Just Because

I like Heifitz. And Prokofiev. Here it is.



Questions?

Is It Just Me, Or...

Have you noticed that the whole "pissed-off-o-meter" level of the country is down? I am just noticing around me that since the actual Inauguration and the Farewell to Bush (oh I can't help it, you gotta see the video: listen to the background "nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, hey hey, good bye")



and Cheney out of the Capitol, that people are just overall, um, less pissed of and a wee bit nicer?

Yes, there's this whole economic gloom-and-doom going on, and people should be watching the money and the predators. But that whole level of concern is somewhat allayed, or at least not tinged by the whole "GODDAMMITYOUFUCKINGPRICKSWHATTHEHELLAREYOUDOING!?!?!"

The "house cleaning" has just reduced the this-shit-in-the-zeitgeist stuff we've been dealing with for so long. We are getting the last years of unbridled criminality Out Of Our System. It's really kinda nice that the whole frikking WORLD is giving the US another chance not to be jerks, not to be criminals, not to be pariahs. It's only been two days and while we have every opportunity to blow it, so far, so good.

In two days, we have Executive Ethics Reform,

“We are here as public servants, and public service is a privilege,” Obama said, addressing his White House staff and Cabinet on his first full day in office. “It’s not about advancing yourself or your corporate clients.”

an Executive Order to close Guantanamo, FOIA transparency, some most excellent appointments to the DOJ (that's Department of Justice; not Dave of the Jungle. Sorry Dave.) and poll numbers that support investigations into Bush and Cheney's illegal activities. (We also have the stoopid media, but that's for a post on another day.)

It's like the country is AWAKE! In spite of our stoopid media. How weird is that?

Just think. If we can get Obama off of this whole WAR IN AFHANISTAN mode, we might have Ghandi Nation. Where "The Simpsons" would turn into.....



Can I have some really spicy Vegetable Korma? Maybe some Vindaloo?
Mmmmm, Vindaloo.
A little Elephant Ride wouldn't be out of order, if you don't mind.

TAGS: The Simpsons, The Singhsons, Ghandi Nation, Is the Long National Nightmare Really Over?
It's sorta like America got some great Ganj,

The Inauguration Speech

I'm very fortunate. My work made several and continued efforts today about 1- MLK Day today, and 2- The Inauguration tomorrow.

I am very proud of them, my Corporate workmates. They sent two very cool MLK messages out today, one "Think About What Martin Said" then "Think About What Martin Did."

Then, they sent out support AND a directive to make sure that we would BROADCAST THE INAUGURATION and MAKE TIME FOR PEOPLE TO WATCH IT LIVE! That is frikkin awesome in my book.

So, I'm all with these efforts. I will not try to hear what I want to hear in the speech however. I will simply listen and be glad in the moment, as that seems the thing to take some Joy in.

What I want afterward though is Justice, and this guy says it pretty well. Crazy things like "Adams" "Rule of Law, not by Men" and, well, you know, generally crazy dirty fucking hippy-ness:



The Object Lesson Here: All Crime Prosecuted Have Happened "In The Past."

Prosecute!

Off With Your Pants!

My kind of thing....

Modes

Believe it or not, Danny Elfman and Prokofiev have something in common. Some day I shall have to explain why this:



and this:



have something in common at a relatively deep level. They really do, believe it or not!

But I'll have to save the "Music Theory Lesson" for later. But "modes" are where it's at, baby.

Israeli Ground Troops Invade Gaza

"This will not be easy and it will not be short," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on national television about two hours after ground troops moved in.

Of course it won't. Because the current war hawks in the Israeli government don't want it to be easy or short.

"We have many, many targets," Israeli army spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich told CNN. "To my estimation, it will be a lengthy operation."

Israeli leaders said the operation, meant to quell militant rocket and mortar fire on southern Israel, would not end quickly, but that the objective was not to reoccupy Gaza or topple Hamas. The depth and intensity will also depend on parallel diplomatic efforts that so far have been unacceptable to Israel, the officials said. [emphasis added]

This is the Bush Regime's "my way or the highway" diplomacy. Do what we say, or no deal.

Before the ground invasion, defense officials said about 10,000 Israeli soldiers had massed along the border in recent days.

Israel initially held off on a ground offensive, apparently in part because of concern about casualties among Israeli troops and because of fears of getting bogged down in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his government decided to mount a land operation despite the risk it posed to thousands of soldiers.

An inner Cabinet of top ministers met with leading security officials for four hours Saturday before deciding to authorize the ground invasion.

Olmert told the meeting that Israel's objective was to bring quiet to southern Israel but "we don't want to topple Hamas," a government official quoted the prime minister as saying. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to share the information.

The immediate aim of the ground operations was to take control of sites militants use as rocket-launching pads, the military said. It said large numbers of troops were taking part but did not give specifics.

Israeli airstrikes intensified just as the ground operation was getting under way, and 28 Palestinians were killed. Palestinian health officials said civilians were among the dead, including a woman, her son and her father who died after a shell hit their house.

One raid hit a mosque in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, killing 13 people and wounding 33, according to a Palestinian health official. One of the wounded worshippers, Salah Mustafa, told Al-Jazeera TV from a hospital that the mosque was packed.

"It was unbelievably awful," he said, struggling to catch his breath.

The whole thing is unbelievably awful. Don't get me wrong, any jerk firing a rocket at anybody is an assclown. But organized mass deaths as a response is morally unacceptable to me.

What's just making me insane is that there is a cure available; withdraw support from Israel. I mean that US policy should say "Israel, these mass killings and invasions aren't going to do you any good. So guess what? Our $6 Billion per year support is going bye-bye. There's nothing you can do to get it back. "

There's a couple other things we should do in terms of moderating US policy in the Middle East if you ask me, which nobody will.

After telling Israel nuh-uh, we should just say to Afghanistan "Provide Bin Laden's body for irrefutable proof of death; we will withdraw immediately afterward. And should you choose to continue a democratic form of government, you will get $2 Billion per year of what we used to give the Israelis. For as many years as we occupied Afghanistan. Strings attached; you have to educate women, and they must be equal in your law and society. That's it. If you don't want to do that, no problem, we just won't give you any monetary support. Your choice."

We then fund an immediate program of green tech science with another of the $2 billion to replace oil. We make sure the Saudis know. In fact, we should hire their American PR firm, Qorvis Communications LLC, as they could use a little rehabilitation, eh?

The other $2 billion should come home and take care of our own homeless. And our own hungry people. All this goes without saying that we should have been out of Iraq yesterday (or 2003 if you lke) as far as I am concerened.

Can you imagine that situation happening? All of the sudden, the US wouldn't be fueling oxygen to the fire of Muslim resentment. We would actually be working on our own security issues by helping real people. And it would all be a hell of a lot less expensive. Including the moral costs.

Nobody's going to let the Holocaust happen to Israel again. But will we let it happen to Palestinians in Gaza?

Yep - just a Dirty Fucking Hippy, but all I am saying, is:




TAGS: Palistinian Occupation, Ethnic Cleansing, Neocons Suck, War is bad for everybody- anywhere, anytime