Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema Are Right: Preserve the Fillibuster

"Democracy is where 51% of the population can vote the other 49% on to boxcars." The person who originally said this grew up during WWII. We have never had a democracy the U.S. That's a good thing. Our representative republic protects minority rights.

The fillibuster protects minority rights. The progressive narrative that it's a remnant of Jim Crow is unadulterated bulls***. it actually dates from the Senate doing away with the "previous question" rule in 1806. We had slavery in 1806, not Jim Crow, and Vice President Aaron Burr's advice to do away with the rule had nothing to do with slavery.

The fillibuster was misused to protect Jim Crow, primarily by Democrats, just as it is being misused now by Republicans. Fix it. Don't destroy it. I'm with Joe Mancini and Kyrsten Sinema on this one.

Let's put it another way. Imagine what the GOP and Trump would have done without the fillibuster.

An Odd, Obscure Singer I Liked 15-20 Years Ago is Now a Pop Star.

I don't follow pop music. I have no idea whatsoever who is making hits today. I generally don't care much for today's pop. It's probably a function of age, right? I just learned that an obscure singer-songwriter I really liked 15-20 years ago is now a mega pop star. Who knew?

I do like some singer-songwriters who do things that are different, either musically or lyrically or in the way they use their instruments and/or voice. If you know the music of Toni Childs think of the odd, affected style of singing which worked so well on the album Union (1988) and briefly made her a star.

Another singer like that, though with a very different quality to her voice, is Sia Furler. Pardon me, she's now just known as Sia and she tops charts regularly. Meh. What she does now is boring pop. Oh, I'd heard her #1 song "Cheap Thrills". I just didn't associate it with the artist or the music I knew. She has an interesting shtick these days, not showing her face to her audience. OK, whatever.

Once upon at time Sia used to write hits for other people. In 2004 her own songs were sad, slow ballads for the most part that exposed raw feelings. They often had cryptic lyrics and she often did odd things with her voice, whispering or letting it break or mumbling. Those things fit the songs but sometimes made it hard to follow the lyrics. Some of those lyrics, once I did know them, could make me cry they were so sad. It's what she did.

Back then Sia had a little success in her native Australia. Here? Not so much. Nothing she did ever landed on any chart. She had a cult following who liked an odd singer who did strange things with her voice. She had some brilliant albums: one was called Healing is Difficult back in 2001. Another was Colour the Small One, my favorite from 2004. Her live disc was Lady Croissant (2007). To most people those names mean nothing. She was talented and creative and interesting but hopelessly obscure. For me that's where it ended. I may have heard Some People Have Real Problems (2008) where she began her transition to upbeat pop. Yeah, meh. I lost interest.

Since I'm oblivious to most of pop culture I had no idea that Sia had a number one album in 2014. I had no idea that her commercial breakthrough was another song where she dealt with her own demons. If I heard "Chandelier" or anything else from the album it didn't register in my consciousness in any way. The other day when a friend mentioned 1000 Forms of Fear to me I had no idea who or what she was talking about. She shared two songs. One was a live performance of "Breathe Me" from Colour the Small One and suddenly the light went on. Yes, I knew the artist. Yes, I really liked Sia once upon a time. That one live version of the once obscure song has 41 million views on YouTube. 41 million? When did that happen? The other song was "Chandelier". I don't honestly know if I ever heard it before but, yes, I like it. I'm glad all those angst and pain filled songs finally paid off for her. "Chandelier" also touched a very raw nerve in me, one that hadn't been disturbed in a very long time.

Today I listened to Sia's 2016 concert in Tel Aviv. She still has a great voice. I'm still not into today's pop. Those old songs, though... First, read the lyrics to "Breathe Me" if you don't know it:
Help
I have done it again
I have been here many times before
Hurt myself again today
And the worst part is there's no one else to blame

Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Enfold me, I am small
And needy, warm me up
And breathe me

Ouch, I have lost myself again
Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found
Yeah, I think that I might break
Lost myself again and I feel unsafe

Here are two versions, that viral live version from 2014 and the original video from 2004 so you can hear how she sang it originally.
Since everybody in the world except me knows "Chandelier" I picked the first version I found that had that expressiveness, that ability to make you feel her pain that permeated her early albums. This song would have fit just fine on an album from 2004. I also, unfortunately, can relate to going through a trauma and trying to lose oneself. She had her battles with alcoholism and drug addiction after losing someone she loved.
A very few people know what happened to me roughly 30 years ago and my own battles. I think that's why I'm glad I finally heard this song and why it touched me. Oh, and Dave S, if by some miracle you run into this blog post I have two things I should have said then. The first is simply "thank you". Man, you saved my life not once but twice. The second thing is "I'm sorry". I was a total asshole to you then. I didn't appreciate what you did. I wanted to die and you wouldn't let me. You were a much better friend than I deserved.

It's Past Time I Became An Activist Again

I had a bad night last night. My sleep was interrupted by nightmares about the near future. That is how worried I am about the outcome of today's election and what it means for our country and our democracy. I woke up early, made some pumpkin spice coffee (love the stuff), and resolved two things regardless of the outcome of today's voting. First, I'm going to change my voter registration from unaffiliated to Democratic. I've been a Democrat before, mainly because I wanted to vote in Democratic primaries. I've also been a Republican and was during the 2016 presidential primaries supporting Governor John Kasich. I left the party when Donald Trump won the nomination.

When I was a political activist and a party loyalist back in the 1980s I was a Republican. I worked in several campaigns, both as a paid staffer and as a volunteer. I briefly was a lobbyist at the state level. I wrote position papers on foreign policy (an area where I am conservative) for a U.S. Senate candidate.

Today's racist, white supremacist GOP has no relation to the GOP of Reagan and Bush which I supported and worked in. Not that long ago when I quoted Ronald Reagan on economic inequality I was called a socialist and a Communist. President Reagan was for and signed immigration reform that included amnesty for people who were here a long time. Being a fiscal conservative like President Reagan meant living within our means, not record deficits and debt. We didn't mortgage our grandchildren's future to give huge breaks to big business and the wealthy. Look up what the top tax rate was during the Reagan years. You are in for a surprise. President George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" included passing a prescription drug benefit for Medicare. Now the GOP at the national level wants to dismantle Medicaid and Medicare. Like I said, not the same party at all.

My views have not changed much over the years. Back then I was considered a moderate: conservative on foreign policy, moderate to conservative on economics, liberal on social issues and the environment. Today the same views are either liberal or progressive. I didn't leave the Republican Party. It left me, both on the state and federal level. Now I am resolved to work for the other party and do whatever I can to elect Democrats in 2020.

The S Word Revisited

Back in early 2010 I wrote a post about the ludicrous way some on the political right use the word socialism as if it were a four letter word, a curse. What I said then was that these people either lack the slightest clue about what socialism really is, what the word means, and how much socialism we have in the American economy today or else they really do know but assume their audience is ignorant. Instead they equate small s socialism with communism or the Soviet Union. Now, as then, I ended up making essentially the same points to a Republican stalwart on social media. He finished his rant with, "If you support Socialism you don't belong in America." What follows, with minor editing, are my responses to him.

Oh for crying out loud. I support socialism, you know, like Social Security, public schools, public libraries, law enforcement by government rather than private security firms, Medicare, Medicaid, my local fire department... all good, common sense socialism. I am a former Republican. Liberals or moderates like me are not "anti-America".

Every successful Western economy is a mixture of socialism and capitalism, including the United States. All the items I mentioned as common sense socialism are just that even if you don't see it. If you're against public schools, law enforcement, fire protection, roads, etc... then you are off in the far right fringe. I'll add that Israel is a much more socialist country than we are. They have universal healthcare. The fact that we are the only developed country that does not is shameful.

Medicare and Social Security as not entitlements. We pay for them out of each and every paycheck we earn. If you are self-employed you pay it quarterly. Either way, cutting those is stealing money that people paid in all their lives for their retirement. Social Security is running at a surplus. The only reason it runs short on money is that Congress (both parties) keep raiding the trust fund to pay for other things. Al Gore was laughed at when he called for putting social security in a lock box. He was right.

Finally, the older I get the more liberal I become. I have learned that what the Trump GOP calls conservatism is all about making the rich richer and the poor poorer and to hell with the middle class. I cannot support a political party that will steal my retirement money to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy. Thanks but no thanks.

I Really Don't Like Westerns. Here's One Worth Watching.

I don't like westerns. Bonanza and Gunsmoke had no appeal to me when I was growing up and they still don't. Please don't get me started on the treatment of Native Americans in most westerns. The portrayal in movies and on most television programs was severely whitewashed to say the least. In recent years westerns were almost completely out of favor which is fine with me.

Despite this I recently watched a short lived western TV series which was made in Canada and aired in 2014-2015 called Strange Empire. Not only that, I'm trying to convince my best friend (who also dislikes westerns) to check it out. Yes, it's that good. There are only 13 episodes because ratings were microscopic in both the U.S. and Canada. Most people I know have never heard of it. Forget what you think you know about westerns. This isn't anything like that.

I originally became interested because it stars Cara Gee who currently plays Camina Drummer on The Expanse. I love her portrayal of the character and the strength she brings to the role. Strange Empire was her role before that, and from what I read her performance in the series directly lead to not only her casting on The Expanse, but a newly expanded character for Drummer, which is actually a composite of several characters in the books.

Then there is the little fact that Cara Gee's heritage/ethnicity is Ojibwe. I expected the treatment of First Nations/native people had to be different from the old time westerns. There is also a transgendered character, though he is never called that because 1869. One of the main characters is autistic, though she is never called that because 1869. OK, so I was curious, at least curious enough to try it. It's currently available on Amazon Video or on DVD.

There is no whitewash in Strange Empire. The show is the darkest, most incredibly grim thing I have ever watched. In the probably realistic portrayal of life in Montana and Alberta in 1869 we see rampant racism, theft, murder, rape, oh, and yes, a bit of the genocide of native people. If you don't have a strong stomach you may not want to watch it. The body count in most episodes is horrendous. Despite all of the horror that would normally have me reaching or even running for the remote to turn it off the story is compelling. It draws you in and doesn't let go.

This is from a review of the first episode:

"Set in 1869 along the Montana/Alberta border, Strange Empire starts with two dead babies and a graveside wedding...

A fun romp this is not, but it is a rich exploration of a time and place we think we’re familiar with — our own country, our own history. We’re wrong.

Some of the preliminary publicity said the men have disappeared, leaving the women to fight for survival. This is true in the sense that the cult members of Jonestown disappeared, or the Donner party got a little peckish, or the dog of your childhood went to live on a farm. Some of the men survived, some have not yet been found, but most are quite dead."

Dark doesn't even begin to describe it. I won't share more because spoilers are no fun. I know most anyone who reads this probably hasn't seen the series.

The crazy thing is that the many science fiction fans among my friends will recognize a lot of the cast. Melissa Farman (Lost) and Tattiawna Jones (The Handmaid's Tale) are Cara Gee's costars. Terry Chen (The Expanse, Continuum) and Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica, Continuum, Dollhouse) both have regular roles. Oh, and did I mention that a lot of the show is set in Janestown? No relation to Jaynestown in Firefly.

Here is a trailer:

A Divisive and Self-Defeating Protest

Over the last couple of days I’ve found myself in a few debates on social media over the protest by professional athletes, primarily NFL football players, who have “taken a knee,” stayed off the field or sat during the national anthem. I’ve outraged some of my more liberal or leftist online friends for not following the popular, politically correct line of supporting the players. Before I launch into that let me start with the points where I agree with those to my political left:

• Racism is a problem in the United States. It always has been.
• President Trump’s 2016 campaign exploited the many divisions in our country including the racial divide. His statements and tweets as President have continued to sew division.
• Right wing extremists, including white supremacists, have taken the election of President Trump as vindication and justification of their racist views. Racism has become socially acceptable again after decades where that wasn’t true. The racism was always there. Now it’s out in the open again.
• Law enforcement and the criminal justice system, like any other large group of people, have proverbial bad apples among them including racists. African-Americans suffer mistreatment at the hands of police in disproportionate numbers. This includes black people who have been killed and clearly should not have been.

Colin Kaepernick’s original protest, when he was the first to “take a knee” as a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, was a protest against what he sees as unjustified police shootings and killings of African-Americans. People in the black community and most on the political left support him. Many on the right were and are outraged. Kaepernick found himself without a contract this year. An NPR News story put it this way:

"This season, no team has signed him, and some supporters believe NFL owners are avoiding him because of the controversy."

In football terms this is the equivalent of being fired, which is what President Trump, during a speech in Alabama and in subsequent tweets, suggested should happen to all athletes who are disrespectful of the flag and the national anthem. I’ll admit freely that I thought precisely the same thing even before he said it. The difference is that I am not the President of the United States and my impact when I do speak out is minimal. President Trump’s statements once again exploited and expanded on the deep divisions in our country in a way almost nobody else can.

Most Americans take great pride in this country. Those who do, myself included, see the symbols of this nation, our flag and our national anthem included, as almost sacred. That sort of nationalism or patriotism is a positive thing. For me it’s part of my gratitude for the opportunities my parents, both legal immigrants, both Holocaust survivors, were given here. Their life story is an example of the American dream. They came here with next to nothing, worked hard, were successful, and built a very good life for themselves and their children. Very few countries in the world offer that level of opportunity. So, yes, when the country as a whole is disrespected it bothers me no end.

Let’s also take a look at the protesters. Professional athletes earn hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars a year. They are highly privileged individuals regardless of the color of their skin. They are wealthy and successful in ways most Americans can only dream about. Yes, that includes most white Americans. These are not victims of oppression. Is it any wonder both the style of protest and who the protesters are breeds resentment?

For my part daring to speak out against these protests has led to accusations of racism on my part. I’ve been told I would not have supported Rosa Parks because she offended the segregationists of the day. In addition to being incredibly insulting it’s a ridiculous statement. Rosa Parks’ act of peaceful civil disobedience struck directly at segregation and the racism behind it.

The Jim Crow laws, including the one Rosa Parks protested, no longer exist. At least in law, and to some significant degree in daily life, the civil rights protests of the 1950s through the 1970s were successful. We are not the same country today. Yet some on the left insist we are still a “white supremacist country” and act like no progress was made. Didn’t we have an African-American President for eight years?

50-75 years ago the opportunities that the NFL players and other athletes have were closed off to African-Americans. They were excluded. American professional sports before Jackie Robinson was a whites only affair. These protests would have been impossible. They are possible today precisely because of the successes of the civil rights movement.

I’ll agree when people say that the struggle for civil rights is not over. I’ll agree if they say more needs to be done. We are nowhere near reaching racial equality as a society. What I will not agree with is the hyperbole of the left that condemns the country as a whole as racist. I also will not agree with protests that attack the institutions and symbols of our country, in effect attacking the country as a whole.

As NPR reported NFL players are anything but unified on this. While most of the Pittsburgh Steelers stayed in their clubhouse during the anthem one,

“Army veteran Alejandro Villanueva, ventured out of the tunnel and placed his hand over his heart during the singing of the anthem.”

From what I am seeing online veterans and those serving in the armed forces are among those who are most offended by these protests.

My point, which my friends on the left entirely miss, is that most of the country is moderate in their views. Most people really aren’t hateful racists. A protest, no matter how well justified, won’t make haters stop hating. However, a protest that offends many who don’t hate will drive natural allies and supporters away. I’m not opposed to peaceful protest in any way. The athletes certainly have a First Amendment right to speak out. That isn’t in question. The problem is that this particular protest offends many of the very people that need to be reached to bring about change. This particular set of protests is self-defeating.

These protests do nothing to help raise awareness of a real issue which exists in law enforcement which needs to be addressed. They do nothing to rally support for changes which are needed. They do not open much needed dialogue. They do not promote racial justice in any way. Rather, these protests damage the chances for real change and real reform. They deepen divisions. The protests buttresses President Trump and those like him who seek to exploit the racial divide in this country.

Viva Digital Music Old and New

I've been a fan of CDs from the very beginning. I hate surface noise, pops, scratches and the like, none of which are an issue on any form of digital media. When CDs first appeared in the U.S. classical music enthusiasts were the early adopters, In the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida area an almost exclusively classical CD only shop opened bringing in imported classical recordings. It was funny because while some audiophiles were (and still are) attacking the sound of CDs and claiming vinyl is forever superior the most demanding music fans in terms of sound quality were the ones adopting digital technologies early on. The same thing happened when MiniDiscs appeared in the early 1990s. A classical station in the area even did a special program dedicated to playing classical releases on MD. Somehow, though, vinyl is hip again. I really don't get that at all.

Today's file based equivalents are lossless digital modes, most especially FLAC (Free Audio Lossless Codec), which is an Open Source and works on almost any computer and a growing number of portable devices. FLAC won't displace lossy MP3 files until higher capacity SSD storage devices become both very small and very cheap. MP3s take up far less storage space and sound good enough to a lot of people. FLAC players have been on the market for home stereo systems for a few years now but they are still very much a specialty item. Some units from China with built in amplifiers are really inexpensive these days.

Getting back to CDs, which young people often dismiss as old tech: sales are way down and both used copies of albums and new multidisc sets have become very inexpensive. It's often cheaper to buy the physical disc and rip the music yourself than to buy a digital download of the same music. You then have the original source as a backup in case your favorite music playing device or hard drive dies. It's the best of both worlds: old school physical releases with artwork and often extensive information and the convenience of file based music.

Anyway, those are my ramblings from a discussion on Facebook about digital vs. analog media for music. For me its digital over analog every time.

An Open Letter To Senate Republicans

Dear Honorable Senators:

I'm a registered Republican in North Carolina. In light of the current threats our nation faces and what I view as the failure of President Obama's foreign policy I had planned to vote Republican this year in the presidential, senate and congressional races in my state and district. The reaction by many of you, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is causing me to rethink the wisdom of such votes.

Our Constitution gives the duty of nominating justices to the Supreme Court to the President. It doesn't say anything about suspending that duty when elections are almost a year away. It doesn't say anything about the political party or ideology of the President having to match that of a majority in the Senate. Your duty, as senators, is to advise and consent, one would assume based on the merits of a particular nominee. To make a statement that no nominee will be considered for nearly a full year to give our party a chance to capture the White House first is not only an unprecedented action in our history, but I firmly believe it subverts our system of checks and balances. It subverts the Constitution you are sworn to uphold.

I am still very cognizant of the uniquely dangerous external threats our nation now faces. However, I see your proposed action as an internal threat to our system of government and our democracy. Those supporting the idea of blocking any nomination for the next year claim they are waiting to allow the people to decide. The people did decide by electing President Obama not once but twice, and by a sizable margin each time. His term is not up. Justice Anthony Kennedy was confirmed in 1988, an election year, and by a 97-0 vote.

If you choose to carry out your threat I honestly feel I have no choice but to vote Democratic in November, and to do all I can to explain why I, a moderate Republican, have made that choice. I would have no choice but to do everything in my power to persuade others to do the same. I am hoping that, in your wisdom, you decide that the best course of action is to give whomever President Obama nominates a fair confirmation hearing and a vote based on qualifications, not an ideological litmus test, as has been done in the past.

Respectfully,
Caitlyn M. Martin
Eden, NC

A Jewish Defense of Planned Parenthood, Reproductive Rights, and Opposition to Imposing Conservative Christianity on America

With regard to Planned Parenthood there is a lot of right wing propaganda out there which ranges from distortion to outright lies. I am one of an admittedly small minority of Republican women who will say, without reservation: I stand with Planned Parenthood. I strongly oppose the efforts to defund the organization. It is already illegal for ANY federal tax money to be used for abortion. In the case of Planned Parenthood federal funds are used for the other 97% of what they do, which is all about women's health. You know, like cancer screening and contraception. Some Christians also object to contraception. The ready availability of contraceptives reduces abortions, something I see as a good thing.

I'm also a Jewish American. In mainstream Judaism life begins at birth. That's why abortion is legal in Israel. There are times when it is simply a medical necessity. In Judaism abortion is NOT murder. That is a Christian religious view. I wrote about this seven years ago, quoting Orthodox Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, in a piece titled A Religious Argument For Being Pro-Choice .

Christian interpretation about what they believe to be G-d's word isn't likely to convince pro-choice Jews. In a recent debate on a pro-choice Jewish friend's Facebook page I put it just this way: Jews are not Christians. We do not share your beliefs. As Rabbi Telushkin pointed out in his book The Ten Commandments of Character, an unborn fetus is simply not a baby in the Torah. In Judaism the Torah (law) takes precedence over Nevi'im (prophets) in all things. Christians reorder and reinterpret our scripture in utterly unacceptable ways to Jews, holding Nev'im and Ketuvim (writings) as equal to Torah. The verse, Jeremiah 1:5, often quoted by anti-abortion, anti-choice advocates does not override Torah.

My message to those who want to impose Christian views on others, including Jews who believe entirely differently about abortion, is straightforward and entirely secular. In the U.S. we have a country where one of our founders, the principal writer of our Constitution, Thomas Jefferson, called for "a wall of separation between church and state". So long as that wall holds Christian fundamentalist views cannot be imposed on the rest of us, hence Roe v. Wade. Christian religious views on abortion are not supported by science or medicine. You want to deny women a sometimes necessary, sometimes life saying medical procedure based on your religion? Sorry, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its wisdom, says no.

Once again, to my conservative Christian readers: please understand that your religious views are not universal and are not accepted by mainstream Judaism. You most certainly do not speak for G-d in my view. My politics may have turned to the right in other areas, and I may have also returned to the Republican Party, but that doesn't mean I need to give up my own religious beliefs or my belief that America is strongest as a tolerant country accepting people of all faiths and imposing no religion upon its citizens.

Compelled To Speak Out

Earlier today, on Facebook, I posted this news story: Jewish woman will be the White House’s first openly transgendered staffer. Anyone who knows me knows that I've remained socially liberal even while turning to the right on foreign policy and security issues. I strongly support LGBT rights and, while I've become a harsh critic of President Obama, in this case I give him a lot of credit.

A friend who read my post sent me a blog post from a conservative Christian attacking the LGBT community, and transgendered people in particular. The blog is called "Compelled To Speak". I felt compelled to respond to it. Here is what I wrote:

"You're right on only one level: gender is not a choice. Sex is the physical thing, what parts we are born with. Gender is what's between the ears, determined by neurochemistry in the womb based on the science I've read on this and experts I've talked to. Sometimes someone, from birth, has a gender that does not match their sex. It isn't a choice nor is it a desire. It just is and is a part of G-d's creation. Even Rev. Pat Robertson has acknowledged this. It certainly isn't sin. It does not contradict the passages from the Hebrew Bible you quote in translation.

Your comparisons to bestiality and pedophilia are both ignorant and hateful. Since you post this as a Christian I wonder how you reconcile this with New Testament scripture:

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.-Matthew 7:1-2

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. - John 8:7"

I could have thrown more at her but I feel this was enough to make my point. There is nothing Christian about condemning and judging others.

'70s Israeli Progressive Rock: Sheshet

I grew up on the progressive rock of the '70s. Mostly we heard US and UK bands in the States, but some European bands, particularly Italian bands like PFM, Le Orme and New Trolls recorded songs in English and had a following in the U.S. Israeli prog? Not so much. First, it never was a terribly popular sound in Israel from what I can gather, and without a big commercial success in their home country these bands just didn't get exported. I only discovered them in recent years and a few were truly exceptional.

Sheshet is my personal favorite, a band that was as good as anything that came out of the US or UK. They had Yehudit Ravitz for a vocalist and acoustic guitarist and Shem-Tov Levi on flute and vocals. He also wrote most of the music, which is an amazing mix of the softer side of progressive rock and Canterbury scene style jazz, plus unique touches of their own. Prog bands always needed exceptional keyboardists and Sheshet had one in Adi Renert.

The 30th anniversary deluxe edition, released in 2007, is a two CD set currently available from Amazon. The first disc is their self-titled debut album, which was exceptional from beginning to end. Some tracks have Yehudit Ravitz singing lead; others have group vocals. Some of the album has Hebrew lyrics but there is also a lot of wordless vocalise. I always loved when Annie Haslam did that with Renaissance. It takes a talented singer to pull that off well and Yehudit Ravitz is up for the task. The one track that was a single in Israel is All Thumbs Samba, a track which really is a samba with Hebrew lyrics. Despite the very different sound from the other tracks it has enough depth added to make it fit seamlessly into the album.

Their second and final album is the soundtrack to the film "The Stretcher March" (1977). It's filled with lovely prog instrumentals and more vocalise. The 30th anniversary deluxe CD reissue of Sheshet's self-titled debut includes all the original, previously unreleased music from the film on a second bonus CD. (The three tracks that appeared on both albums are only on the first disc.) It includes two versions of the theme song from the film. The disc opens with an instrumental version and finishes with a vocal version, with Gidi Gov singing lead. The one set basically gives you everything the band ever recorded. I can't recommend this one highly enough.

Notes: Photos from the CD booklet. This review was originally written for Amazon with some minor differences. Also published on my pro-Israel/Zionist blog.

Occupy Wall Street: The Final Implosion and the Impact on My Politics

It seems Occupy Wall Street has finally imploded and died. I say good riddance to bad rubbish. Yes, I supported Occupy for a period of weeks, much to my shame. Once Occupy got away from a populist economic message and went off into far left nonsense it was doomed. Huge clue: Marxist teach ins don't fly in America. Neither does the over the top anti-Semitism that came to pervade the so-called movement.

The fact is that Occupy has been dead for a couple of years now. Those in the hard core left-wing social media bubble don't realize it because they've supported one another and somehow think lots of other people agree with them. These, of course, are the folks who think President Obama is a corporate sell out and who either stayed home during the 2012 elections or supported Jill Stein for President. How many votes did she get? Getting 0.36 percent of the vote is not making an impact. You see my point. Occupy had become another piece of the extreme left wing, and hard left politics are terribly unpopular in the U.S.

Occupy did have an impact. It made income inequality an issue Democrats and even some Republicans are still talking about. It deserves some credit for that. However, a "leaderless" organization (or rather disorganization) which tried to make decisions by "consensus" was doomed to failure from the start. An organization like this needs leadership, real leadership, that can keep it on message and keep that message narrowly defined. That's how things can get accomplished and how progress towards the worthwhile goals that Occupy started out with can be made. Right now the name Occupy is poison to anyone not on the far left. If you really want a populist, non-partisan movement with broad based support you need focus, first and foremost.

I had been drifting from right to left politically for a very long time when I joined Occupy, willing to devote time and resources to what I saw as a worthwhile movement against corruption, undue corporate influence and for needed economic reform. Since that brief period, since I became more tuned into left wing media and what the left stands for, I've been moving in the opposite direction. I fully expect to vote Republican for the first time in a quarter of a century in the 2014 elections. That's the one positive change Occupy did make in my life. Congratulations! I don't think that was the intent of the movement but it sure convinced me that was the correct and moral direction for me to move in.

[Drawn from a debate on Facebook,]

Why I'm Not Boycotting the Olympics

A lot of my friends are boycotting watching the Olympics. Some are opposed to the anti-gay law passed in Putin's Russia and the oppression of the LGBT community. Some are opposed to the desecration of the site where Circassian people (who are native to the Sochi area) were massacred in order to build ski slopes. Some are opposed to the senseless killing of dogs, mostly strays, so that they don't bother those attending the Olympics. Some are opposed to Russia's hideous human rights record in general. I am opposed to all of those things. They are all horrible and the Olympics should never have been held in Russia. I blame the IOC for choosing sites in countries that have no respect for human rights and that is where protests should be focused.

I am not boycotting. I watched last night. It was on broadcast TV (I have neither cable nor satellite) so there is nobody anyone can count or any way bean counters can tell that I watched for ratings purposes. Nobody in Russia benefits from my watching. Advertisers can only make a negative impression on me by cashing in on the Olympics so they won't benefit either. I love figure skating and I support Team Israel and Team USA.

I enjoyed watching the first part of the first ever figure skating team competition. The Canadian couple of Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford is awesome and had an amazing performance, as did Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan. Scott Hamilton called his performance "sick".

I also think NBC and Bob Costas deserve huge kudos for their coverage of the anti-gay law. First, they spent a lot of time on the subject and called a lot of attention to it. Their two Russian analysts were amazingly good. One, Vladimir Posner, the former Soviet spokesperson, said it best: "Russia is a homophobic country." The law has the support of 85% of the population. He also made clear that Putin doesn't give a damn what anyone in the West thinks. Posner also pointed out that Putin is "an autocrat, not a democrat" and that the protests against the law are by "urban, liberal intelligentsia" and not the masses, who are, as he said, homophobic.

That kind of coverage does Putin and Russia no favors, and it was smack in the middle of prime time between figure skating and skiing segments. I'm glad I watched it. The anti-gay law was presented in an entirely unfavorable way. I'm sure the bigots in the audience hated that coverage.

What I am doing is using a rainbow flag with the Olympic rings as my Facebook profile picture to show solidarity with the LGBT community in Russia, and I urge everyone who cares about human rights to do the same.

A Note About Dinner and Kosher Foods in America

I made a big pot of bean and leek soup (with carrots, garlic, a little bit of onion, a finely minced habanero pepper to add a little kick, plus spices) in a Crock Pot. I had some as part of dinner tonight topped with some shaved Parmesan cheese, with a piece of baked Alaskan cod and a piece of very fresh rye bread. It's wonderful, but since it's just me that eats it I'll be having it for a week or more. That's why I do things like this (big pots of soup, chili or cholent) so infrequently.

I used half of a bag of a 15 bean mix intended for soup. It had the appropriate kosher certification on it. On the back cover it had a soup recipe which started by telling me I'd need 1 lb. of ham hocks. Really? Tell me this: why would a company go through the expense of kosher certification and then only put a blatantly treyfe recipe on the back of the package? Wouldn't it be better to have two recipes, one of which appeals to the people who looked for that symbol of kashrut and perhaps vegetarians as well? Wouldn't that make more sense? Trust me on this: you can make a delicious soup from those beans without any pork.

[Note: This started out as a Facebook post. I've also published it in my Zionist/Jewish blog since it does touch on Jewish dietary laws.]

On Phil Robertson, Hate and Hypocrisy

On the whole Duck Dynasty thing... I'm perhaps a bit sensitive about this issue but I live in North Carolina. We have one pastor here who wanted to round up all the "queers" and lesbians, fence them in (a concentration camp) and kill them off. We have another who urged parents to beat the gay out of their sons. Here in the South lots of people cheer those attitudes and really do want the LGBT community dead or gone. To quote one of the leaders of the Amendment One campaign, "We don't want them here." (Amendment One took the law against same sex marriage here and added it to the state constitution. It is currently being challenged in court.)

Phil Robertson has influence due to his celebrity. His words are likely to be used to justify more violence against the LGBT community here in the South and we have too much of that already. Words have power. Sure, he has the right to hold whatever beliefs he has, no matter how despicable I find them. However, he has been given a public platform and has used it in a way that can do real harm. For that reason I really cannot accept any of the defending of him I see online, and I really, really am outraged by those who turn him into some kind of hero.

Also, as an excellent article by Dean Obeidallah in The Daily Beast points out, those who are up in arms that Robertson was suspended by A&E are raging hypocrites. Those same people were ready to pillory Martin Bashir for making nasty statements about one person: Sarah Palin. These people didn't champion Alec Baldwin's homophobic statements or his firing from MSNBC because he isn't a conservative.

Surely, equating gay people with terrorists and with bestiality can and should be considered hateful. Saying that black people were happier in the Jim Crow South before integration is certainly racist. It should never be defended and A&E has every right to hold the man accountable for his statements.

With All the Things Wrong in This World... My Take.

I wrote this for a friend who expressed real frustration with the state of the world on a Facebook page. I decided it's something I want to share with everyone with only minor editing:

I've had the good fortune to travel the world in my career. I have family and friends scattered all over the world that I keep in touch with. I'm a citizen of two countries and I'm probably eligible for citizenship in three more. Most people are decent everywhere my travels have taken me.

Are governments flawed? Yep, everywhere. For all it's flaws the U.S. is still ahead of most of the world in more areas that you'd imagine. There are judges who should never be judges. There are terrible decisions made by people who just don't get it. Still, I find a lot more that's hopeful about our world today than the one that existed when I was young.

Don't give up on the world. We Jews have an obligation called "tikkun olam", literally fixing the world. We each are supposed to do our little part to leave the world a better place than we found it. I think if we all (not just Jews but everyone) embrace that concept we can all make a small difference in our own little way. Lots of small differences can add up to a large change.

Review: Karolina - Zohar (Special Edition)

For the first time since November, 2005 I wrote a product review for Amazon. Eight years ago it was a book I really enjoyed; this time it's a two CD boxed set:

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If you've heard either Funset's "Pumpkin Ragga" or Habanot Nechama you probably already know that Karolina (Keren Avratz) has an amazingly flexible and expressive voice and is a very capable songwriter. When she sings in English her Israeli accent is thick enough to cut with a knife but somehow that doesn't matter.

"Zohar" (Glamor) is her second solo album. The original CD was rather short and included two different versions of Al Te'ahar (Don't Be Late), with an acoustic rendition closing the album. On this album she drops the soul and reggae influences which were so evident on her first album and with Funset and adds a little Mizrahi flavor, even though she is not from that tradition. Zohar, with the exception of her Chanson For Lebanon, has a much more contemporary feel. The words are entirely in Hebrew with the exception of "Save Me From Myself", and surprisingly that may be my favorite from this album.

The new version adds an EP of covers, three well known Israeli songs from the '60s and '70s plus a collaboration with Boom Pam on a version of Led Zeppelin's Black Dog, with a surprising amount of Middle Eastern flavor added to the instrumentation. Karolina practically channels Cilla Dagan, who sang the original version of Yom Bo Yakom, and does a beautiful rendition of Zohar Argov's Tzel Etz Tamar (Shadow of the Palm Tree).

This is an album I just keep going back to again and again. Definitely pick up the Special Edition if you're going to get a copy of Zohar. It's more than worth a little bit extra to hear Karolina rework the old songs.

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Here are a couple of songs from the album:

Is Professional Courtesy a Thing of the Past?

Last week I had blocked time for a phone call and for a meeting down in Houston. I was supposed to get a confirmation call for the Houston meeting on Monday. Neither of the calls ever came. I followed up, of course, and both phone messages and e-mail went unanswered.

Once upon a time, not too long ago, if you scheduled time with a professional in any field and you needed to cancel you called to let them know. You didn't just pull a no show unless something was seriously wrong. There is no shame in saying things aren't going to work out for whatever reason. You don't even need to give a reason. In this day and age, with smartphones everywhere, giving the courtesy of a note cancelling a meeting takes a few minute and can be done by phone, text or e-mail.

I find it amazing, not to mention incredibly unprofessional, than one person in the business world would simply stand up another like this. Time is valuable. Is professional courtesy dead? Is it a thing of the past. Sadly, it seems to be.

I Ate Kale and It Didn't Kill Me

I have a great friend. She's becoming more health conscious and is doing a great job of losing weight. The one problem she has is what she likes to eat. Her idea of eating green is mint chocolate chip ice cream. She will tell you that she eats vegetables because she eats potatoes. Seriously, if it's a green vegetable she hates it. If it's fish she says it will make her throw up. She's a meat and potatoes type... and pizza. Pizza is a major food group for her. None of this sounds like a healthy diet, does it?

Me, well... I like most vegetables and I eat lots of them. The ones I really don't like I can count on the fingers of my right hand and still have fingers left over. I hate asparagus. I really don't like endive. Kale (and most greens) taste bitter to me. Why have kale when you can have spinach? I like spinach.

Imagine my surprise when my meat and potatoes friend calls me asking for kale recipes. Kale? She's going to eat kale? She read somewhere that it's a super food and really good for her and she wants a way to prepare kale that will taste good to her. Oof! Almost any other vegetable and I would have clever ideas. Spinach recipes, I have endless spinach recipes. Kale? I've got nothing.

I've never been one to shy away from a good challenge and I need to lose weight too. If kale is this super food then maybe I need to learn how to make tasty kale, right? Sure. My first attempt, suggested by Bobby Flay online, didn't turn out so well. Maybe I didn't cook it enough, or maybe just garlic isn't enough to mask the bitterness, but let's just say I didn't eat it. I also found raw kale salad suggestions. I'd rather eat newspaper. It isn't as bitter and the texture is better.

Tonight it turned out the third time was the charm. I sauteed the kale in very good Halutza extra virgin olive oil from Israel. I used more garlic. I added chopped green onion. I also used Heritage Fair Greens Seasoning. I cooked it longer and got it a bit softer. It really wasn't bad at all the way I made it. My main dish was vegetarian Tofurkey Italian style sausage and peppers (three kinds) with mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, yellow squash and green onion in a tomato based pasta sauce over Jewish style egg noodles. It ended up being a nice dinner.

OK, I ate kale and it didn't kill me. I have a tiny bit left over in a Tupperware in the fridge. I wonder if it would be good in an omelet in the morning. Hmmm... [Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons]

The Boston Blame Game: Left Wing Editon

[NOTE: This will eventually be a rare cross-posted to my blog about Israel and Zionism since it touches at least tangentially upon the issues there.]

Ever since the Boston Marathon bombings lots on lots of people on the Internet are playing a despicable blame game, blaming everyone and anyone they don't like for the terrorist attack; anyone except Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, that is. The conspiracy theorist version of the blame game includes claiming this was actually a U.S. government plot or an Israeli/Mossad "false flag operation". The right wing version often includes blaming Islam as a whole and every Muslim on the planet. For right now I'm going to pick on a left wing version: blaming the victims (the United States) and our friends in the world.

It's pretty easy for hard core left wingers to blame American foreign policy here: the use of drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq and American support of Israel are used as prime examples. The United States is blamed, often solely blamed, for the loss of innocent lives throughout the Muslim world. Here is a dose of reality: radical Islamists have declared war on the West. When you're attacked you do have to respond. Anything else is perceived as weakness and encourages more violence. Are innocent lives are lost? That is the sad and tragic reality in any war. Yes, if we have a choice war needs to be a last resort. Sometimes, sadly, it is the only resort left.

The problem with radical Islam, something which is growing and spreading like a cancer in the Muslim world, is that people are taught to hate in their schools, in their mosques and in the media. Add a very large poor population, poorly educated or hardly educated at all, a relatively low literacy rate, and little or no access to other viewpoints. If the infidel or the American or the Jew or the Israeli or the European is made a scapegoat for all that is wrong in their lives the hatred is there. It doesn't require a drone strike or ill advised foreign policy to nurture that hatred.

Some ultraliberals, when referring to the Muslim world, talk about how we ignore or harm "the government(s) that represents those people". In the Islamic world there are only such representative governments in Turkey, Indonesia, and Iraqi Kurdistan, which is independent from the rest of Iraq in many respects. Everywhere else you have dictatorships and theocracies that vary only in the extent to which they brutalize their own people. The worst poverty I have ever seen was in a Muslim country I visited several times on business. If I took the time to describe what I saw your heart would break. The sad truth is those kind of scenes are repeated in many, many countries throughout the Islamic world.

The poverty I refer to wasn't caused by drones, by American meddling or by any other excuse used to explain the problem. Those issues are factors but, honestly, they are relatively minor factors. They serve as propaganda points for those stoking the hate. No American government policy included meddling in Chechnya, where the Tsarnaev's come from. Honestly, that excuse is nothing more than an excuse.

The conflict between a modern, tolerant view of Islam and the more radical and fundamentalist view has been going on for more than a thousand years. To blame recent policies, no matter how short sighted or flawed, is to ignore history. The principle blame here belongs to the terrorists, to the ideology they followed, and to those who promote that ideology and justify terrorism. A small dose of blame goes to the left-wingers who enable terrorism by blaming the victims rather than the real sources of the problem.