Wednesday, May 23, 2007

See Paul run. Run, Paul, run!

As you may know, I attended the Ron Paul fundraiser dinner at the Texas History museum last Saturday night. It was pretty exciting, and I'll let you in on what happened...


I showed up early at the request of a friend of mine to help out checking people in. Turns out that was a good idea, they needed about one more volunteer to make the check-in as smooth as silk. After working for a pretty good while, I ate some Rudy's barbecue and got a nice, professional pic with the Ron. I also convinced him to sign my copy of his book, A Foreign Policy of Freedom.

I managed to get into a conversation with Mrs. Paul about their granddaughter Laura. It was hilarious, she wanted to introduce me to Laura's sisters and started pulling out pictures to show off from her purse! She was definitely a proud grandmother!

Jimmie Vaughan provided some pretty awesome blues music as the entertainment of the night. It was totally sweet. And of course, Ron Paul gave a fantastic speech, which you can find on Youtube! (Part 1, Part 2)

Here are a few cool pictures from the evening that I took...

Ron Paul...






















Jimmie Vaughan totally wailing on the guitar....

















Here's another pic which almost looks surreal... but no, it's just not that good of a picture...

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Cows with Guns

I seem to remember that the Clouds first informed me of this silly little song years and years ago... Very funny...

Well, that was interesting...

I just did something unprecedented in history. I, yes indeed it was me, watched the American Idol finale. It just finished. And I think I actually have something interesting to comment on. Every time I have watched this show, I have agreed with Simon. You see, I've done a lot of singing in my time, I've performed with many groups and sung in almost every style imaginable besides rap and Britney-style trash.



Simon has a really good ear for music. I think he hears things very similar to the way I hear them as well, and maybe that's why we agree. When I look at a singer, I can almost always discern through their voice where there breathing is off, what kind of ear they have, and what range they will sound best in.



I also have a very good feel for performers. This is mainly a function of doing all different sorts of performing, from staged musicals to madrigals. I've seen the technique, and I know the signs of nervousness or just flat lack of talent.



That being said, here's my assessment of tonight. Blake's rendition of that Bon Jovi song was fantastic. The beat-box stuff he does is great. But even then, I can hear that his voice just isn't that strong. Since this was the first time I heard him, I don't know if it's a bad day or typical, but I wanted to hear him again. Trouble was, the next two songs were just poor. In the second song he was constantly going flat and trying to sustain notes with poor breath support. The third song - yeah, it just wasn't him.



Blake is a great performer, and although he shouldn't be a pop star, I think he would do well in a good rock band because he can sure sell a good song.



Jordin Sparks, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of Blake. Her voice is

HUGE, and you can tell that she actually knows how to breathe to support her voice. This gives her an automatic, distinct advantage over Blake. Trouble is, she doesn't move like a great performer, she's just too static. Fortunately, that is the sort of problem you can correct with some good constructive criticism.



American Idol is ultimately a singing competition. Hence, Jordin wins hands down. If she doesn't, that's too bad, because she is by far the superior singer.

Monday, May 21, 2007

LRC on RP

There's a flurry of activity focused around Ron Paul of late... I'm sure you're catching wind of it. If you didn't watch the debate, you can, of course, get the highlights on Youtube. Here are some articles about what happened between Rudy and Ron.



Ron Paul Rocks! by Karen Kwiatkowski



Giuliani Is Right To Be Outraged by Thomas Eddlem



But Who Was Right – Rudy or Ron? by Patrick J. Buchanan



By the way, many people have asked me whether or not Ron Paul is a
Christian. I said I wasn't exactly sure, but I figured that he was
considering what his granddaughter has said about him to me in the past
and his general rhetoric. Note at the beginning of the Youtube video
that he is a "Protestant."



Finally, I will write about the RP fundraiserOnce I get all the photos on my computer. I hope to do so tonight.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Ron Paul Fundraiser Tonight - I'm going!!!

I pulled off at the last minute getting a ticket to the fundraiser dinner for Ron Paul tonight! I am really excited, I'll have photos afterwards!



In the meantime, visit http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

What would Thomas Jefferson do?

Environmentalist Zen

Let me be clear, I did not write this, but it is short so I am posting it in it's entirety. Thank you, Dr. Reisman for saying what needs to be said!

George Reisman's Blog on Economics, Politics, Society, and Culture: Environmentalist Zen

If you’d prefer to be cool rather than suffer in the heat, what you need to do, according to the environmental movement, is smash your air conditioner, refrigerator, and freezer. That will help to cool the planet—someday. If you want to be secure from hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and other natural (according to it, manmade) disasters, what you need to do is destroy the energy base required to produce and operate modern construction equipment and means of transportation. In that case you may end up living in a thatched hut and have only a donkey to go from one place to another, but the absence of man-made power and its carbon emissions will make the world such a tame and happy place that you won’t need anything more. After all, natural disasters are not caused by nature, which is wonderful, pure, and benign, but by us! Remember that as you listen to the sound of one hand clapping.

Copyright © 2007, by George Reisman.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

The "Ron Paul Effect"



ABC News: The Ron Paul Effect: Boomlet or Savvy Supporters?



After the GOP presidential candidate debate two Thursday's back, the internet was aflame with Ron Paul. Seriously, the online polls, search polls, and more all indicated that it was indeed Ron Paul vs. fifteen GWB-look-alikes, and Ron Paul won. But ABC News thinks not. Without any evidence, they say in this article that Ron Paul really lost because it must have been some libertarian in his underwear click-forging his way to a Ron Paul victory.



At least they are admitting that Ron Paul "won". Maybe now he'll get the mainstream media attention he deserves for being the only GOP candidate with enough guts to stand up for principle and oppose the Federal Warfare and Welfare Leviathan.



Free Market News Network responds to ABC News



And here's the press release from Ron Paul's page:



Press Release



Ron Paul Builds Momentum




FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



May 8, 2007



ARLINGTON, VA – Congressman Ron Paul's support has soared since the first Republican presidential debate. Conservative commentator John McLaughlin, host of “The McLaughlin Group," cited Ron Paul as having given "the best performance of the debate." In fact, the Paul campaign's apparent strength has many other pundits scrambling to explain it. Paul campaign officials offer the following examples of the candidate's rising success.



Since the debate on May 3, Ron Paul:



* Handily won two post-debate polls posted by event sponsor MSNBC

* Placed a close third (18%) in a post-debate poll on the conservative Drudge Report

* Won an ABCNews.com online debate poll with 84%

* Won a C-SPAN online GOP candidate poll with 69%

* Became the third most-mentioned person in the blogosphere, beating out Paris Hilton, according to the reputable Technorati.com

* Produced a YouTube.com video that was ranked the 8th most popular overall video, and the most-viewed political video

* Was featured, by popular demand, on the front of Digg.com

* Generated so many bulletin posts on MySpace.com that the site owner News Corp. blocked all additional posts about Dr. Paul

* Became a "most searched" term on Google and Yahoo!

* Saw a quadrupling of daily visitors to RonPaul2008.com



"These figures speak for themselves," said campaign chairman Kent Snyder. "Ron Paul has quickly become a strong contender for the GOP nomination because of his powerful message of freedom and limited government."



-30-



Friday, May 11, 2007

Informal Hiatus

I've been extraordinarily busy these last few weeks with my graduate research and classes, and as a result I have hardly been able to post anything to my blog. Sorry about that, but I promise this summer will be better!

In the meantime, watch Pierre Bensusan play the piece that I am working on right now...