Thursday, April 29, 2010
Labour's Love Lost
The upside of Britain's truncated, four-week national election campaign season is that it is, well, truncated and lasting only six weeks. In contrast, the American presidential election unofficially takes years and officially runs, well, nearly a year from Iowa caucuses in January to the presidential election in November.
On the other hand, the upside of the lengthy U.S. system -- and the downside of the U.K. counterpart -- can be seen in what happened yesterday to the soon-to-be-ex Prime Minister Gordon Brown. On the campaign trail, the man about to lead the incumbent Labour government to an ignominious defeat next week called a fairly nice woman a "bigot" -- just for asking a handful of questions, one of which was related to immigration levels:
Read more »
|
On the other hand, the upside of the lengthy U.S. system -- and the downside of the U.K. counterpart -- can be seen in what happened yesterday to the soon-to-be-ex Prime Minister Gordon Brown. On the campaign trail, the man about to lead the incumbent Labour government to an ignominious defeat next week called a fairly nice woman a "bigot" -- just for asking a handful of questions, one of which was related to immigration levels:
Read more »
Labels: Gordon Brown, Labour, UK election
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Purple Haze of Guitar Glory
Surfing around the 'Net last night looking for some Prince cover art, I stumbled across this performance from a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show (not sure which year). I was a ridiculously huge Prince fan back in the day (if pictures still exist of me in the outfit I wore to the Purple Rain tour back in '84, I can forget about the Supreme Court nomination). Even though some of the passion has faded, I'm truly amazed that I had never even heard about this performance.
Tom Petty's singing lead on all-star jam of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (George Harrison's son is also on stage playing in the background). Anyway, His Purple Majesty just goes to town with about three minutes or so left and, well, see (and hear) for yourself:
I found this on a "Sound Opinions" thread where it was being debated as the "greatest solo ever." Not sure about that, but, damn! It's certainly up there!
|
Tom Petty's singing lead on all-star jam of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (George Harrison's son is also on stage playing in the background). Anyway, His Purple Majesty just goes to town with about three minutes or so left and, well, see (and hear) for yourself:
I found this on a "Sound Opinions" thread where it was being debated as the "greatest solo ever." Not sure about that, but, damn! It's certainly up there!
Monday, April 26, 2010
By The Time I Get To Arizona
In the category of "don't do me any favors," Rev. Al Sharpton is promising a march on Arizona to protest the new anti-illegal immigration law. Now, there's a great way to prevent any genuine support building against the law! Because, Sharpton is so, um, persuasive.
Of course, you don't have to be a pal of Rev. Al not to realize that this law is fraught with peril. Civil libertarians on the right and the left should find problems with the legislation -- the biggest of which is yes, the demand that those suspected of being illegal need to carry their documentation with them at all times. This is a blatant invitation for abuse by agents of the state, i.e., the police. As "Saturday Night Live" pointed out quite adroitly this weekend, "Show me your papers" is a phrase that has too many ugly connotations. Well, one, actually:
Read more »
|
Of course, you don't have to be a pal of Rev. Al not to realize that this law is fraught with peril. Civil libertarians on the right and the left should find problems with the legislation -- the biggest of which is yes, the demand that those suspected of being illegal need to carry their documentation with them at all times. This is a blatant invitation for abuse by agents of the state, i.e., the police. As "Saturday Night Live" pointed out quite adroitly this weekend, "Show me your papers" is a phrase that has too many ugly connotations. Well, one, actually:
Read more »
Labels: Arizona, civil liberties, Illegal Immigration
