Having recently discovered a composer I didn't know existed until moving to Prague, I'm posting this phenomenal piece from Bohuslav Martinu, the adagio from Concerto Da Camera, H 285. The first 3 minutes, especially at 2:25 (the leitmotif played throughout the piece), are some of the most beautiful, melancholic, and frightening melodies I've ever heard. Difficult to admit, but I think he's even better than Stravinsky.
I guess this adagio would qualify as both uplifting and beautiful. Necessary for times like these.
And here's something not to be missed: Obama Axing Pentagon Plan To Build Billion Dollar Tank In Shape Of Dragon. This may be my favorite video yet, although it also has to contend with this one. (This article makes a perfect companion piece)
Genius on so many levels!
Now, in case you missed Palin's farewell address, here it is performed, as god intended, with the rambling cadence of William Shatner reciting Beat poetry.
It's too damn hot today (95 degrees) to rant about the Senate predictably excluding from their health care bill a public insurance option and even the paltry requirement for large businesses to provide health insurance for their workers. Or new ways the government and military seek to and succeed in breaking our Posse Comitatus laws.
The health care bill stripping/mutation is not surprising because its main author, leader of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Baucus of Montana, is utterly beholden to the medical industries.
In the past six years, nearly one-fourth of every dime raised by Baucus and his political action committee has come from groups and individuals associated with drug companies, insurers, hospitals, medical supply firms, health service companies and other health professionals.
With 22 medical groups spending over $1 million in the 2nd quarter alone, one should be prepared for the impending Democratic letdown on health care. Top among these groups:
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, spent $6.2 million in lobbying expenditures. Pfizer spent $5.6 million, and the American Medical Association spent $3.9 million.
And how much has the "health sector" as a whole spent on lobbying since 1998? According to the National Journal: "$3.4 billion, ranking second only to the financial industry."
Ok, so my wife and I have to pay $500 a month for nominal health insurance, even though she works for a large corporation (actual fact), but at least I can soothe the pain (economic repression) by watching videos like this:
See other cuties here.
Lastly, The Daily Show deftly satirized the environmental cap and trade bill's transformation, which perfectly illustrates the same process occurring right now with the health care bill. Would love to show this alongside "Schoolhouse Rock- How a Bill Becomes a Law" to my History/Government students.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Jon Stewart Jizz-Ams in Front of Children - Cap'n Trade | ||||
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Beer me; it's hot today.
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