Wonder why they are coming out on top? About those who came out on the bottom, a respectable silence is appropriate.

There is only one truly effective way to control corporate corruption, and that is through creative destruction. Let the wild men, the warped geniuses, the chip-on-the-shoulder mad entrepreneurs loose on the established corporate world. Let big corporations go bankrupt right and left. Drive out mediocrity with the scourge of innovation. Let new companies emerge, and then go bankrupt when something better comes along. Real genius, as Heinrich Heine once rhymed, pays cash at the bar. The oddball entrepreneurial types don't cheat. They see life as a game and want to play it by their own rules. They are out to prove that they are smarter than their peers, and to cheat would be to miss the point of the game.

And I'll add that this is by no means limited to what we think of as "Big Business." It can be found throughout the business landscape, from non-profits to small companies to - oh, say, automakers. Goldman is spot on in saying that mediocrity has to be driven out - there's far too much of it at every level of management for as far as the eye can see. As Pat Buchanan once famously said, Corporate America has to "workship at a higher altar than the bottom line." Mere competence would, at least, be a start.

Obama's Social Engineering of the Auto Industry

By Bobby

I read an older issue of The Limbaugh Letter where Rush Limbaugh warned over a decade ago in his newsletter about an upcoming liberal war on the sport-utility vehicle.

Around the same time, the Big Three of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler knew that despite government requests of them to manufacture small cars, they were not providing profits to the automakers the way production of minivans, sport-utility vehicles, crossovers (the Jeep Grand Cherokee is one), and trucks have to them, considering the durability. The automakers' advertising campaigns were built on trucks and their durability, as we have seen with country singers, NFL players, and Sprint Cup drivers marketing on trucks.

Environmentalists were very unhappy with the trend towards trucks because they demanded fuel economy to become the only standard, and wanted a push towards smaller vehicles, similar to what happens in Europe.

Meanwhile, the sales charts in the United States clearly favoured the truck market. Americans wanted vehicles that had rock-solid backbones in ladder frames, the ability to carry cargo that allowed them to tow a boat to their favourite fishing spot, their bicycles for a mountain bike climb, a kayak for rafting, or golf clubs to carry a foursome to the gold course. Businesses -- both small and large -- need trucks to carry the load for their work duties. Families, who could not purchase cars because of the government's fuel economy policies that made family wagons impossible, decided to buy vans and truck-based sport utility vehicles that could carry the load that the passenger cars, weakened by the standards of the CAFE and Gas Guzzler Tax standards, could not.

Environmental activists such as the Earth Liberation Front, Earth FIRST!, and others were tired of America's push for trucks. In some cases, trucks were torched, slashed, and damaged at dealership lots by such activists.

When the price of fuel increased, concerns grew about vehicle sales as people began looking at the weaker passenger cars to save fuel costs. Some legislators wanted to open major oil patches closed by liberal activists since the Carter Administration, only to be shot down by filibusters.

In 2006, the environmental activists, along with other liberal activists (homosexual special rights groups, unions, et al) took back the legislature, effectively naming Nancy Pelosi the new de facto leader of the United States. Under the Pelosi Administration, they put down the coup de grace against the US automakers, enforcing a new 35 MPG fuel economy standard designed to close the loophole of trucks that had become the cash cows of the automakers. Furthermore, they refused to drill for oil, and endorsed inefficient alternative energy that made little, if any, sense.

That, along with a recession caused by the economic policies of the Pelosi Administration, drove down American automakers who built their entire fortune on trucks. Liberal leaders knew the trick. Automakers had built their entire fortunes on trucks, and with the election of Barack Obama and the supermajorities in Congress, the activists had the perfect storm to brew.

Meanwhile, the American vehicle sales were clearly tipping towards trucks. Trucks were now over 50% of vehicle sales, and a pro-environmentalist administration could easily work on putting the brakes on US automakers that built their products based on trucks. The liberal leadership wanted the auto industry like the judicial system -- based on Modern Europe. Europe is full of minicars and microcars, with subcompacts being the "regular" size vehicles in the continent.

They could now use social engineering to attack the automakers. Ford caved first, by agreeing to discontinue production of the "Panther" line (Town Car, Crown Victoria), and converted a huge revenue-making truck plant to one that produced plug-in Focus. The Focus would become Ford's largest car, with the importation of the Fiesta minicar and Ka microcar in the planning stages.

But when General Motors' Rick Wagoner, who has clearly been the architect (along with Bob Lutz and others) of basing their lines on trucks, found the President, it was the President who fired the leaders on the spot, seizing the automaker in an attempt to bankrupt them and force them to produce the type of cars Ford produces, and Japanese automakers Toyota (iQ, Prius, Yaris) and Honda (Insight, Fit) produce.

Chrysler also had the same fate, considering their innovations have been truck-based, save for the Dodge Viper, since the 1980's, with the K-Car (which gave us the minivan), and the 1994 Dodge Ram truck, which rejuvenated the brand's trucks. Once again, the President demanded microcars, and forced a sale to Italy's Fiat, where they could force down microcars such as the Punto and Topolino, produced in Serbia at the former Zastava plant that gave us the Yugo. (Fiat bought Zastava in 2008.)

Sadly, the evidence is clear that crashes involving the type of cars the Obama Administration is forcing on what had been Detroit's three major automakers (one volunteered, two by force) is going to create severe problems. I have been in two nasty crashes, and was able to walk away from each. In the government-mandated microcars, the drivers would be severely injured, with death nearly certain from the worst of the crashes. Many of these crashes would require a driver to have a six-point safety harness, a crash helmet, and a HANS device just to survive, since basal skull fractures are almost certain to happen with a microcar colllides with a mid-size vehicle or larger.

What we are seeing with the automakers is that the President is using his social engineering and socialist policies to force Americans into the 2-seat microcars of Europe because they are the only vehicles he wants; he wants to legislate the family sedan, truck, SUV, and business vehicles out of business in order to support these environmentalist policies of the fringe of Gore, Hollywood, and other activists. He wants to outlaw America's love affair with the automobile and trucks of the past 50 years and replace it with a socialist engineering project similar to the Trabants of East Germany or Volkswagen Beetles of the 1930's.

When the only vehicles left on the market are Trabants, the Administration will have successfully defeated the automakers, and the people. But it shows how environmentalist activists are in excessive control of this nation to appease its worst offenders.

Sources:

Wall Street Journal
NRO - Planet Gore
NRO - Planet Gore
Unhypnotize.com

50% Off Sale

By Mitchell

Nick Gillespie has an inspired rant (h/t Mark Hemmingway at NRO) about the Minnesota Senate election (and, frankly, about Washington in general), in which he comes to the unmistakable conclusion that many have thought but few have had the courage to say:

We've gotten by fine these past few months with just one senator from Minnesota. So fine, in fact, that in this century of constant cost-cutting and rising unemployment, the federal government should do its share by immediately downsizing the World's Greatest Deliberative Body by 50 percent.

Can't argue with that. In fact, I believe we were way ahead of the curve...

Opera Thursday

By Mitchell

For your listening (and viewing) pleasure, here's a little musical diversion for a Thursday - Maria Callas singing the famous aria "O Mio Babbino Cara" from Puccini's one-act comedy Gianni Schicci. You might not be familar with the opera, but most likely you're recognize the music from the first note.

As an aside, I once used Gianni Schicci as part of a very funny parody of gangster movies in one of my (as yet) unpublished novels, but that's a story for another day. In the meantime, enjoy.

Obscenities on Television Uncensored?

By Bobby

This came to my attention last night whilst watching the telly.

During the open of BBC America's The Apprentice*, I noticed Alan Sugar's obscenities in the open ("I don't like ($25,000/25 points)" have been unbleeped.

The sad thing is this is the same word that put Tony Stewart out $25,000 and 25 points when he used it in an interview on ESPN after winning Indy two years ago.

Are we allowing such coarse language on-air when other obscenities that aired originally on the BBC are usually bleeped out if they do not meet US regulations? The only thing I can say to the obscenities is . . . after we hear a snippet of Dru Masters' "You're Fired to the End" is . . . "You're Fired!" (That's the Boardroom music on that series.)

I also noted the UK version has better music -- it uses "Montagues and Capulets" (off the ballet inspired by a Shakespearean tragedy) from Sergei Prokofiev as its theme -- it is a better opening than the O'Jays (used in the US version) for The Apprentice.


* NOTE: The Apprentice franchise is owned in the US by Mark Burnett Productions, and international rights are held by RTL Group (Idols, The Price Is Right, Family Feud, and Got Talent). This version is produced by RTL's talkbackTHAMES, and for legal reasons, when the British version airs in the States, it is called "Mark Burnett's The Apprentice UK" in the US.

Memorial Day: Japan's Double Atomic Bombing, America Surrenders

By Bobby

The great William Faulkner could say it well. Japan reigns supreme, while America is a supreme failure.

And might Grantland Rice say it when saying the captains of the Japanese Armada in Castroneves and Reutimann formed the crest of a Japanese tsunami that flooded the Americans.

Or could he have said it as captains of the Hinomaru that dropped atomic bombs in Indianapolis and Charlotte, leading to a quick surrender of the United States, as the Hinomaru is raised high above this country as an American surrender has been called.

What Else Is There?

By Mitchell

Admit it - you didn't really have anything else planned for today, did you?

What in the World Now?

By Bobby

The Demise of Good Music on Media. If there's one thing I've learned here, we have a love of classical music. Obviously, with Spoleto and related events starting off Interstate 26 in Charleston, learning the information on the most popular station in the area is always a good thing. The recession has taken a toll, however, on the quantity of material available. Also, there's a big hockey series in the minors to worry (Stingrays vs Aces).

A recent technical bulletin posted by the cable company noted that MusicChoice has decided make channel changes to their channels. Among the channels staying are the natural list of big pop hits, including a new hip-hop channel ("MC Mix Tape", older hip-hop), music for toddlers, "True Country," but opera and musicals have been removed from the list. I had to wonder what that shows when people would rather listen to hip-hop rather than opera, and when churches are now preferring hip-hop over sacred masterpieces, what it means.

Do They Know What's In That Song? The sexual deviants have taken control in the White House, and now they have grabbed courts and the New England Area in attempting to rewrite "marriage" to appease their own lobby. But while working out recently, a popular tune by Stefani Germanotta was blaring through the class that I thought the lyrics needed Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten to decipher initially. While at a dinner last week, I saw numerous children dancing to that song and I could not believe the lyrics of the song when I went inside the letters. It was using gambling metaphors from roulette, poker, and blackjack being used for X-rated discussion, including explicit use of language that these children should never be hearing. Out of the mouths and ears of these children are these questionable songs, and the worst part is the sexual deviancy being discussed on the songs and other sexually charged explicit lyrics that would send Mark L. Walberg dropping people two metres down to their deaths. Sexually explicit language was in the song where if a common-sense person heard such talk, that would be worth a $25,000 fine, and 25 points.

When the dance teacher wanted to teach the routine to a coeducational group, she warned the men that it was too "girlie". It was not known until I learned about the sexual deviancy of the song the exact reason for that. Sadly, when it was taught to younger people, the males wanted to dance like women in those parts.

It was a downright raunchy song by Miss Germanotta about another type of sexual deviancy. The sad issue is we have too many who do not understand the messages of these songs. Yet, they are huge fans of it because of the beat. Even Miss Germanotta wants a "girlie man" and that's not what I want. I'd rather be a strong serious man who is dancing with a former Duke cheerleader who is a good friend of mine (and we were partners in an adult dance class) than be courted by someone who wants a girlie man. Don't be any type of girlie man!

Proof is in the Pudding. In an article that came to my attention this week regarding the church music controversy I have learned in the past few years since I began taking voice lessons, one source noted at one of the popular "life enhancement centres" that masquerade as a church was taking rock music at a level of 98-108 decibels, and that the people wanted only to feel the music. If this is the type of "music" in churches a generation has been trained in hearing with no theological content, what happens to them when they grow older? It seems many of them have lost the faith, as they walk into a college campus and are not firmly entrenched in the faith, and when they walk into church, they hear only "dead music" that is serious in its content, with live organs and does not have the 98-108 decibel music of feelings such as the latest megahit from the secular publishers.

This Just In. Chris Roseborough of the Extreme Theology site has a great article that would fit with our This Just In segment. Sadly, with the numbers killed each year in baby slaughter that is legalised, it could be true.

Is This Church? Mr. Roseborough also sent this link to a comic about a stupid church. It's supposed to be fiction, but sadly, these things are happening in too many churches. We've gone from suits to business casual, to now anything goes in church dress codes.

Now How's This Bet? GOP 2012 On the Line? Mark Sanford (shrimp and grits from a Charleston restaurant) and Sarah Palin (wild salmon) have a bet on the line in the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals between the Stingrays and Aces. Let's Go Stingrays!

Transnationalism. We are starting to hear of "transnationalism" among the President's judicial nominees to the Department of Justice and the courts. It is the simple idea of using foreign law to overturn local, state, and federal laws (sodomy, abortion, criminals) that led to my comment that our nation's capital was being moved to Brussels. Now they're talking about our Constitution being illegal, replaced by foreign laws. Now how much worse can it be? I said our nation's capital was being moved to the "capital" of the European Union in Belgium because of the attitudes of these justices. I did not vote for any of these pro-transnationalists to any position, yet like a crush car, I am being smashed by the monster truck of the liberal supermajority.

The Real Goal. I warned that the President's plans for automakers was to push for the microcars months ago. That's why he was wanted total control over automakers. This is turning nearly into Hitler. Just imagine the newspapers showing the number of dead caused by a Big One on the way to school. He wants to control two by force because they focused on trucks and not cars, and the other one he already has through concessions to switch to a three-tiered (micro, mini, small) line, and a willing Governess who praises them for switching to small. I don't want to drive a car that uses an engine smaller than a World Superbike motorcycle, and lighter than a P1 car in the 24 Heures du Mans. Yet that's what the President thinks . . . it fits transnationalism too since Europe, not us, dictates our autos the way they dictate our laws.

Our Troops. One of my college friends is in Afghanistan with the Army. I also have other friends in the services. Let us remember those who have been killed in action over these wonderful years. Sadly, what they teach in our schools today is to hate the heroes of battle, and to promote anti-war freaks such as Jeanette Rankin and Barbara Lee. Heroes such as Patton and Eisenhower are now relegated to the scrapheap under revisionists' attitudes against heroes and in favour of goats. We need to remember our battles.