#2 The Beatles : Rubber Soul
I feel somewhat like a cheat listening to this one to knock items off of a list because this is one of my favorite albums. But… I’m ticking things off the list…
Ah, the album that, had I been born two years earlier, my name would have come from (they couldn’t name me Michelle since my cousin by that name was born two years before me, see).
This is the album when The Beatles grew up and graduated from the whole Beatlemania phase and showed the world what they could do if they really put their minds to it. The had to grow up – bands like the Rolling Stones and The Who were taking center stage, and they weren’t singing about giddy relationships and the like. They recorded this at the time they discovered pot as well, which may attribute to the overall mellow mood throughout the album. Perhaps it made John Lennon and Paul McCartney realize that George Harrison actually had talent as well. Who knows, really. Obviously, The Beatles were better on drugs.
“Nowhere Man” and “The Word” are two classic examples of the expansion of the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team into the “adult world,” the former being nothing about a relationship and the latter speaking about love in an transcendent way. “In My Life,” an absolute classic song, is probably the best simplistically-written Beatles song out there. They let George Harrison shine on a couple of tracks: “Think For Yourself” and “If I Needed Someone” are great tracks. Then again, George was my favorite.
So I don’t sound completely biased, I just want to take this opportunity to go on the record as saying “Run For Your Life” is one of the worst (and most disturbing) songs I have ever heard.
The pop band was disposed of wheb recording this album and a rock band emerged. The combination of pop, folk, and rock influences created this coming-of-age album which, in my opinion, is one of the best out there, even to this day.
Track listing (UK version):
01. Drive My Car
02. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
03. You Won’t See Me
04. Nowhere Man
05. Think for Yourself
06. The Word
07. Michelle
08. What Goes On
09. Girl
10. I’m Looking Through You
11. In My Life
12. Wait
13. If I Needed Someone
14. Run For Your Life
#1 Neil Young : Harvest
I am venturing to tackle this list, “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”. I’ve listened to many, many of them before, but in an effort to really pay attention, I’m starting all over. I had originally planned to start at the end of the list, but I realized how much I really don’t want to listen to some of those. Then I thought about starting at the beginning, but I didn’t want to get stuck in certain musical eras. This is going to be completely random, meaning I open the spreadsheet that I made and click on a random square while not looking. I don’t think I can get more random than that.
The first album that was selected is Neil Young’s Harvest.
People hated on this album because of it’s commercialization, often criticizing Young for essentially selling out and going mainstream. I think this is one of his best works, but it is not without flaws. Sometimes it flows, sometimes it doesn’t (for example, the orchestra was not needed for “There’s a World,” but it was a perfect fit for “A Man Needs a Maid”). It can definitely symbolize the “coming of age” of sorts of the generation that left the San Francisco movement behind and grew up.
This album was intended to be a country album. “Out On The Weekend,” the opening track, is complete merger of country and folk music, and I find it glorious. The use of a slide guitar in some music tends to be borderline annoying, unless they do it right. On this album, it was done right. It definitely has it’s country music influence that is obvious, but I don’t think it should really be classified as a country album.
“Alabama” was probably the end all of the whole Neil Young vs. Lynyrd Skynard feud – they popularized the musical battles way before that whole East Coast/West Coast hip hop debacle. Completely facetious and I love it.
The tracks average about 3 minutes long, so if you’re looking for something you can lose yourself in, you have about an hour to do it. You’ve all heard “Heart of Gold,” Young’s best-selling single. If you like that one, do yourself a favor and listen to this entire album. It’s not the best well-balanced album out there, but when you’re listening, you tend to not pay attention to that. “Harvest” reaffirms the musical genius that is Neil Young.
‘Libertarian’ is the new trend.
I’ve been registered to vote since I was 17. That was when I joined the ranks of semi-adulthood and had the joys of the driver’s license bestowed upon me. It was also the time that, thanks to Clinton’s Motor Voter law, I was able to register to vote.
Always being one to put more stress upon myself than needed, I refused to send in that registration card without having a political party declared. My mom was (and still is) registered Republican, but she had trouble telling me why because she really had no idea why. She was never one to pay close attention to politics or what political parties stood for. My dad was (and still is because he never changed) registered Democrat, because, as he said, “everyone registered Democrat because we didn’t want to get drafted.” I, unlike my parents, wanted to put some thought into my decision. It could have had something to do with this teenage rebellion stage, but I really wanted to make a stand for something, and for whatever reason I thought I could make a stand by declaring a political party.
At first I registered as an independent. That seemed rebellious enough – “Independent.” I wasn’t going to let some old men in suits tell me how I was supposed to think because of the political party I affiliated myself with. No one understood, but they all applauded. I felt like I took my first stand against the establishment – whatever establishment I thought I was standing against as a 17-year-old. I didn’t know what party was aligned with Atlas Shrugged, and I was too worried about being a teenager to figure it out.
Three years later, I found myself living primitively (compared to what I was used to), high atop a mountain in Virginia, far away from home, in my room where I worked at a National Park, meaning there was no cable. I caught NBC on the television and decided to watch Jay Leno this particular night, and one of his guests was Larry Elder (back when he was still a Libertarian), promoting his book The Ten Things You Can’t Say in America.The things he was saying struck a chord …. made sense …. echoed my sentiments exactly. That was the day I learned of the existence of the Libertarian Party. When I went home a few months later, after much research (I always research everything), I changed my party affiliation. Of course, it wasn’t until 2004-ish until my voter registration card read “Libertarian” instead of “other,” but I digress.
Long story short, I have been a card-carrying, dues paying, angry, patient, liberty-minded, patriotic, opinionated big-L Libertarian for almost 10 years now. I have preached about the value of the Constitution and learned it backward and forward. I have read the words of and learned all I could about the Founding Fathers. I have been sitting here for the past 10 years along with others who were in this true liberty movement way before I was, and way before these “tea parties” started popping up.
So you’re going to have to excuse me when I get a tad bit miffed when I see people calling themselves “libertarian” when they didn’t know what “libertarian” meant before November of 2008.
I’m not talking about those who are new to the libertarian movement – those who have a genuine understanding of the meaning. If you are one of them, welcome, and thank you for joining the fight. This blog post is not directed at you. I wasn’t born a libertarian either, and I’m not trying to make it out like I have always been one, or that I think I’m better than those who joined the ranks after me. I’m not trying to make it sound like I think I’m better than anyone, because I’m not.
Who I am writing to here are certain Republicans, certain conservatives who are suddenly adopting the libertarian name without knowing what the libertarian movement is really about. These people who I believe genuinely love their country, yet acquiesced for the years before President Obama’s inauguration while the Constitution was repeatedly raped by the establishment in Washington because they saw nothing wrong with it because their political party had control, be it of Congress, the White House or both. These are the people who thought that Ron Paul was nothing more than a nutjob, but now – well, now he makes sense and has “always” made sense! The only reason this type of people even started stirring is because Republicans suddenly had absolutely zero clout in policy making. Suddenly, the evil Communist was coming. Socialism was going to take over our country. The progressives were going to tear up the Constitution and burn it. Oh, the humanity!
If you’re conservative, just call yourself a conservative. There is nothing wrong with that. Unlike some, I do not chastize those who subscribe to political theories other than my own. You are who you are. You believe what you believe.
You know who you are.
You’re the one who sees someone like Sarah Palin as a champion of the libertarian movement then will attempt to tell me I’m wrong when I tell you she’s not.
You’re the one being hypocritical, whining about government intrusion in our lives then calling for the elimination of a woman’s right to govern her own body.
You’re the one who tells me that I need to learn the Constitution when I start telling you how Kalid Sheik Mohammed’s civilian trial is something the Constitution says should happen.
You’re the one who disagrees with a non-interventionist foreign policy. You supported the Iraq War and more than likely loved it that Obama has decided to send more troops to Afghanistan.
You’re the one who is completely okay with government-sanctioned racial discrimination, also known as racial profiling.
You’re the one who sat silent when Bush signed TARP then were completely outraged at Obama’s stimulus plan.
You’re the one who didn’t speak up before Barack Obama was our President.
I am thrilled – seriously – that eyes are now being opened to the libertarian fight. I think it’s amazing that I’m not the crazy loon in various discussions anymore. I have stated many times that I believe the Obama presidency is the best thing that has happened to this country, simply because it is causing a movement that the Libertarian Party was, for whatever reason, never able to ignite. I admire the determination of the Tea Party movement and think it’s great that other people are finally using their voices to speak out against the horrible direction this country is headed.
I just have a couple of things that are just driving me crazy and I cannot figure out the answers to these questions:
Why has it taken the election of Barack Obama to ignite anger? Where were you when the Bush administration was bringing us down? Where were you for the administrations before that? I simply want to know what made President Bush exempt from your criticism.
What makes you think you have the right to ram your moral opinions down everyone’s throats? Everyone should hold true to their morals, I believe. If you don’t stick to your morals, no matter what they are, at the end of the day, you have nothing. What I don’t understand is why you believe your pro-life, anti-gay marriage stances should be forced upon everyone else. You want to legislate morals. Of course, I don’t have to tell you that the Founding Fathers were against this.
You have set me off on this rant, honestly, because you’re pissing me off.
You’re using the libertarian tag on yourself like it makes you hip… trendy. You’re using it in an attempt to prove that you’re this big, anti-establishment nonconformist when, in all actuality, you have never, nor will you probably ever, do anything to back it up where it counts: in the voting booth.
You know who you are.
You’re the one who sat there during the “Obamacare” debate adamantly opposed to it, not because you’re a hateful person and think people should die, but because it’s unconstitutional. I admire the spunk you showed and I agreed with you 200%.
But where were you when the unconstitutional PATRIOT Act was being signed into law? You were bashing the liberals for fighting against it. You were willing to accept the largest assult on our personal freedoms and civil liberties “to make us safe.” Nevermind the fact that your 1st amendment rights are being violated. Nevermind the fact that you can be jailed without trial for as long as they want to keep you, a direct violation of the 6th amendment. Don’t even get me started on the whole 4th amendment issue…. but I’m sure you know about that already. But you think it’s fine as long as we’re being kept safe, right?
Since you already know the Constitution, you know how horrendous the REAL ID Act is, right? Covered under the ruse that this (also) will keep us safe, our private information – including bank and medical records – will be readily available all through a little microchip. How my checking account information will thwart a terrorist attack is beyond me, but that’s another blog post. (Oh yeah, and the Department of Homeland Security will be able to suspend any law seen fit in order to stop terrorists. Cool, huh?) Of course, the only way we’d have to get one of these neat ID cards is if our respective states choose to participate, because they can’t violate the 10th amendment.
Wait…. The No Child Left Behind Act violates the 10th amendment…
I can hear you now: Oh stop it, Becca. You’re starting to sound like one of those ACLU loons.
Am I? Or am I sounding like a libertarian?
All will be forgiven and I will retract my rant if one thing happens. Being that there’s this sudden wave of libertarianism sweeping the country, and a libertarian would never vote for a Democrat or Republican, we should start seeing an overwhelming number of third party candidates being elected into office starting in November.
Right?
Haiti Relief Charities & Information
From the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince, Haiti:
Calls regarding the welfare of U.S. citizens can be made to the Embassy’s Consular Task Force in Port-au-Prince at 509-2229-8942, 509-2229-8089, 509-2229-8322 or 509-2229-8672.
The State Department has set up an e-mail address for people who are trying to contact their U.S. citizen friends and relatives in Haiti : haiti-earthquake@state.gov
You will need to include the following information:
- The full name, date of birth and passport information (if known) of the persons in Haiti you are trying to contact.
- Their contact information in Haiti; telephone numbers, email address, hotel name or address (if known).
- Your name and contact information, and your relationship to the person in Haiti.
- Any special or emergency circumstances.
The State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747.
U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince
Tabarre 41
Route de Tabarre, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Donate via text message:
Text “Haiti” to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the American Red Cross Haiti relief effort.
Text “Yele” to 501501 to make a $5 donation to Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti charity.
Below is a list of U.S. charities actively helping the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. If you know of any that aren’t listed, please let me know and I will add it to the list.
Which two are the same? Which two are different?
Contrary to popular belief, there is a difference between fascism and socialism.
Contrary to popular belief, there is hardly a difference between President Bush and President Obama.
It was (and still is) a popular thing to call President Bush a fascist. People pointed to quite a few things to “prove” that he was fascist:
1. lack of regard for human rights
2. extreme nationalism (some thought he was “too patriotic”)
3. obsession with national security
4. protection of the corporate world
5. using religion in politics
6. fraudulent elections
7. controlled mass media (yes, some thought he controlled the media!)
Now it’s a popular thing to call President Obama a socialist. The arguments you are most likely to hear are:
1. his redistribution of wealth comments
2. that whole “clinging to religion” thing (“Religion is the opiate of the masses.” – Karl Marx)
3. cult of personality
4. desire to nationalize health care
5. cap and trade
6. fraudulent elections
7. controlled mass media
The fact of the matter is, after you take the political party out of the equation, there’s barely a dime’s worth of difference between the presidency of George W. Bush and that of Barack Obama (so far, at least).
So if President Bush was called a fascist and President Obama is called a socialist, how am I coming to this conclusion?
The only thing that George W. Bush had in common with a “real” fascist is that he was on the right. The only thing that Barack H. Obama has in common with a “real” socialist is that he is on the left. If you ask a true socialist if they consider President Obama one of them, they will laugh in your face. But let’s look at a few complaints people had with President Bush: