Rad '80s spotlight - China Crisis

   "They composed some subtle masterpieces during the 80's, and were just one of a number of brilliant bands that were on the edge of the radar screen like so many others playing second fiddle to the smash hit stars such as Duran Duran, Wham! and Madonna." ~inthe00s.com

   China Crisis attracts because its simplicity defies easy explanation. For me, one of them thar' metaphysical fellers, the more I spun my wheels, the more I got stuck in the mud. Over time, I came to own their five main releases from the 1980s, less reluctantly each time. The personal appeal - something with feeling light and airy - is apropos for the confident time period, and for one aspiring to "openness".



   This new(?) C.C. song was just revealed to me by poking around on the largely defunct MySpace - "Watching Over Burning Fields."  As an instrumental, it stands on its own, is solemn, not quite sentimental, evocative of the era's mood maybe a layer or two beneath the surface.  Like the rest of the best of New Wave, it came from the U.K.





   C.C. isn't even one of my top ten favorite bands, it's their light and airy uniqueness and RELATIVE obscurity that makes me want to know more. (Don't worry, I'm not a frigg'n hipster.) Ambitious name, had heard of them before, why not. I don't want to make them into something they're not or come off like they've moved me into thinking they're the best "quieter" band ever. What I like is that they didn't run around with hubris after their successes but rather continued enjoying making music. In fact, my entire fascination of late with C.C. is about curiosity - background on them has been hard to find. They have been quite a puzzle: first, why their musical style?

   At first, I did not care for their blend (I hate to say it, but "elevator muzak" from a different age is what I was thinking), but now my happy realization is that what typifies all I've seen to date on them is subtle yet powerful. From there, why the name? There is a certain starkness they create.

   The purport/tenor of their name & music: Is it their interest in the unknown, other hemisphere? Is it political?  Sociological?  What influenced this?

   Finally, now that they've grown on me (kind of like the kid in class or person you never thought you would end up liking, but did), what is thematic to them?

   Is there any unity of theme among their covers?
   Among their songs?
  
   I see them pair the perspective of large and looming artifacts of the new age with atmospheric music on Fire and Steel,  as well as tension of scaled simplicity against the vulnerability of wide-open landscapes.  In addition, clear evidence of theme is seen on the album art for 'Shapes', of Minimalist/Modernist nature.  "Minimalism argued that extreme simplicity could capture all of the sublime representation needed in art," says that ubiquitous online encyclopedia, and I celebrate in a realization that this whole thing takes flight from these uniting structures.

   Found this trivia page recently: http://web.archive.org/web/20090804143406/http://geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/3059/trivia.htm
Take a look!  This guy is obviously a huge fan by the amount of memorabilia he collected.

  All in all, I feel they were just of the mind to make music, I've seen written up as borrowing from blues, reggae, among other styles and, of course, new romanticism/new wave. They rejected "African and White" being interpreted as a political statement; others say this was blatantly political.  Finally, a different review concluded layering was their strength and trademark: flute over trombone over keyboards among other innovations.  Since there is little info on this subject, I wanted to offer some general thoughts of my own.  I hope this doesn't come across as a bunch of haughty b.s. from a dabbler in symbolism; but you don't just reduce art to equations. However, there is an analytical process, you get some subjectivity, discussion and scrutiny, and finally some general conclusions - temporary or enduring, which can aid our appreciation.

My favorite C.C songs:

10.Red Letter Day
9.Blue Sea
8.Good Again
7.No More Blue Horizons
6.Wishful Thinking
5.African and White
4.Watching over Burning Fields
3.Arizona Sky
2.Here Come a Raincloud
1.Soul Awakening

Public Service Announcement

To the people line-dancing at Hardee's: You are obstructing my path to the ketchup dispenser.

Flotsam and jetsam

IDIOCRACY IN THE NEWS

Martin Luther King statue:

I was trying to explain to an acquaintance why it wasn’t proper for such a statue to be built outside of the U.S.  What kind of national greatness is that?!  She said, “But I heard the Chinese are great sculptors.” So I’m looking for some good granite around here to bang my head into.

Carrier skipper will be retained in USN:

Meet Captain (CAPT) Owen Honors.  If you don't live in Awfulk, or don't follow the military, you may not have heard of CAPT Honors, the former executive officer (#2 guy) of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier.  Running a naval unit or shore facility is a big deal, but the carrier guys are kind of a big deal.  That is a lot of steel to possibly run aground.  So the standards for the naval officer are to be "beyond reproach."  So the good captain made a series of humorous short videos to show on the ship CCTV to promote good hygiene, etc., poking fun at himself and others to drive home his points and connect with the modern audience.  So stuffy as we are, many people in and out of the military prejudged the captain, said it should end his career, that he must have zero defects and be sacrificed to the altar of political correctness.  And now today, we learned that a panel of admirals (men with God-like status in the Navy, tantamount to Generals in the Army, etc.) will spare him the ignominy of a forced "out."  We also heard of the danger of stifling thought.
“Misconduct?” said CAPT Honors' lawyer, Gittins. “That’s crap.” Speaking after the admirals’ decision, “The surface warfare community – they just don’t do that.”

Gittins said he thinks the real take-away from the case is that the Navy prefers safe, conservative leaders who don’t push the envelope or try out-of-the-box methods.

URL: http://hamptonroads.com/2011/08/navy-panel-officer-raunchy-video-case-should-stay-navy


Article:  Student ranks thinning for blogging Pa. teacher
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — More than 200 parents have told a Pennsylvania school district they don't want their children taught by a teacher who called students "frightfully dim" and "disengaged, lazy whiners" on her personal blog.

Comments (like diamonds from coal, the gems are always buried at the bottom of the article):

Ever seen the movie "Idiocracy"? That is where we are headed... I have 4 of them.... all dumber than a post. Hate to say it, but it's true. I worked my #$%$ off to teach them better... they chose differently. I was "too strict" according to them. Now not one of them can hold a job. When they do work, it's for peanuts and mostly temporary work. Range in age from 18 to 26. Lazy, dumb as hell every one. `knuckleheadjim
I have said many, many times "Idiocracy" is not a movie, it is a preview.... What happens when government intervenes between parents and their children... Their interference works equally well in the financial field, equal lawsfield, immigration field, etc., etc....If I were a teacher, I am SURE I would feel the same way..

All you have to do is read Facebook posts and comments on Yahoo news articles to see the truth. More and more people are graduating from school with serious deficiencies in grammar, spelling, history and government, and critical thinking skills, but ask them about sports and entertainment and they can "skewl you". I believe that the fault for this is shared by both parents and teachers, but I also believe that the teachers would be better able to teach the kids if the government got the hell out of the education system. Teachers spend about 50% of their time with administrative issues, conforming to the #$%$ government regulations, another 25% socializing the kids (as ordered by the government), and only 25% of the time actually teaching the subjects needed to survive in the world. It's time to eliminate the unconstitutional U.S. Department of Education from the federal budget and return those powers and tax dollars to the individual school districts, teachers, and parents. Then, we need to return the disciplinary method to the schools and homes. Yes, this means corporal punishment. Better to bust their butts than to turn them over to the cops and the justice system, which is the current method. It's pathetic to see students graduating with a lifelong criminal record for schoolyard behavior. But that's another argument for another day..
URL: http://news.yahoo.com/student-ranks-thinning-blogging-pa-teacher-105622659.html


WEATHER

Poopa-cane 2011 preparations underway

Having sortied the entire Second Fleet for
hurricane avoidance,  LT Poopers takes
shelter some two days early from
the impending U.S. East Coast
atmospheric event "Irene".

I just finished a quick meteorology seminar, and feel I know a little bit more about how hurricanes work.  Well, the weather-guessers are saying this is gonna be the big one.  Have been stocking up on pork & beans and ammo.  The CDC recommends 3 days worth of clean water (1 gal./day), dry stores, etc.  I have checklist upon checklist.  I guess I won't joke about shooting looters since this the era of political correctness.  Twain would, however.

CIVICS

"THE PROGRAM"

On Thursday, September 11th, 2011, an American flag should be displayed outside every home, apartment, office, and store in the United States . Every individual should make it their duty to display an American flag on this tenth anniversary of one our country's worst tragedies. We do this honor of those who lost their lives on 9/11, their families, friends and loved ones who continue to endure the pain, and those who today are fighting at home and abroad to preserve our cherished freedoms.

ART

The Fixx and artist George Underwood

Discussion ongoing regarding album cover selection for The Fixx's upcoming album:  Here's a gallery of George Underwood's album art: http://www.georgeunderwood.com/pages/album-covers/93 - Underwood did 'Reach the Beach', 'Pharoahs' and 'Calm Animals'.  Not being an art guy, is it safe to say his work is Surrealist? Surprises me that I hadn't looked into the artwork before, given the amount of time I've spent peering into nooks and crannies on album art origins, especially a ton of contemplation on China Crisis pairing of art and music. Cover art, and the humble liner pages are aspects of the finished music 'product', which need to remain relevant and valued!

FEATURE


ADULT SITUATIONS, ADULT LANGUAGE

I'm not the LEAST bit hippie, but I like to think I can achieve peace of mind like a kid who can get lost in the azure sky from time to time, filtering out the world below.  From bills to no more snow days, check out this blog article about the unpleasant realities of adulthood.
URL: http://www.iheartchaos.com/post/9336308534/list-soup-11-things-that-suck-about-being-an-adult




Cagey's listening to

OMD - 'Of All the Things We've Made' - 1983

Cagey sing-a-long

I love the breeze

The one I miss is in the breeze

You are the breeze

I love the water

The one I miss is in the water

You are the water

I love the life

The one I miss is in the life

You are my life

Now I am possessed

The one I miss is my possession

Maybe you're still around

Maybe you could still be found

I love the life

The one I miss is in the life

You are the life

I'm in distress

The one I want is my distraction

CHORUS:

Maybe you're still around

Maybe you could still be found

What can I do or say

To see there's no holding back?

Seeing this old place reminds me, maybe you're still around.

I love the child

The child I kiss is in the man

You are the child

I am possessed

What I want is my possession

CHORUS

I categorize The Fixx's music in many moods - the most significant being 'bravura', 'arioso', and 'misterioso'.  This melody and accompaniment are definitely among the more upbeat of their ballads.

Cagey on Technology

"Gentlemen, we can rebuild them. We have the technology. We have the capability to completely eliminate the twist tie from the face of the Earth."

QOTD

"There is something quite nice about getting an actual personal letter in the mail, even if that fact isn't going to get a nation of people who write in 140-character belches to pick up a pen." ~Unk.

Crop circles in my yard: LT Poopers is on the case

Zimbio.com's list of famous Republicans

Feature link:  http://www.zimbio.com/Famous+Republicans/articles
Full List:

1. Stephen Baldwin
2. Jessica Simpson
3. Britney Spears
4. Tony Danza
5. Clint Eastwood
6. Sarah Michelle Gellar
7. Mel Gibson
8. Kelsey Grammer
9. Drew Carey
10. Matthew McConaughey
11. Freddie Prinze Jr.
12. Heather Locklear
13. Arnold Schwarzenegger
14. 50 Cent
15. Bruce Willis
16. Adam Sandler
17. Sylvester Stallone
18. Vince Vaughn
19. Tom Selleck
20. Alex Trebek
21. Angie Harmon
22. Elisabeth Hasselbeck
23. Joan Rivers
24. Donald Trump
25. Chuck Norris
26. Ted Nugent
27. Marie Osmond
28. Gary Sinise
29. Shannen Doherty
30. Alice Cooper

Fitty's in the GOP? Righteous!

Great Ideas (working title) by Cagey

What if:

-...I relocated and opened an all English speaking American themed restaurant overseas hiring only those of American descent?  Would people probe my authenticity by trying to speak to me in American dialects?  Would they ask, "Is it o.k. if I speak English?"  Like when I go into a Japanese restaurant and ask "Nihongo daijobu desu ka?"  邦人 スポーク これで?

-...I had an all-day Mad Max marathon today?  If that's wrong, I don't wanna be right.

-...I opened a small business?  Is the current regulatory environment in the U.S. too restrictive to allow small businesses to sustain themselves before government gets its cut?  And like Michael Savage asks, why do lawmakers no longer use the word "taxes", but instead complain that with the debt ceiling concessions made to the lefties, they will not get enough "revenue"?

Thanksgiving 2021

   "Winston, come into the dining room, it's time to eat," Julia yelled to her husband. "In a minute, honey, it's a tie score," he answered. Actually Winston wasn't very interested in the traditional holiday football game between Detroit and Washington.
   Ever since the government passed the Civility in Sports Statute of 2017, outlawing tackle football for its "unseemly violence" and the "bad example it sets for the rest of the world," Winston was far less of a football fan than he used to be. Two-hand touch wasn't nearly as exciting.
   Yet it wasn't the game that Winston was uninterested in. It was more the thought of eating another Tofu Turkey. Even though it was the best type of Veggie Meat available after the government revised the American Anti-Obesity Act of 2018, adding fowl to the list of federally-forbidden foods, (which already included potatoes, cranberry sauce and mince-meat pie), it wasn't anything like real turkey. And ever since the government officially changed the name of "Thanksgiving Day" to "A National Day of Atonement" in 2020 to officially acknowledge the Pilgrims' historically brutal treatment of Native Americans, the holiday had lost a lot of its luster.
   Eating in the dining room was also a bit daunting. The unearthly gleam of government-mandated fluorescent light bulbs made the Tofu Turkey look even weirder than it actually was, and the room was always cold. Ever since Congress passed the Power Conservation Act of 2016, mandating all thermostats-which were monitored and controlled by the electric company-be kept at 68 degrees, every room on the north side of the house was barely tolerable throughout the entire winter.
   Still, it was good getting together with family... or at least most of the family. Winston missed his mother, who passed on in October, when she had used up her legal allotment of live-saving medical treatment. He had had many heated conversations with the Regional Health Consortium, spawned when the private insurance market finally went bankrupt, and everyone was forced into the government health care program. And though he demanded she be kept on her treatment, it was a futile effort. "The RHC's resources are limited," explained the government bureaucrat Winston spoke with on the phone. "Your mother received all the benefits to which she was entitled.. I'm sorry for your loss."
   Ed couldn't make it either. He had forgotten to plug in his electric car last night, the only kind available after the Anti-Fossil Fuel Bill of 2021 outlawed the use of the combustion engines-for everyone but government officials. The fifty mile round trip was about ten miles too far, and Ed didn't want to spend a frosty night on the road somewhere between here and there.
   Thankfully, Winston's brother, John, and his wife were flying in. Winston made sure that the dining room chairs had extra cushions for the occasion. No one complained more than John about the pain of sitting down so soon after the government-mandated cavity searches at airports, which severely aggravated his hemorrhoids. Ever since a terrorist successfully smuggled a cavity bomb onto a jetliner, the TSA told Americans the added "inconvenience" was an "absolute necessity" in order to stay "one step ahead of the terrorists." Winston's own body had grown accustomed to such probing ever since the government expanded their scope to just about anywhere a crowd gathered, via Anti-Profiling Act of 2022. That law made it a crime to single out any group or individual for "unequal scrutiny," even when probable cause was involved. Thus, cavity searches at malls, train stations, bus depots, etc., etc., had become almost routine. Almost.
   The Supreme Court is reviewing the statute, but most Americans expect a Court composed of six progressives and three conservatives to leave the law intact. "A living Constitution is extremely flexible," said the Court's eldest member, Elena Kagan. " Europe has had laws like this one for years. We should learn from their example," she added.
   Winston's thoughts turned to his own children. He got along fairly well with his 12-year-old daughter, Brittany, mostly because she ignored him. Winston had long ago surrendered to the idea that she could text anyone at any time, even during Atonement Dinner. Their only real confrontation had occurred when he limited her to 50,000 texts a month, explaining that was all he could afford. She whined for a week, but got over it.
   His 16-year-old son, Jason, was another matter altogether. Perhaps it was the constant bombarding he got in public school that global warming, the bird flu, terrorism or any of a number of other calamities were "just around the corner," but Jason had developed a kind of nihilistic attitude that ranged between simmering surliness and outright hostility.. It didn't help that Jason had reported his father to the police for smoking a cigarette in the house, an act made criminal by the Smoking Control Statute of 2018, which outlawed smoking anywhere within 500 feet of another human being. Winston paid the $5,000 fine, which might have been considered excessive before the American dollar became virtually worthless as a result of QE13. The latest round of quantitative easing the federal government initiated was, once again, to "spur economic growth." This time they promised to push unemployment below its years-long rate of 18%, but Winston was not particularly hopeful.
   Yet the family had a lot for which to be thankful, Winston thought, before remembering it was a Day of Atonement. At least he had his memories. He felt a twinge of sadness when he realized his children would never know what life was like in the Good Old Days, long before government promises to make life "fair for everyone" realized their full potential. Winston, like so many of his fellow Americans, never realized how much things could change when they didn't happen all at once, but little by little, so people could get used to them.
   He wondered what might have happened if the public had stood up while there was still time, maybe back around 2011, when all the real nonsense began. "Maybe we wouldn't be where we are today if we'd just said 'enough is enough' when we had the chance," he thought. Maybe so, Winston. Maybe so.

~ Unk.

Article: "How Americans Learned to Ignore Their Own Religious History"

"How Americans Learned To Ignore Their Own History", by David Barton, excerpted from ADF website, 1 AUG 2011: http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/TruthandTriumph/4-2/OnTheSquare?referral=E0711D3G

Named by Time magazine as one of the nation's 25 most influential evangelicals, nationally acclaimed author and speaker David Barton is founder and president of WallBuilders, a pro-family organization committed to restoring America's knowledge and understanding of its history – and particularly the faith heritage that shaped that history.
How did Americans come to forget or misunderstand so much of their own history?

Part of it is through a process termed "deconstruction" that has dominated American teaching for the last 50 years – a process whereby you point out the negatives and not the positives. So that if you ask Americans to list 10 things about America we should be ashamed of and 10 things we can be proud of, they will fill the list of negatives before they fill the positives.
We also teach the exception and not the rule. At Duke Law School, I put a picture of the signers of the Declaration of Independence in front of the students, and said, "Who do you recognize?" Everybody said, "Well, there's Jefferson, and Franklin" – and nobody gave me a third name. I said, "There are 56 guys up there – give me the others." Nobody gave me a third name.


The point being they can all recognize the least religious Founding Fathers, but they had no idea who the others were, nor that 29 of the 56 had seminary or Bible school degrees.


We've been trained that they're all just like Jefferson and Franklin, when Jefferson and Franklin really are the exceptions, not the rule, when it came to their spiritual condition.

What are the implications of that misinformation for our culture?

When you want to change public policy, you change your perception of history. Most people appreciate the fact that America is Number One in the world in prosperity and stability. But we're also taught that this is the result of a secular founding, secular documents – we have a "godless" Constitution, and that's why we've lasted for this long.
And if you're taught that, and you like what we are and you want to keep it that way, that implies that we've got to keep this thing secular. We've got to make sure that we don't get all these religious folks involved. We've got to make sure that there's this rigorous "separation of church and state" …because that's what you think history was based on. And the way you present yourself in the past is what you try to become in the future.

What makes the separation of church and state issue so critical in today's political climate?

Separation of church and state was actually a Christian idea – it comes right out of the Bible. The phrase had been used by preachers for 200 years before Jefferson picked it up. When he wrote that, everybody knew what he was talking about. He very specifically attached that phrase to the Free Exercise Clause [of the First Amendment] – which made it very, very clear that because of separation, the government would never [interfere with] public religious activities. For the next 150 years, every case that used the phrase "separation of church and state" used it to keep religious expressions in public, and to keep government from secularizing the public.


Then, in 1947, in Everson vs. Board of Education, the court said, "We think Jefferson messed it up. He should have attached the separation metaphor to the Establishment Clause, not the Free Exercise Clause." Separation now means the government can interfere with religious activity. That is the means by which secularists can go against the overwhelming majority of the nation.

How did our classrooms come to be so hostile to American history and its religious heritage?
 For 300 years, we taught students how to think. We shifted that paradigm in the 1920s: instead of how to think, the object is now knowledge. "We the teachers will tell you what you need to know, and you're going to spit it back to us." We came out with new forms of testing: multiple choice, fill in the blank, true/false. And, we shifted into teaching culture, not history. We don't care who we were – only who we are. The emphasis becomes "right now," not the past. And once we've separated ourselves for 50 years from teaching the past, we can now rewrite the past to be what we want it to be. That gives us justification for wherever we want to head right now.