Baby Bro's New CD

Hey all,

The following is an e-mail I received from my brother. I urge you all to check out the first link, especially if you like 2-guitar rock. You can hear a two-minute snippet of each song; once you link to the cd/wasted2 link, the left-hand side links you two the song previews.

Hello everyone!

Just leaving an awesome update.

My Band ELEGANTLY WASTED has now officially released our new CD "Desolation Row".

It is available at:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/wasted2

Or you can just go to www.cdbaby.com and type Elegantly Wasted or Desolation Row in the search bar.

CD baby will also be distributing to iTunes, but it will take about 30 days before it is up on iTunes.

I do appreciate all the support. CDbaby is registered with sound scan, so any purchase through CDbaby shows up on all music generated reports as well as through ASCAP. It is the equilavlent (to the artist) of going to buy the CD at Best Buy, with the exception - it's not Best Buy.

However, we are in the process of working on that too though.

Also, we are heading back out of the country this Thursday for 10 in Germany and Switzerland. The shows we played there in March/April went so well that we were asked to do 3 summer festivals.

We plan on doing a US tour in September right now. I do not know the exact cities, but we will be stopping/playing in Cleveland!

Again thank you for your interest and support!

I'm excited for him. Please support him if you can.

Immigration Bill E-Z Reference

Have insomnia? Like lotsa legalese (or illegalese)? Bored to tears?

Or do you have a vested interest in what's going on with our elected, um, "leaders"?

TTLB has parsed the immigration bill in to separate links here. The overview of the parsing can be read here.

And You Thought the "New Math" Was Bad

When this is what publik skoul considers education, it's time to move on. I am so glad that we homeschool our children.

The teachers are lemmings, too. Sad.

Marriage Taken Lightly

A couple thoughts hit me today. Unrelated thoughts, really, except for the one concept that loosely ties them together:

Marriage.

I recently learned that someone I've known for a while has filed for divorce. I don't know the particulars, I just know that it is happening. I feel terrible for the children involved, and for the spouses that can no longer make a go of it, for whatever reason the breakup is occurring.

Like I said, I don't know the details. I am not passing judgment on the action. Who knows if there was cheating, illicit activity, abuse, whatnot? I don't, so I am not commenting.

I do know that, in casual, public conversations, the couple has commented - almost proudly - about how matter-of-fact the idea to get married was for them (I was a participant in one of those conversations). They had one child already, with another on the way, when they decided to make it all official.

I pray for the family, and that hopefully some unturned stone can be turned that will enable them to understand the gravity of their decision. I pray that, if there were no indiscretions of the legal or moral variety, that they would stay together.

I had this event in mind when I started reading some political articles on lunch today. I know, what does a divorce have to do with politics? Marriage is a commitment that is intended to be a lifelong commitment. You don't look around - "aw come on, hon, I'm just looking" doesn't cut it - you don't think "what if?" You made your commitment.

Upon reading these political articles, it amazed me how many more people will make a commitment to a political party than they will to marriage. In politics, there is no "love, honor and cherish" vow - made in front of God and at least two witness. There are no moral, legal or familial strings attached in politics. We can leave the arrangement when appropriate - heck, it's not even appropriate to say there is an "arrangement". Yet, in an institution where the commitment is expected and to be revered - marriage - people drop the commitment as though they are shopping for their next house or looking for their next church.

When we hold more commitment to a political party than we do to marriage, our priorities are misplaced. We need to be reminded of what true commitment is, and to whom we are committed.

Unconventional Research

If you're interested in learning about what the media won't tell you (or doesn't want you to know), let me recommend several sites that provide excellent info:

• The Tenth Amendment Center is about, well, the Tenth Amendment. The latest post is from Ron Paul, libertarian/Republican candidate for President. Not only will you learn about proper application and also abuse of the Tenth Amendment, but you will also learn a bit about Ron Paul.

• Maverick News Media covers many facets of the War on Terror, from home and abroad. It's always a good read, and links to many excellent blogs as well (including this post at Town Commons, which is Fred Thompson's response to Michael Moore's challenge via debate).

• Redstate.com, which not only calls out Dems, but Republicans when necessary, too.

• And last, but absolutely not least, Principled Discovery conducts a Carnival for Principled Government. Dana has conducted five of these carnivals already; I only wish I could make the time to thorougly read through all of them.

Statute of Limitations?

I was talking to a co-worker this morning, and he wryly injected a few lyrics into our conversation. I answered his original intent, then exclaimed:

Oh, that was from Radar Love, wasn't it?!?

He grinned, and said that it was. How smart of me to recognize his wit. :-)

We started talking about Golden Earring, the band that recorded Radar Love. We could only remember two of their songs, Radar Love and Twilight Zone. We couldn't remember when they were released (see here for details), but got thinking...

Two hit singles...

At least a decade apart (or so we thought at the time)...

If you didn't listen to music regularly, you might not even know that the band performed both songs...

Hmmm.

What's the statute of limitations on being called a "one hit wonder"? Is it possible to be a "one hit wonder" twice-over?

Inquiring minds want to know. Do you know of any other bands like that?

Saturday Morning Wake Up Call

Ah, Saturday mornings. Saturday is the one day I can usually count on sleeping in. (Recognize that "sleeping in" usually means I wake up before 8am.) But, alas, my son is taking after my brother in redefining the "alarm clock".

In high school, I worked in a tavern as a busboy. I would work on Friday nights until midnight. My brother didn't really care - and if you're reading this, bro, you may not remember this - and would end up using his alarm clock to wake me up some time shortly after 8:30am on Saturday. Here's what the "alarm clock" looked like:


A musician needs to practice, after all. :-)

My son, the Engineer, is following in his footsteps, sort of. Because he has asthma, like me, and because his bedroom is on the first floor, we have a monitor set up in his room so we can listen for problems. The monitor also picks up anything else going on...like the piano he was playing at 7:30 this morning.

I unplugged the monitor. Didn't help; he definitely knows what it means to play forte instead of piano.

So much for sleeping in this morning. At least we know he likes the instrument.

Oops, What I Really Meant Was...

Here's an awesome article from Eye On The World about Iraq's WMDs. Our mainstream media talking heads definitely have short memories...

...and even shorter attention spans when the news doesn't suit us. Fancy that!

And then there's this spinning of an Iraqi resolution, courtesy of the New York Times, of course.

It Can't Happen Here

At least, not if you believe the Democratic leadership, the mainstream media, and academia. But I repeat myself.

"Islam vs. Islamists" Revisited

Several weeks ago, I mentioned a documentary that PBS is refusing to release about moderate Muslims and their battle against extremists in the United States.

Here is where you can learn more.

Diplomacy Subverts National Security

Psst.

Hey.

Over here.

Yeah...you!

Take this.

Don't tell anyone where you got it, but make sure you use it and pass it on.

Strange Bedfellows

As a confessional Lutheran, I tend to think of things as a confessional Lutheran would. One principle I espouse is the dual kingdom principle: There simultaneously exist a spiritual (right hand) kingdom, and an earthly (left hand) kingdom. I live in both, and therefore have to deal with the tenets of both.

This dual kingdom principle came to mind as I was considering earthly topics, namely modern Christianity (as evidenced by church growth principles) and politics. Church growth, when you look at its intent, is a secular concept. Today’s politics are also secular. In their separate evolutions, they both lost their focus on the individual, and now focus on the ongoing stability and growth of the organization.

Both of these operations exist in two “kingdoms”. One kingdom is the kingdom of principle, the one that caused the genesis of each operation. The other kingdom is the kingdom of consumerism, succinctly defined by the mantra, “The customer is always right”.

Can modern Christianity and politics successfully exist in these two planes? I don’t think so. In Christianity, doctrine is watered down to become acceptable to the consumer. This can only lead to a less educated “consumer” who either never has, or regresses in, the knowledge and doctrine behind their beliefs. In other words, the following generations of Christians will have less knowledge of the basis of their faith, and therefore, less ability to defend it. They will be more fervent in their unsubstantiated personal belief, because consumerism focuses on emotion and not on fact or belief, but when push comes to shove, they will not have the response or the gumption to defend their faith.

In politics, we are seeing the impact of consumerism now. The 2008 presidential campaign cycle is in full swing, with hundreds of millions of dollars exchanging hands without a viable exchange of ideas. Those citizens who cannot monetarily contribute, and those superior candidates that cannot raise the funds, are left out of the game…the most important secular game in the U.S. The “consumers” are redefined as those who contribute, not as those that are eligible voting citizens.

Both operations need to stop balancing the two kingdoms, and return solely to their kingdoms of principle. As long as we put any effort towards focusing on what the customer wants, we will always disdain principle and chase the almighty dollar instead.