Sunday, December 16, 2012
Throw it all away, and listen
I don't have the technical language to describe what the composer is doing from 4:10 to the end, but I had to listen to it 3 or 4 times to believe it: I felt nothing but astonishment. What seems like a simple amen turns and turns again, then spirals upward in utter yearning, only to end by just touching an unknowable mystery.
The Hebrews called God "he who has no name". I hate words and wish I could dispense with them utterly. Music is the ONLY authentic language. Except for a very few geniuses, all of us spew ugliness and misunderstanding daily in the attempt at "communication". Throw it all away! Throw it away, and listen.
Let's forget the headlines: cute Xmas gifs!
This is kind of the condensed version of that Rudolph show we all watch(ed: I think it still comes on). I want to be a child again, except happy! There were some moments, there HAD to be. Maybe we imagined ourselves into being happy. Like every other kids' story, this one is about the underdog winning. I don't remember too many other underdogs around, so why was this so popular? And at the end of MY story, why didn't I win?
What happened to his red nose? Did that only happen at puberty?
Not too funny, but I have a weakness for flashing colored lights. They do something magical to my retinas.
Now c'mon, guys. . . admit this is cute!
We've saved the best 'til last: a holiday tradition. Don't think too hard about what Santa is doing.
Asshole of the week (if not the century)
Mike Huckabee: Newtown Shooting No Surprise, We've 'Systematically Removed God' From Schools
The Huffington Post | By Nick Wing & Paige Lavender
Posted: 12/14/2012
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) weighed in on the massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. on Friday, saying the crime was no surprise because we have "systematically removed God" from public schools.
"We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools," Huckabee said on Fox News. "Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?"
This line of reasoning isn't new for Huckabee.
Speaking about a mass shooting in Aurora, Colo. over the summer, the former GOP presidential candidate claimed that such violent episodes were a function of a nation suffering from the removal of religion from the public sphere.
"We don't have a crime problem, a gun problem or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem," Huckabee said on Fox News. "And since we've ordered God out of our schools, and communities, the military and public conversations, you know we really shouldn't act so surprised ... when all hell breaks loose."
Adam Lanza, 20, is the suspect in a school shooting that left 27 dead Friday, including 20 children. Lanza is reportedly the son of a teacher at the school where the shootings occurred.
Bad enough that a bunch of assholes on "social media" are boasting that THEY shot all those little children. Bad enough that misinformation is spreading like wildfire through "tweets" and Facebook blatherings. This corruption of the truth is so extreme, Adam Lanza's brother was initially accused of the crime BY THE MEDIA, broadcast as fact by reporters who didn't even question the veracity of what they had just said. After all, it was on Twitter, so it must be true!
But we also must listen to these brainless assholes "weigh in" on the tragedy. Substitute "guns" for "God", and you'll get an idea of his real mentality. If he has one.
I'd pray, but I gave up on that long ago.
"We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools," Huckabee said on Fox News. "Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?"
This line of reasoning isn't new for Huckabee.
Speaking about a mass shooting in Aurora, Colo. over the summer, the former GOP presidential candidate claimed that such violent episodes were a function of a nation suffering from the removal of religion from the public sphere.
"We don't have a crime problem, a gun problem or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem," Huckabee said on Fox News. "And since we've ordered God out of our schools, and communities, the military and public conversations, you know we really shouldn't act so surprised ... when all hell breaks loose."
Adam Lanza, 20, is the suspect in a school shooting that left 27 dead Friday, including 20 children. Lanza is reportedly the son of a teacher at the school where the shootings occurred.
Bad enough that a bunch of assholes on "social media" are boasting that THEY shot all those little children. Bad enough that misinformation is spreading like wildfire through "tweets" and Facebook blatherings. This corruption of the truth is so extreme, Adam Lanza's brother was initially accused of the crime BY THE MEDIA, broadcast as fact by reporters who didn't even question the veracity of what they had just said. After all, it was on Twitter, so it must be true!
But we also must listen to these brainless assholes "weigh in" on the tragedy. Substitute "guns" for "God", and you'll get an idea of his real mentality. If he has one.
I'd pray, but I gave up on that long ago.