Meme Musical Quiz Answers

Well lyn and chrys guessed the first CD was 'The Very Best of The Manhattan Transfer. I have always love The Manhattan Transfer and I have seen them more than any other performers live. The song that this CD shares with the second is "Birdland". The second CD which no one guessed is by the group who first wrote and performed Birdland which inspired Manhattan Transfer's version. The group is Weather Report and the CD is the 1977 Heavy Weather.
Here is an excerpt From NPR: Weather Report: 'Heavy Weather':

SPELLMAN: It's hard to pick out a sample from a composition like "Birdland" because it's all of a piece. There are no big solos, but a series of conversations between the electronic and acoustic instruments, with vocal sounds, and handclaps thrown in. Joe Zawinul is especially interesting with a gorgeous palette of keyboard effects, all perfectly placed so that the music is loaded with surprise.

I don't know if I have a favorite group or musical performer but in a list of favorites, Manhattan Transfer and Weather Report would be near the top.

It’s Here! Liberal Utopia!

Ah yes. The progressives of the Netherlands have a problem. Youth gangs run amuck in Rotterdam. You would expect a liberal utopia to find the root cause and throw all kinds of money and sensitivity training at it but one woman has identified the problem and wants to literally stop it before it is born.

WorldNetDaily: Mandatory abortion proposed in Holland

A health official in the Netherlands has called for a debate on the idea of forced abortion and contraception to deal with what she sees as a crisis of unwanted children. Alderman Marianne van den Anker of the Leefbaar Rotterdam Party wants specifically to target communities of Antilleans and Arubans where she sees the biggest problems of unwanted children.

So in utopia, land of free sex, people are giving birth to unwanted children. These children because of lack of love form gangs. These gangs are getting out of hand. So abort the unwanted babies. Makes sense except the whole “unwanted” determination. I am sure Antilleans and Arubans have access to abortions, I think it is some kind of liberal right. So if they have access but decide to have their babies, then who is it that doesn’t want them? The government. Why? The article continues:

The target groups for her program are Antillean teenage mothers; drug addicts and people with mental handicaps, she said, according to a report in Expatica. According to the report, Van den Anker said children from these groups run an "unacceptable risk" of growing up without love and with "violence, neglect, mistreatment and sexual abuse." "The exceptions," she said, "and there are some, can be counted on a pair of hands."

So all Antillean teenage moms do not want their babies. The government in order to better serve the greater public good may decide to abort these girls’ babies without their consent. This is of course is in the best interest of the unborn child. We can't have unwanted children born to grow up unloved. An amazing concept since liberlas insist that fetuses are NOT children. What is it about Aruban and Antillean people that make their children an “unacceptable risk” of growing up without love?

Danny Carlton alias "Jack Lewis" astutely points out

Antilleans and Arubans would be the Black natives of the Lesser Antilles Islands and Aruba, Caribbean Islands settled by escaped slaves, now Dutch colonies. Netherlands is the "Progressive Utopia" where prostitution is legal and those annoying old folks are euthanized at the whim of doctors or relatives. Now they are considering forcing Blacks to have abortions. Netherlands, of course, would be the picture of where the Democrat party want to take the US.

It’s a race thing. Isn't it amazing how the progressives who espouse tolerance and love for all people can simultaneuaously declare that certain minorities don't really want their children and therefore such kids would be raised without love. Hmmm. I thought it took a village to raise a child. Some of the villagers are falling down on their job. Shouldn't there be others ready to step in with love and understanding to help these youths find the right path? Apparently not. Liberal Utopia is a little flawed.

Could it happen in America? Well I guess if the liberals enact all their progressive programs and we start experiencing double digit unemployment and runaway inflation, and sky rocketing teen births despite free abortions and birth control. If the disgruntled youth who have no jobs to look forward to and who have children to raise suddenly start forming gangs and rioting then maybe the same liberals who foisted this paradise on us would suddenly think black and Hispanic children are unwanted and face loveless existences. They might truly believe that for the greater good these children are better off not being born. And being liberal elitists they know what is best for everyone and would have no problem deciding who gets born and who doesn’t. I think it could happen which is why the Hillary Clintons and their kind have to be opposed now.

Hat Tip Jack Lewis.net

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Technorati tag: Race   Abortion

Multitasking: Memes, Mini-rants, Musical Quizzes, and Marauding Marsupialism

Lyn has tagged me with the My iPod Playlist - 7 Song Meme. I seem to recall being tagged with something similar last year. But so as not to completely blow him off I have decided to modify it somewhat and allow you, my faithful reader, to participate. To begin with, I don’t own an iPod but I do have 2 laptops with CD/DVD players in them which happen to have musical CDs in them right now. I will list 7 of the tracks from each and you guess who the artist is.  

First is a Grammy award winner. The CD is a “Greatest Hits” collection. The tracks:

• Trickle Trickle


• Gloria


• Tuxedo Junction


• Four Brothers


• Spice of Life


• Candy


• Java Jive

Who is the artist(s)?  The second CD you have to give me the name of the group, the name of the CD and year it was published.  As a hint I will tell you that this CD has a track that has the same title as a track from the first CD, but I didn’t put it on either list.  The tracks:

• A Remark You Made


• Palladium


• Juggler


• Teen Town


• Harlequin


• Rumba Mama


• Havona

As for 7 other people I want to tag, nah I’ll pass.  Memes can be fun but I really don’t like the implication that I “must” pass it on like some kind of chain letter. This by the way, is a segue into my mini-rant.  I like to think of myself as spiritual but one of my pet peeves is receiving an email with an uplifting and inspirational story or poem.  These missives are not offensive in themselves but they usually conclude with something moronic like “IF YOU LOVE JESUS, Pass this on to 10 (or 20, or 50 etc...) of your closest friends and the Lord WILL BLESS YOU.”  That gets my dander up. This idiot (and it usually isn’t the person who like a mindless automaton, forwarded the email to me) has taken it upon himself/herself to speak for God. They have reduced the Almighty of some sort of blessing vending machine where you insert some email addresses in the slot and out pops a blessing. Add to that the cheap shot attempt at a guilt trip by insisting that you don’t love Jesus if you don’t pass it on.  If the authors were truly spiritual they would realize that if anyone does what they asked and doesn’t receive a blessing, they just made God out to be a liar.  

I NEVER forward these types of emails just on that principle alone. If I come across something inspirational and uplifting that I think someone or someones would like or benefit from, I send it to them. BUT I never insist that they have to pass it on and I certainly never promise them something from God if they do.

Lastly I have devolved. I am no longer a Large Mammal, I am a Marauding Marsupial. I doubt that I will ever return to insignificant Microbe status but here’s hoping that I have backslidden as far as I’m going to.  Hey do you think the term backsliding will catch on in the ecosystem? It’s such a spiritual term to apply to an evolutionary process.

Feeling My Age

I was about to explain to chrys over at Pettifog Jots & Tittles that one of the commenters that frequents here is an old friend. I was about to say how old. Then it hit me. Most of the eighties, the decade through which I was a young man, (and first met this guy) was over twenty years ago. Kids born then are adults now. The music I listened to is used in advertising now. I’m OLD!  But my friend Your Name Here is older so there!

Presidents Day Rant

It is a fact that there are fewer black conservatives than black liberals. Occasionally I find myself surrounded by people who under most circumstances would be rational thinking human beings despite the crimson hued area between their chin and shoulders. On one such occasion, such a person blurted out “I really hate how they took away George Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s Birthdays and gave it to Martin Luther King”.  I was of course stunned. I know that the vast majority of whites in this country can not truly relate to the discrimination and hate that was targeted against blacks before civil rights movement of the sixties but come on, this statement was completely clueless. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have the hard facts to counter this man. I remember a time when we celebrated Washington’s and then Lincoln’s birthdays. Then we stopped. So I had to do some research into the situation. (I was very young at the time of these events so I had no hard dates.)  I discovered that the time we started celebrating President’s Day and the time MLK’s birthday became a holiday were over a decade apart.

First off there is no such thing as President’s Day. Richard Nixon’s executive order declared some holidays to be celebrated on Mondays regardless of when they fell. This was done in ‘68.  Washington’s Birthday was one of them. It is still called Washington’s Birthday according to the law books and was first celebrated in ‘71.  I also discovered that no one “took” Abe’s birthday. It was never a national holiday. It had been celebrated as a state holiday in many states.  Once the so called “President’s Day” was established, states stop celebrating Lincoln’s Birthday.

Martin Luther King’s Birthday was signed by Ronald Reagan in ’83, some 15 years after Washington’s Birthday was made a Monday holiday.  It was first celebrated in ’86 but not celebrated in all 50 states in until ’93.  So whoever they are, they sure took their sweet time about taking Abe’s day and giving it to Martin.  

Just so we are clear, I have absolutely no doubts that much of what I am today I owe to men like Martin Luther King. But I have always wondered if his birthday should have been made a U.S. holiday. I felt this way even when I was a liberal democrat! I didn’t feel that way because of his accomplishments, nor did I buy into all the character assassination and talk about his womanizing and illicit affairs. I just wasn’t sure if the majority of Americans identify with his life enough to say he deserved his own holiday. It was 10 years after it became a holiday before all fifty states embraced it (remember the flak the Governor of Arizona caught because of it?) So I guess I have my answer.  Anyway that’s just my take on it.  Happy Washington’s Birthday!

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Technorati tag: Holiday Opinion   President's Day

Headlines for Friday 2/17/2006

Japan Battles Rising Obesity
Military mobilizes to save Tokyo from Fatzilla and Blubberra

Study finds vitamin supplements don't prevent prostate cancer
Researchers seek more funding to find other things vitamins do not prevent

McDonald's: Fries have potential allergens
These have replaced the potential nutrients

Smoking Rate Falls for Norwegian Teens
Concern now raised for smoking Danish cartoonists

Cheney Could Face Charges in Shooting
Democrats remain hopeful that VP's friend dies

Thailand's Scorpion Queen and Centipede King Marry on Valentine's Day
After exchanging vows the happy couple turned and devoured the wedding party

Mich. Man Sentenced in Sheep Abuse Case
Man faked insomnia to lure Serta Counting Sheep to his room

Online game addresses gay-rights uproar
Blizzard announces launch of Brokeback World of Warcraft

Scientists Discover New Assassin Spiders
New species dubbed Arach-ninjas

Death push rare Asia dolphins nearer extinction
Death cited as number one cause of extinction


That's it for Headlines today. Remember to visit the usual suspects for more "headliney goodness"!

basil at basil's blog
lyn at bloggin' out loud

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Technorati tag: Humor   Headlines

Another Liberal Nitwit Heard From

Well Bryant Gumbel, a sports commentator for HBO made a remark the other night about the small number of blacks in the Winter Games.

So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.  

So not only does Gumbel slam the GOP but he slaps all the winter Olympians at the same time. Not to mention the underlying arrogance that in order to be truly “World’s Greatest Athletes” there has to be some specific number of blacks represented.  The number of black athletes in the Winter Games is increasing.  Shay over at Booker Rising has been highlighting them since the games began. Check out her Black Ice Series posts.

What I find truly amazing (okay not really) is the deafening silence from the left. Had a conservative made a similar comment the liberals would be screaming for his head. Remember the Limbaugh/McNabb incident? But to be fair, Bryant was probably voicing an opinion that many people share. The Winter Games are not that exciting and lack the appeal of the Summer Games. But couldn’t he have said it without the race politics? Probably not. He is a liberal after all.

The Sound of Muzik :Brokeback Bambi

Reading blogs is a whole stream of consciousness-like thing. You start off on your blogroll and a post takes you somewhere else and from there you move onto another blog and another topic. But you know that. Anyway I wound up atThe Sound of Muzik A very amusing place with a great post about Brokeback Mountain and Bambi 2. Read Brokeback Bambi

Is it my imagination or has the 50 year old fawn discovered the fountain of youth? Maybe he has the same doctor as Michael Jackson. Maybe it’s because he’s a deer but his dad is an ELK. I don’t want to appear to be a bigot but I think this is a little sick. It would be acceptable if his mom was a white tail and his dad was a mule deer but no…they’re barely in the same genus.
Elk are Cervus elaphus while deer are Odocoileus virginianus …so I think Bambi is a Cerv∙us Virgin∙i∙anus and I doubt an animal like that should appear in a children’s story.

[snip]

…and what about that movie Brokeback Mountain? This is a movie where a couple cowboys share a bedroll not because they’re freezing to death but because they like it…a lot. A little known historical fact: there were no gay cowboys. The gay guys took up careers like undertaking and tailoring but Brokeback Mountain just made the old west bit wilder. I just can’t buy into the story of a cowboy putting his gun in another man’s holster.

Check them out.

On another note, people have been showing up here at Dane Bramage after searching for "I would Rather Hunt With Dick Cheney, Than Drive With Ted Kennedy". Welcome! Another search string that is still bringing them in is "naked nuns". Welcome and seek help.

Because It Is Such A Slow Blog Day

Yet again I have been tagged with a meme. Normally I would ignore it but because it is beth I will play along. So ladies and gentlemen, the 4 Things Meme.

Four jobs I have had;

1. Junior Programmer


2. Senior Programmer


3. Programming Consultant


4. Senior Programmer/Analyst

Four movies I can watch over and over;

1. Big Trouble in Little China


2. Superman


3. Star Wars


4. Forbidden Planet

(Note that had the subject been 4 movies that I watch over and over it would be;

1. Spongebob Squarepants The Movie


2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory


3. The Impossibles


4. Scooby Doo 2

And that would change next week. Kids, sheesh)

Four places I have lived;

1. Home with family


2. Boarding school


3. College


4. My house

Four shows I like to watch;

1. Smallville


2. Stargate Atlantis


3. Battlestar Galactica


4. MXC

Four foods I like;

1. Meat


2. Vegetables


3. Fruits


4. More meat

Four sites I visit everyday

1. Booker Rising


2. Cutting Edge of Ectasy


3. Bloggin' Outloud


4. Others on my Blogroll

Four places I’d rather be;

1. Heaven


2. Smack dab in the middle of God’s Will for me


3. Easy Street


4. 1978

Four things I would like to do before I die;

1. Find Miss Right (so long as her first name ain’t Always)


2. Visit Australia


3. Learn Japanese


4. Get my house back to myself

Four people I would tag;
You know who you are. Really. Anyone who wants to participate in this meme say so in the comments and link to your post. Or if you’re blogless just answer in the comments.

I Would Rather Hunt With Dick Cheney Than Drive With Ted Kennedy

That’s the new slogan/bumper sticker de jour. The MSM is in a royal tizzy over the Vice President’s hunting accident, primarily because they were scooped by the local paper.  Their lack of understanding concerning weapons is apparent and they have been trying to turn this into a major anti-gun issue and are failing. One female reporter asked “Would it have been more serious if he had died?”  Duh! Another asked if the Vice President was planning on resigning over it. Sheesh.

This could be a more serious matter but not for any of the reasons the MSM or the Brady Center want it to be.  The wounded man, 78-year-old Harry Whittington, is a lawyer. I am afraid that many people might misunderstand the situation and mistakenly think that it is open season on lawyers. We must call for calm and rational thinking. After I bag me a couple.

I da Man

I have successfully defended my title of Prevailing Poetry Potentate at beth's And then I woke up... This week we crafted sonnets. The competition was stiff but my entry Ode to My Best Friend's Feet Which Stink beat out three very deserving sonnets. Check them all out and if you think you got poem, bring it on! beth's next challenge will be this weekend. The form will be announced then. Until then here is my winning entry from last week's Limerick competition:

Brokeback's a movie so brave
Gay cowboys makeout in a cave
the critics have sworn
"A classic western is born"
And John Wayne rolls over in his grave.

Something Awful:A Very Star Wars Valentine

Well tomorrow is that day. I would be remiss in my duties as a blogger if I didn’t acknowledge it in some way. So here is the way.  Something Awful:A Very Star Wars Valentines  has a bunch of Star Wars Valentines.  Here is just one.

Found in the Inbox

Little Melissa comes home from first grade and tells her father that they learned about the history of Valentine's Day.

"Since Valentine's Day is for a Christian saint, and we're Jewish," she asks, "will God get mad at me for giving someone a valentine?"

Melissa's father thinks a bit, then says "No, I don't think God would get mad who do you want to give a Valentine to?"

"Osama Bin Laden," she says.

"Why Osama Bin Laden," her father asks in shock.

"Well," she says, "I thought that if a little American Jewish girl could have enough love to give Osama a Valentine, he might start to think that maybe we're not all bad, and maybe start loving people a little bit.  And if other kids saw what I did and sent Valentines to Osama, he'd love everyone a lot.  And then he'd start going all over the place to tell everyone how much he loved them and how he didn't hate anyone anymore."

Her father's heart swells and he looks at his daughter with new found pride. "Melissa, that's the most wonderful thing I've ever heard."

"I know," Melissa says, "and once that gets him out in the open, the Marines could shoot the bastard."

Random Firing of Neurons

Some thoughts about nothing in particular

The King Funeral

Coretta Scott King was a very dignified woman and I think it spoke to her importance to have the sitting President as well as three former Presidents at her funeral. But power sucking moonbat leeches couldn’t let a photo-op go by without taking stabs at President Bush.  But many people have already commented on their shameful behavior. The Cultural Strategist said it very well: Mrs. King's Funeral: Kneegrows, Bush And Black People

A few years back President Bush visited the King Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend to lay a wreath at the tomb of the great civil rights leader. With hundreds of angry Black folks protesting the presence of President Bush on these hallowed grounds, having been provoked to show up by the local Black media outlets Mrs. King stood by Bush’s side as he offered tribute to her husband who rested, encased inside of his tomb, the eternal flame still burning. We learned today from Reverend Lowery and others today that Mrs. King was in strong disagreement with many of Bush's policies, particularly the war. During the time of her funeral, with Mrs. King being silent for eternity in this world, Lowery and others decided to lend their voice to the body that lay in an open casket, spouting words in public to President Bush that THIS WOMAN DID NOT DO while she was in the flesh on this Earth, fully capable to do so. It seems to me that Reverend Lowery and others who borrowed Mrs. King's name today to "Speak Truth to Power" failed to borrow her dignity. They only borrowed her corpse.

Hat Tip to Perspectives in Motion

The Superbowl

Living in Browns country I cannot publicly admit that I was supporting the Steelers. So don’t tell anyone.  I haven’t actually watched a Superbowl in over a decade. But I spent an hour and a half last night watching the commercials which you can see at IFILM.  I was disappointed at this year’s crop. But it was good to see that two of the Muppets can still find work. And I hope Verizon will one day offer crime deterrent so I don’t have to switch to Sprint.

Headlines for Wednesday 2/8/2006

Moss on the cover of French Vogue
Rolling Stone couldn't gather supermodel

Kidman Accepts Role As Goodwill Ambassador
Duties include driving truck accepting clothing donations

Feds Move to Protect Polar Bears
Crazy people who jump into freezing water in winter nearly extinct

A setback for 'Brokeback'
Even SAG doesn't buy into Gay Cowboy hype

Woman Does 'Mouth-To-Beak' to Save Chicken
Rescuer credited with giving first life saving crow job

Lohan injured in teacup accident
Actress vows never to get on rickety carney ride again

Rare Chlamydia Strain Infecting Gay Men
CDC fears large increase in "Brokeback Clap" cases

Police Arrest 11-Year-Old in Robbery Case
Judge:"I thought you were joking when you said you arrested Billy the Kid"

Italian Priest Wants Michael Jackson on CD
Priests and Jackson said to have similar tastes

Tiny Babies Receive Domino Heart Transplant
Hearts are delivered in thirty minutes or they're free

That's it for Headlines today. Remember to visit the usual
suspects for more "headliney goodness"!

basil at basil's blog
lyn at bloggin' out loud
Technorati tag: Humor   Headlines

I'm Back! Did You Miss Me?

Well I am back to my normal work schedule. I work from 9:30am to 6:30pm. Some of you might think that my job is not critical which would allow me to come in a full hour after everybody else. Well you’re wrong! I am so indispensable that no one dares questions my comings and goings and when I say I am NOT rolling out of bed before 8:00 then I am NOT rolling out of bed before 8:00.

Did you ever have that nightmare where you come home and find that your parents had moved and didn’t tell you? (It happened to a friend of mine in high school but I digress.) Well when I got back to the office I found that my boss and other members of my department had relocated to another area on the floor. That wasn’t too traumatic but until I move I am sitting next to my boss’s boss who is the CIO for the entire corporation. I set all this up to say this:

BLOGGIN’ OUTLOUD IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

I didn’t want to come back from a leave of absence and start harping on one of my blog buddies but Lyn Perry, you should replace the PG on your header with NSFW! I was sitting at my desk reading beth’s wonderful Daily Brew about political statements and lawsuits when all of a sudden “BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! It sounded like we were next to Big Ben! As late as I work, the CIO works later! So she was at her desk when this occurred. If that wasn’t bad enough, we have an open work environment. That means there are no walls, no one has an ‘office’ and things are normally very quiet. That is until 6:00 at Bloggin’ Outloud. Lyn’s little blogthing clock was heard from one end of the floor to the other.

It was all over before I could get to the volume controls. I just kind of said “Oh it must be six o’clock hee hee”. The CIO just said, “I think you’re right. “

I am hoping I still have a job tomorrow. If not, me and my two nieces and three nephews, and the four cats, one dog and two white people living in my basement are all moving to Kansas. Clean out the guest room Lyn!

UPDATE: I have been informed by the white man living in the basement that there are in fact SIX cats instead of the previously reported four cats.

Busy This Week

I am doing week long training for work and have not had as much time to devote to my blog as I would like. I hope to get caught up next week. Thanks for your understanding.

Killing Ones Self Is Such a Hassle

In a couple weeks we will mark the second anniversary of my cousin’s suicide.  He was alone when he died being in Hawaii and his family in Ohio. He made at least one other attempt at suicide that I know of and he talked about killing himself often. When he succeeded he had help.  He had the internet.  

You see he had closed his car in his garage. He taped a tube from the exhaust into the car. He handcuffed himself to the steering wheel and threw the keys out the window where he could not reach them.  All suggestions, we learned later, that he found on various suicide websites.

What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Nothing. It is more closely related to the price of tea in England. You see a doctor there was diagnosed with a terminal debilitating disease. She decided to end her life even though she had not developed anything but the mildest symptoms.  She went to Switzerland to have a doctor assisted suicide.  Prior to killing herself she expressed her disappointment at the hassle of having to go to Zurich and said she wished that doctor assisted suicide was legal in the U.K. And of course all the pro-euthanasia groups rallied around her “last words”.

I don’t believe suicide to be an immoral act per se. People know how much pain they can handle or what quality of life they want for themselves and how much of a burden they want to be on others. But legalizing assisted suicide is not the way. Pro-euthanasia groups are quick to point out that they don’t want assisted suicide for teenagers, or mentally  disabled people. Why draw any kind of line? It is a dangerous thing for the state to endorse any form of assisted suicide, a mere goosestep from state ordered murder. People determined to end their own lives will find a way. My cousin taught me that.

This appeared as part of The Daily Brew at Bloggin Outloud