Michael Jackson and the Moonwalk

I never realized it until tonight, but Michael Jackson's "moonwalk" was nothing but a rip-off of much, much better dancers who preceded the King of Pop by some 30-40 years. Watch this:

More Thoughts on Christine O'Donnell

So, she's "dabbled in witchcraft." I guess it could have been worse. She could have "dabbled in Islam." Think about the existential crisis this would have engendered among her social con supporters. From Maher's politically incorrect show:

The Puritannical Christine O'Donnell Dabbles in Witchcraft

I thought it was bad enough that this woman has been a moral crusader against masturbation and thinks that lying under any circumstances is morally wrong, even to protect a Jew from the Nazis; but now we hear from her own mouth that she dabbled in some witchcraft. Yeah, that's gonna sit well with her Christianist supporters! What the Tea Party is producing in terms of Senate Candidates gets weirder and weirder. Although I watch with some degree of horror at these unfolding events, I must also admit to a kind of morbid curiosity to see what government would be like with these wackos in office.

I think that this November will witness some GOP gains in the House and Senate, just because of the mood of the country and the struggling economy; but I'm really beginning to think that when we wake up on the day after election day, we're going to witness much less of a conservative takeover than the pundits are now predicting.

Coconut Cinnamon Walnut Pralines

OK. Did a little candy making with with this kids this evening. One of my favorite sweet treats. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 Cups Dark Brown Sugar
2 Cups Refined White Sugar
2 Cups Evaporated milk
2 Cups Chopped Walnuts
1 Cup Shredded Coconut Flakes
1 Tblsp Butter or Margarine
1 Teasp Vanilla Extract
1 Teasp Cinnamon Extract
1 Pinch Salt

Cooking Instructions:

Mix brown sugar, refined white sugar, and evaporated milk into an appropriately sized sauce pan (I'd say 4 quarts or larger). Cook over medium heat until the firm ball stage (240 degrees on a candy thermometer), stirring often. Once the mixture reaches the firm ball stage, turn off the heat, let sit for 2-3 minutes to cool some, then add the pinch of salt, the tablespoon of butter/margarine, and the teaspoons of Vanilla and Cinnamon extract. Stir for about a minute until the salt, extracts, and the butter/margarine are smoothly blended into what should be a creamy mixture. Then add the walnuts and coconut flakes and stir until evenly mixed (about another minute). Then, scoop out spoonfuls of the mixture onto a pre-arranged wax sheet in 3-4 inch (somewhat circular) patties. Let harden and cool for about 10-15 minutes. Then eat! WARNING: Do not undercook the sugar mixture, or else you'll just get a gloopy, sticky mess. Makes about 18 decent sized, thick pralines the way I spoon the mixture out. Yum! The Squirrelly Girlies loved them. And if you really want to get creative and increase the sugar overload, you can crumble one of the cooled pralines over some Vanilla ice cream!

Herencia Hispana Festival

Taking a group of students to the Herencia Hispana Festival at the New Orleans Museum of Art tomorrow. If you want more information on the event, you can click here. It promises to be fun and entertaining. If you want to celebrate the Hispanic Heritage of New Orleans, and if you are in town, come out and join the fun.

If It Looks Like a Duck, Walks Like a Duck, and Quacks Like a Duck

... then it IS a duck.

Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle, Jan Brewer, and now Christine O'Donnell. And I could add a fair number of men to the list, too. But the sense of victimhood, unaccountabilty, religious fundamentalism, and disturbing social mores about the proper role of authority in dictating proper moral behavior that guides the whole elan vital of these right wing neo-populists is worrisome.

Some might say: show me where they constrain freedom in what they actually have done, and not what they say motivates how and what they will do. And I say: is it worth putting into office these folks who look, walk, and quack in a particularly troublesome way when it comes to imagining the application of their social con rhetoric to the creation and implementation of policy, simply because they haven't done anything so blatantly noticeable yet in the policy arena that would reflect the values they claim motivate their political orientation and then waiting to see if they actually are the ducks they seem like they are?

I don't think true freedom-lovers would look at these kinds of neo-populist right wing politicians with wacky social conservative agendas that are decidedly freedom crushing and think that it's worth the risk that they might not behave like ducks once in office.

The trend of these kinds of socially-conservative, morally judgmental, and accountability-avoiding victim-identity-politics playing power seekers winning Republican Party primaries has got to be disturbing to many fiscal conservatives who are socially libertarian. Really, they might spout off the standard small-government, fiscally conservative boiler-plate rhetoric, but when you look at what these candidates themselves seem to indicate is what truly underscores their conservatism (that is their social/moral/religious convictions), what do you think will win the day when statism in the promotion and defense of their conservative social agenda comes into conflict with their supposed commitment to small-government, fiscal conservatism? Do you really think Christine O'Donnell would vote against legislation that seeks to create a new government program to promote anti-masturbation campaigns on the basis of some small-government conservative rationale? All you need to know in seeking an answer to this question is to just look at the walk, talk, and quack of Christine O'Donnell, and then recognize it for what it is.

Tea Party Leviathan

I think it is instructive to hear Tea Partiers hurl out as some menacing threat to politicians the trope that "the sleeping giant has awoken." I have been thinking about this kind of rhetoric coming out of the Tea Party, and I am becoming more and more convinced that this meme is less about the enlightened liberalism of John Locke who saw the state as an engine to bring about freedom and more about the medieval fear of Thomas Hobbes who saw the state as a monstrous and oppressive leviathan that needed to be tolerated as a necessary evil to keep a minimum of individual rights protected from the predations of other individuals. The "sleeping giant" reference I see as really being about rustling up the leviathan -- or at least calling for some of its dormant tentacles to get back into gear -- to render some kind of harsh justice against the direction of its predations. It's not the leviathan they actually seek to avoid in principle, but a leviathan that seems to have shifted its gaze on them, the wrong people, the "real" Americans, and needs to resume its proper role of preying on the other, "non-real" Americans. They may not like the feeling of being tread upon, but they certainly seem willing to do a bit of treading on others. And their push to "take back America" -- by which one can only mean harness the leviathan of the state to their own ends even if it means doing so at the expense of the liberties of another -- is rooted in a kind of fear. A fear of the leviathan as they perceive it to exist, not a fear of the leviathan itself. Put Sarah Palin in the Oval Office and watch the leviathan redirect its tentacles back at those in this country who need to be kept in their place.

Liberaltarianism

I've been thinking a lot about how I would characterize my liberalism as it relates to other ideologies, and I have to say that a debate that emerged some weeks ago spurred on by a posting from Matt Yglesias some while ago in which he basically differentiated between his small-government tendencies at the local level, coupled with his recognition of a more actively-involved, bigger government at the national level, resonated with me. Here's the crux of Yglesias's point concerning might might be called his liberaltarianism in the form of an example:

Don’t think to yourself “we need to regulate carbon emissions therefore regulation is good therefore regulation of barbers is good.” Think to yourself “we can’t let the privileged trample all over everyone, therefore we need to regulate carbon emissions and we need to break the dentists’ cartel.”

There is a sense, as Yglesias said, that liberals think that the proper role of the state is to protect the freedoms of the little guy over the privileged big actors. This is where I think many small-government conservatives misunderstand the motivations of liberals. It's also what annoys me, too. Because I think there is an appropriate role of the state in constricting the ability of the privileged to manipulate social structures and institutions (and to harness the power of the state) to preserve that which maintains their privilege and constricts the liberty and opportunities of the marginalized -- i.e. that subsidizing student loans making it more affordable and possible for larger numbers of the less affluent to gain an education and thus improve the likelihood of their success in the marketplace, or that having the state ensure basic health care coverage for all, especially the most vulnerable, actually enhances freedom because it removes structural impediments that keep the downtrodden down -- many conservatives would consider me a socialist/communist/anti-individualist whatever. And this couldn't be farther from the truth. And it especially annoying when some of these very same conservatives go to extremes to argue that the legitimate exercise of state power is in preserving the structures that maintain privilege for a particular kind/type of person (i.e. a white Christian heterosexual) and constrict opportunity/freedom for a marginalized minority. For true small-government, liberaltarian-leaning conservatives, there are points of convergence with liberals that should form the basis for collaboration and compromise; but this never seems to be sought after. I wish it were.

Cherry, Cherry, Boom Boom

Lady Gaga:



What???? Can't I like a little bit of nice, vacuous, cotton candy pop music every now and then????

Happy Birthday to SG the Younger

Today is Squirrelly Girlie the Younger's 8th Birthday. She was born at 11:55pm on the night of September 10, 2002. Five minutes before the first anniversary of that tragic event we now simply refer to as 9/11. One thing is for sure: SG the Younger is a wonderful gift and blessing. She is one of the nicest, sweetest, and most sensitive young girls I know. There is not a mean bone in her body. We all love her tremendously and wish her the best birthday she could possibly imagine. I know we did everything we could today to make it so.

WTUL

Well, I'll be back at the radio station this semester spinning tunes. The great news about this, though, is that I've once again reclaimed a Jazz slot. I'll be back to hosting my regular Jazz show on Tuesdays from 6-8pm CST. WTUL live broadcasts online via wtulneworleans.com, so tune in sometime. I'm very much looking forward to sharing more of my passion for early jazz. Chick Webb and Coleman Hawkins, get ready to be resuscitated!

Fun for Friday

Fireflies! (My kids love this tune from Owl City.) Enjoy!

Geaux Saints!

Well, the Saints just defeated the Vikings in the heralded rematch opening game of the season. This puts the Saints one game ahead of the Vikings and keeps the Saints undefeated!

In spite of my strong Who Dat credentials, I have to say that the whole hullabaloo leading up to this game has been intolerably excessive. I was dumbfounded that the New Orleans public schools let school out early today in preparation for the game tonight. Both my kids came home from school today with absolutely no homework because their teachers didn't want to distract them from the Saints game by saddling them with homework. Go figure!

People, people, people ... it's just a friggin' game. Fun, sure. Exciting, sure. Great for New Orleans, sure. But in the big scheme of life, this game tonight is pretty insignificant. At least not significant enough to shut the city down and declare a partial holiday. Not if my opinion matters, anyway.

But what are you gonna do? I almost embraced the heretical position of wanting the Saints to lose tonight (just tonight!), so that we could all go about our business normally for the remainder of the season. But I couldn't bring myself to want that. The only thing one can (must) do is to chant: Who Dat!?!

Exercise and Concentration

As I suffer through my morning exercise routine of stationary bicycling, I think of a lot of things. My mind races. And this morning, my mind pondered the following question: Why is it that when I exercise I can have intense powers of mental focus (either on a work task that needs to be addressed, rehashing an event from the past, formulating responses in my mind to blog postings I disagree with, concentrating on the rhythms and instrumental arrangements of the music I'm exercising to, etc.); and yet still be unable to focus my mind on what I would consider to be similar kinds of mental activity such as reading.

As much as I would love the distraction of being able to read a gripping novel, magazine, or some other engaging print media when I am exercising, I just can't do it. That kind of mental activity I seem to be incapable of sustaining. In fact, I would say that attempting to read and exercise at the same time induces a kind of heightened physical discomfort. And yet I see people at the gym all the time who pedal the stationary bike or run the treadmill and read at the same time. Makes me wonder if there are different parts of the brain that do different kinds of focusing and stimuli processing such that physical activity can interrupt the functioning of one kind of mental focusing activity but not another. In other words, why can I rehash a the complexity of a blog discussion thread in my head (and even add new ideas or thoughts to the mix) for extended periods of time when exercising, and yet can't sustain the mental focus to read through even a paragraph of printed text while doing the exact same exercise?

Random NOLA

Re-posting, because no one got it and I wonder if many people even saw it. So here it is again ...

Here is my next addition to Random NOLA, which is a blog posting category that features a photo that I've taken from places around the city of New Orleans that make up a part of my day. They won't be pre-arranged. And I'm going to try to make them pictures of inconspicious scenes, but potentially identifiable to the attentive native. In other words, don't expect to find pictures of the Superdome or the St. Louis Cathedral or other such easily identifiable places. Where possible, I'll also try to keep street signs out of the picture, too. The goal is not only just to share a brief, random part of the path of my day, but also to see if true NOLA-philes can figure out exactly where in the city this scene is located. So, without further ado, here's the next "Random NOLA" Photo. Click on the picture to enlarge it. Give it your best shot and put your guess in the Comments section:

Sarah Palin, Koran Burning, and the "Ground Zero Mosque"

Sarah Palin has put up a Facebook posting expressing her opposition to the Koran book burning stunt being proposed by a Christian church in Florida. Her opposition to this Koran book burning seems like a noble gesture, but it's anything but. It's a qualified statement of mild opposition that uses the occasion cynically to try to demagogue the "Ground Zero Mosque" project ever more by making a kind of moral equivalence between the "insensitivity" of the mosque builders and the "insensitivity" of the Koran book burners.

The title of her Facebook posting is the following: "Koran Burning Is Insensitive, Unnecessary; Pastor Jones, Please Stand Down"

So, by calling on Pastor Jones to stand down, and then by linking Pastor Jones's call for a Koran book burning to the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero, Palin positions herself to claim a moral perch upon which to argue that she is being an equal opportunity critic of two expressions of "insensitivity." If she calls for Pastor Jones to stand down, well, by golly, isn't she justified in calling for the Imams behind the "Ground Zero mosque" project to stand down? How noble of her!

Pshaw! I say: How disingenuous and cynical of her.

She starts off the posting with this paragraph:

People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation – much like building a mosque at Ground Zero.

And then she ends her brief posting again with mounting an equivalence between the construction of the mosque near ground zero with the Koran book burning.

In this as in all things, we should remember the Golden Rule. Isn’t that what the Ground Zero mosque debate has been about?

To which I answer ... NO, NO, and EMPHATICALLY NO! The Koran book burning is not simply "insensitive" and "unnecessary" (as the title of her posting claims) -- it is intentionally destructive, demeaning, and hateful. The construction of the ground zero mosque is nowhere near in the same category of intent. Opposition to the Koran book burning is not about "The Golden Rule" (because what intentional harm are the mosque builders
seeking to do to Americans in the building of a house of worship and an interfaith community center? What are the mosque builders doing unto others that they would not accept being done unto themselves by others?)

I would hope that everyone is against the Koran burning stunt not because it is "insensitive," but precisely because it is an act of intentional violence, destruction, and debasement. The book burning actively seeks to do harm! It actively seeks to destroy! It actively seeks to debase the foundations of another religion! Try having a group of radical Islamic fundamentalists in the United States engage in an intentionally vicious public Bible burning and see if people like Palin think of this as nothing more than something that is simply "insensitive and an unnecessary provocation."

What is disingenuous about Palin's disavowal, and that of other conservatives, is the equivalence that is being made between the perceived "insensitivity" of the ground zero mosque builders and the "insensitivity" of the Koran burners.

Let me state unequivocally right here and now: There is no equivalence, so conservatives should stop making it so.

In fact, making such an equivalence is rather consciously insidious. By equating opposition to the construction of the mosque as coming from the same motivation as opposition to an intentional burning of the Koran, the goal is to make mosque building next to ground zero and Koran burning in Florida as parallel expressions of "insensitivity." It ignores any evaluation of intentionality of the acts themselves. Let me characterize this distinction in two ways. First, the mosque builders themselves have said their intention in building the mosque is to foster greater harmony between Islam and the other religions that are practiced in our country. Their intention is positive and constructive (as represented in building a place of worship and interfaith community programming). The intentions of the Koran burners are clearly negative and destructive. They are being intentionally inflammatory and intentionally hateful. Second, let's look at the root of opposition to both the ground zero mosque and the Koran burning. My understanding of opposition to the ground zero mosque is its location, not the act of constructing a mosque itself. So if the mosque were moved some "respectful" distance from the site of ground zero, then presumably opposition to it would dissipate. But a Koran burning could happen anywhere in the U.S. and opposition to it would, one presumes, remain. As I mentioned previously, a fairer comparison would be if a group of radical fundamentalist Muslims engaged in a provocative Bible burning in the U.S. as a statement about Christianity. And we can certainly see the difference between the "insensitivity" of that kind of action relative to the construction of a mosque near to ground zero. So creating a kind of equivalence between the building of the mosque near ground zero to that of burning the Koran is absurd on its face. And those like Sarah Palin who can't oppose the burning of the Koran without making such an equivalence are just engaging in more anti-ground zero mosque demagoguery. It makes her pretend equanimity stand out as hollow and cynical, and only confirms her as the morally vacuous demagogue she is.

We have did ... I have did ...

Watch this embarrassing Palin-esque performance by the sitting governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, a Tea Party favorite. Notice what happens to her composure and her grammar when she has what one might call a "senior" moment:



It's cringeworthy. And what is her response? Of course, it's the media mistreatment, victimize-the-beseiged-momma-grizzly, "gotcha"-politics defense: Since the mean ol' media is out to get poor little grandma governor Brewer, there will be no more debates.

Who else cops this defense? Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle, and now Jan Brewer, that's who. Supposedly tough as nails momma-grizzlies crying foul when their own pathetic inadequacies surface. Why do these so-called fierce momma grizzlies expect to get away with even simple accountability to the people they want to claim to represent? I'll tell you, these ladies are doing more to present a picture of incompetent and almost wacky female politicians who hide behind a clearly overexaggerated, if not altogether false, representation of victimization. And the sad thing is that these women get all kinds of sympathy from victim-identity-politics conservatives who think that these ladies' incompetence and poor performances must be the fault of the big bad librul media wolf. What male public official or candidate would ever be allowed to get away with such behavior? And yet these women are being hailed as some kind of new, true, conservative feminism. All I see, frankly, are cowards who hide their inadequacies behind their gender and scream victimization at the slightest approach of a challenging question. I don't know about other parents of young girls, but I do NOT want my daughters taking their cues from such pathetic, weak, and pseudo-aggrieved female role models. That's not to mention the god-awful atrocious grammar in public speaking.

Kavalier & Clay

Finally got around to starting the Michael Chabon novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Everyone I know who has read this book simply raves about it. So, I picked this book as my selection for one of my book clubs. I'm about 220 pages in and I love it. I've read some of Chabon's other stuff and have enjoyed every book I've read of his.

My next book, which I've had at the front of my list for a while now, but just never took the plunge because its length seems a bit daunting, will be Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove. This book has come highly recommended to me from a couple of people whose opinions I really respect. So, it's time to take the plunge into it ... as soon as I finish with Kavalier and Clay!

Beginning of the Semester Breather

Phew! Just finished the second full week of the Fall Semester at school. Today was the last day of student class grasshopping, otherwise known as the dreaded "add/drop" process. Finally have my teaching and standing meetings schedules for the semester worked out (mostly), such that I can really start to get into a rhythm with the semester. I'm grateful for that. For now, although it's only two weeks in, I'm ready for the Labor Day holiday! A welcome breather.

Material Girl at the Freret Street Market

Tomorrow is Saturday, and it's the day of the Freret Street Market. There are lots of great arts, crafts, and local food to be had at the Freret Street Market, so I encourage all in the area to take advantage of what should be a lovely day to peruse the goodies and vendors at the Market.

And though Michele Benson Huck Pottery doesn't participate in the Freret Street Market, a very creative and talented artist who works with fabrics and makes incredible designs does have a booth there. If for no other reason, you should go out to the Freret Street Market to check out this artist's work.

The name of the shop is Material Girl, whose proprieter is the talented Lori Norvell. As Lori says on the Facebook page for Material Girl, she specializes in "Eco-Chic Accessories." She even takes special orders. Check out the link above to Material Girl, look at the fabulous, creative, and colorful designs and creations to be had, and treat yourself to one of these hand-made gems.

At the last Freret Street Market, I got a couple of things for my squirrelly girlies, and they love them. And it's all very affordably priced. (Heck, I'd even say they're all underpriced, but Lori loves the idea of people simply enjoying her stuff that she'd rather make her things as affordable as possible so that as many folks of all economic situation can have something from Material Girl to take home, than to go home empty-handed simply because of price.

Check it out! You won't be disappointed.