Friday October 17th, 2008

Key to Everything

What is originality? To see something that does not yet bear a name,
that cannot yet be named, although it is before everybody’s eyes.
As people are usually constituted,
it is the name that first makes a thing generally visible to them.
Original persons have also for the most part been the namers of things.
Nietzsche

Hi folks,

This week my anti-Bush, anti-Religious Right, anti-You-Name-It-All-Things-Republican anthem,  ‘Did You Get Stupid from Being Ugly, Or Ugly From Being Stupid?’ is being featured in the current Blarney Bulletin & Podcast online - the voice of Australians with a proud Celtic heritage.
http://www.blarneybulletin.com/

Another one of my chillun, ‘Marchin’ With Martin Luther King, Jr’  is part of the ‘The Dream Continued . . .!’ project in the USA – a tribute site and CD compilation to celebrate the work of Dr. King.  More on that in coming weeks . . . .

The concert I am performing, on Halloween, in my hometown of Painesville, Ohio, is going to be a trick or treat for me. My audience will be composed of family members, friends I went to Harvey High School with, townsfolk who know of me from either ‘Shaddap You Face’ - or ‘My Home Ain’t in the Hall of Fame’ - two completely different genres of music. (Very few people have connected that the same person wrote both songs. I won’t tell them if you won’t.)

One of the interesting things about growing up in Painesville in the early 60s was that, before television became a national phenomenon, local regional television was the thing.  Very much like regional cooking. Specific to the area.  I grew up with some funny shows and characters - many that were pretty much unknown to the rest of the inhabitants of the world. There were Soupy Sales, Kukla, Fran and Ollie,  Mister Jingaling,  Captain Penny and Romper Room, Barnaby, The Andy Devine Show with Froggy,  Amos and Andy . . .  and Ghoulardi. I can’t stress enough how influential Ghoulardi was on my mental health. He was the host of the late night horror movie show on Channel 8, but we didn’t care about the film, we just tuned in to watch Ghoulardi do his stuff. He had catch phrases like ‘Turn Blue,’ ‘You Knif,’ (fink spelled backwards), ‘stay sick,’ ‘ova day,’ he had a ‘cool it box’, and he used to regularly make fun of the local newscasters, like Dorthy Fuldheim, on the other networks. We kids would send Ghoulardi gifts and toys, hoping for an on-air acknowledgement and he would often blow these things to bits with cherry bomb firecrackers. On air. Live! Once he used such a powerful M-80 cherry bomb that he set fire to the studio! They almost fired HIM for that. From then on, his catch phrase was, ‘Hey kids, cool it with the boom booms!’ The local burger joint named a drink after him called the Ghoulardi Shake which was green. Ghoulardi used to regularly interrupt the b-grade horror movies during particularly lame sections by inserting himself into the action with an early kind of chroma-key effect. And with this ‘Pappaooom-ma-mow-mow’ Gurning Man: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=zcSo0tP6uWo&feature=related

Here are some youTube links to some excerpts from a few of these shows:

Ghoulardi
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=e52cXCrmauc
Soupy Sales with Pookie and White Fang
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=NNv3rVV1mfs&feature=related
Amos n Andy - Kingfish Teaches French
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=mOTcGZnWh3U&feature=related
Amos & Andy Show-Kingfish Sells A Lot Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX-R1YQvUho
(Look over the reader comments to see how controversial this series remains to this day.)
Andy Devine Show and Froggy the Gremlin
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=L9pPFCjRPvM&feature=related
Froggy the Gremlin annoys Vito Scotti
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=BG5O82YmOz4
Mister Jingaling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSpWDcBzbME&feature=related
Barnaby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgqfjNImmaI&feature=related

(Addendum:
Soupy Sales has two sons, Hunt Sales and Tony Sales, who are musicians who have played with David Bowie, Todd Rundgren and Iggy Pop.
Kukla, Fran and Ollie influenced and mentored many later puppeteers, including Shari Lewis and Jim Henson.
Mister Jingaling - The first Mr. Jingeling was a Cleveland policeman, Tom Moviel. Cleveland Playhouse actor Max Ellis was hired for the television role. He is credited with generating the overall popularity of the character. In 1964, Max Ellis suddenly died at the age of 50. Enter Earl Keyes, perhaps the best-known of the Mr. Jingelings. Producer of the Captain Penny program. Mr. Keyes passed away the day after Christmas in 2000. Today, Mr. Jingeling is found body and soul in Jonathan Wilhelm, a local professional actor, singer, writer and storyteller….fifty years on.
Captain Penny - Ron Penfound married Gail Gilmore in 1951. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1959. He then married Phyllis Yoder Hunter in 1960. Phyllis died in 1964. In 1967, Penfound married Jo Ann Dudas. He died of lung cancer in Naples, Florida on September 16, 1974.
Barnaby - Because TV was so new, there were only about 500 sets in the state at the time, Linn Sheldon started his career at the station as a human TV guide, telling viewers what was coming up on Channel 5.  "His car broke down as he got halfway across the Main Avenue Bridge. And he got out and it was a cold, windy day and he was standing there freezing and nobody would pick him up, because there he was in a straw hat, pointy ears and a funny-looking sports jacket," an associate said. Linn Sheldon died at the age of 86.
Andy Devine - Andy Devine's most notable role was as sidekick "Cookie" to Roy Rogers. He died of leukemia on February 18, 1977, at the age of 71.
Amos and Andy - Bishop W.J. Walls of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church wrote an article sharply denouncing Amos 'n' Andy, singling out the lower-class characterizations and the "crude, repetitious, and moronic" dialogue. The NAACP mounted a formal protest almost as soon as the television version began, and that pressure was considered a primary factor in the video version's cancellation. The show was repeated in syndicated reruns until 1966 when CBS acquiesced to pressure from the NAACP and the growing civil rights movement and withdrew the program. It is now considered a early classic of African-American comedy.  Johnny Lee (Calhoun) and Horace Stewart (Lightnin') both provided voices in the Walt Disney film Song of the South in 1946. Johnny provided the voice of Br'er Rabbit and Horace provided the voice of Br'er Bear. Johnny Lee (Calhoun) recorded a record that was released in July 1949 called "You Can't Lose A Broken Heart" (Columbia Records #30172).
Ghoulardi - Ernie Anderson retired Ghoulardi in 1966 and moved to Los Angeles, California. He made a successful career in voice-over work, most prominently as the main voice for the "the Love Boat" during the 1970s and 1980s. He died of cancer on February 6, 1997.

One of the gifts I received for my birthday last week was a book titled, ‘ The World’s Greatest Book of Useless Information.’ Here are some of the gems in this book:

1. Actor Michael Keaton’s real name is Michael Douglas.
2. One of the actors in Reservoir Dogs, Eddie Bunker (Mr Blue) was a real former criminal and was once on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.
3. Dirk Bogarde’s real name is Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde.
4. In the film ZULU, some of the zulu warriors are blatantly wearing the wrist watches they were paid with.
5. Starwars was originally called The Adventures of Luke Starkiller. The name was later changed because it was thought too violent.
   

Good stuff, eh?

But talk about what goes around! When I was fourteen years old, at Harvey High School, I wrote my own book called, ‘The Encyclopedia of Useless Knowledge for Useless People.’ I copied this by hand and distributed this out to my friends. It was quite a talked about little volume. My mother – for some reason – SAVED a copy of this and I found it recently.  I had totally forgotten about it. Most of the humour is juvenile, and lame, but there are a couple good bits like:

1. Confucius say man who write book like this downstairs, not all there, upstairs.
2. The way you make egg foo young is you get a young egg and then you foo it.
3. Fingernails got their names because sometimes they are hit by hammers. (ouch!)
4. Free tip on how to get rid of lice by Dr Joseph. First shave off all the hair on one side of your head. Then pour gasoline on the other half. Then light it. When it gets too hot for the lice on the burning side, they will run over to the smooth side. Then you stab them with an ice pick.
(Hey, back off!  Don’t forget, this was back in the 60s and I was fourteen! But if you think about it, I haven’t really changed that much. )


M-80s and Cherry Bombs
Up until 1966, large firecrackers such as M-80s and cherry bombs were legal in the United States, and anyone could buy them and shoot them off.  I remember playing with both of these little rippers quite often. (Anyone else out there ever blow up a frog? I know: it was cruel, but I was fourteen and it was before Vietnam.) If you look through old fireworks catalogs from the 1930s, '40s and '50s, you will see these and even larger firecrackers advertised, all of them perfectly legal at that time. But it all ended in 1966. The Child Protection Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1966, specifically banned these devices.

A bonafide M-80 is a firecracker designed for military use as a "gunfire simulator." One specification calls for a tube that is 1.5 inches long, 9/16th of an inch in diameter, with a fuse coming out the side rather than the end, and containing 45 grains of a specific pyrotechnic composition. (A "grain" is a unit of weight measurement equal to 64.799 milligrams.) So a true M-80 contains about 2,916 milligrams, or just under 3 grams of a specific type of pyrotechnic composition.

A true Cherry Bomb is a relatively spherical firecracker, typically 3/4 inch in diameter, with an outer coating of sawdust bound with sodium silicate and dyed red. These are not as powerful as a true M-80. Both M-80s and "Cherry Bombs" are illegal in the United States.  Any firecracker sold to the public in the US cannot contain more than 50 milligrams (.05 grams) of pyrotechnic composition per cracker. No matter what the shape, size or design of a firecracker, if it has more than 50 milligrams of powder in it, it's illegal.



The Teachy of Nietzsche  No.1
It is a curious thing that God learned Greek when he wished to turn author – and that he did not learn it better. Nietzsche


FAVOURITE LETTERS OF THE WEEK

Joe,
It's good luck to do something really naughty on your birthday.Apparently.(never worked for me) Stop getting old immediately ! by order Camden Council. . .
by the way, i forgot to say how much I've been enjoying your cd. One Iraqi Child is a fantastic song. And I really love the arrangements of Cocaine Lil and Wind Cries Mary. But it's a good listen all the way through with lots of variety. Mind you I'm biased, but then again some people think I've got good taste and they're only ones I listen to. Love from kath
http://www.kathtait.com

Good day, Mr. Dolce.
 I am researching the song "Rocks of Bawn", and came across your website.
 Would you be able to take a few minutes and look at my website www.rocksofbawn.com?
 I believe the poet Patrick Kelly, of Cashel, Ireland wrote this poem.
 I would value your opinion of my ideas.
On May 27, 2008 I received an email from "My new best friend", Dennis Lien, of the University of Minnesota, (who had been trying to find their copy of the book "Poems From Connemara" for me).  He said that he had found the book, at long last.  He looked in it and found that YES, INDEED, the poem "THE ROCKS OF BAWN" IS IN THE BOOK!  I was absolutely elated!  Many, many thanks to you, Dennis.  I now have a copy of said book and below are the original words to this poem.

THE ROCKS OF BAWN
written by Mr. Patrick Kelly, 1879-1940,
of Cashel-in-Connemara, Ireland

"Oh, rise up, Piper Sweeney--"
The woman's voice was sweet;
The piper took his pipes and stick
And followed thro' the street.
As he was first so he was last
From clear daylight till dawn--
He said: "We won't be able
To plough the rocks of Bawn."

All weary walked young Sweeney,
The woman went before:
At high-noon sun he stopped to play
Beside her father's door.
Her father came in anger loud
And drove him from his lawn--
Said she: "I go with Sweeney
To plough the rocks of Bawn."

She stayed her steps when day was nigh,
She loosed her golden hair--
"I bid you look in yonder well
And say what dream is there."
Young Sweeney looked and he was pale:
He saw a splendid dawn--
"Oh, lady, are we able
To plough the rocks of Bawn?"

She bound her hair, she took his hand--
"Now turn you home," said she,
"And rest and wait - 'tis my command--
For Ireland will be free."
She kissed his hand, she drew her cloak
Against the chilling dawn--
"I'll meet you, boy, and by and by,
All on the rocks of Bawn."

"What seek you, Piper Sweeney?
King William rides this way."
"I seek a woman fair and young
That I to her may play.
I looked at noon into a well,
A Queen she walked her lawn:
And I shall meet her by and by,
All on the rocks of Bawn."

Thank you, Mary Hamley
Albuquerque, New Mexico  email: MNAJPA@aol.com

(Note: Mary, Thanks for your interesting email and the variant lyrics to Rocks of Bawn. That makes four versions that are going around!
Here is a songwriting workshop that I did on the song that you may not have seen, which contains links to the other variations:

Genius, Masterpiece, Criticism and 'THE ROCKS OF BAWN'
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dwomen/files/nlSept1407.html#anchor1183426

In the Peter Sarsfield version, there are these notes:
‘Sam Henry in 'Songs of the People' (1923-39) comments that it took two years searching to obtain the words and that Pat Magill, the famous author, told him that he heard the song in Strabane Fair where it was sold as a broadside. Henry also tells us that Bawn or Bawnboy is in Co. Cavan. In Dominic Behan's 'Ireland Sings' (1965) his notes on The Rocks of Bawn say that the man who wrote this song was Martin Swiney who hadn't died all that long ago.’
This note indicates perhaps the date of the song preceeded Kelly’s version.
It is interesting in Kelly’s variation that the lyrics are primarily a love song with only a passing nod to the political overtones of the other versions.
The segue, in the fourth verse, when reference is made to ‘for Ireland will be free,’ feels almost slightly forced and if you removed that line, the lyric would read consistently as a love lyric. Also, the image of ‘The Rocks of Bawn’ as a metaphor for an impossible labour isnt really developed as in the other versions. It’s almost as if this version might have been written assuming that the listener already was familiar with the previous version where this theme had been developed. Hard to say which came  first here, the chicken or the egg. Just about any of them could have been the original source and later adapted with additional lyrics.

Here are some further comments of Mary’s . . . .  

Thank you, Joe.
I've seen that notation regarding Sam Henry in many websites, and have been diligently searching the internet for clips from the newspapers.
I've just this afternoon, emailed the Libraay of Congress, USA, for permission to borrow the Sam Henry collection (they have 2 sets).
I wanted to read his research notes, and the version he printed. I figured, that if Patrick Kelly actually wrote it, it could have been on broadsides in the 1920's, (I've also requested the Library at Arizon University to look in their copy of "Ballads" to see if the poem is in it...published 1922) and then... Sam Henry may not have been able to find the words easily, as--please correct me if I'm wrong--he was from Northern Ireland, and Mr. Kelly was from Western Galway.  If it was written in 1922---there was a little bit of "strife" happening at the time on the island! It's interesting to see your take on the poem as a love song.  I didn't even think of that.  I saw it primarily as a ...I can't find the right words...dedication to Sweeney, honoring his work to help rid Ireland (the lady fair) of the rocks of bawn (English rule).  I never looked at it your way.  (I need to keep a more open mind!) I would really love to hear what else you may come up with! Thank you--for taking the time! Mary

 . . . .and a letter from Nicky Rossiter, the writer from Ireland who reviewed by last album and my version of ‘Rocks of Bawn’:

Joe,
The song usually associated with the title is much shorter.  From these notes on Mudcat I deduce that the song is relatively new and may have been adapted from the poem. Most singers class it as traditional or author unknown - including Christy Moore. "The following notes were written by A.L. LLoyd on the record by Seosamh Ó hÉanaí called Joe Heaney Irish Traditional Songs in Gaelic and English, Topic (1963) 12T 91 :
In 1652, Oliver Cromwell "subdued" Ireland, a process that often recurred in history before and since. Many Catholic landholders were dispossessed and forced to take their families and belongings beyond the Shannon, to the hard country of Connaught. While English and Scottish Protestant newcomers settled on the lusher vacated farms, the dispossessed Irish hacked out a thin living among the "rocks, bogs, salt water and seaweed" of the barren west coast. In the ensuing centuries, to many a farm-hand even the British Army offerred better prospects than the stony plough-defying soil of Mayo, Galway and Clare. The lament of the Connaught ploughman has become one of the most popular of all Irish folk songs, seemingly within the last few years. The older folk music collections of Petrie and P. W. Joyce do not include The Rocks of Bawn, and even O Lochlainn's Irish Street Ballads (1939), though it presents the words, does not attach to them the hexatonic tune that has now become so familiar."  Nicky
http://www.rambles.net/dolce_wind06.html


 . . . .and a letter from Maireid Sullivan, the singer who I originally learned the song from:

Hi Joe,
I just took some time to look at the interesting new research link you sent for Rocks of Bawn, I really like the version, "Oh, rise up, Bard of Connacht", ( from this link:
http://rocksofbawn.com/sweeneyconnection.html) which describes witnessing the writing of the song Rocks of Bawn, and could easily share the same melody.  The other version of the song there is also unfamiliar to me. I don't think anyone can say it is the 'original' version, because the songs were passed on by word of mouth. Certainly, it could be the earliest in print, but that isn't so long ago. The metaphor of the "Rocks of Bawn" could have been used by many writers then. It must have been one of many well known metaphors used to represent the dream of reclamation of communally owned lands throughout Ireland during the time that the English confiscated them and threw the people off their lands (the first experiment with Malthusian concepts of population control - around the time Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest, and the idea of the noble savage were 'introduced' in England).

I always thought the metaphor of the Rocks of Bawn was a 'visual' reference to the 'concentration camp' setting in reference to the vast white-gray limestone rock landscape of the Burren, Co. Clare, which is actually within the Province of Munster, but on the border with Connacht. This is where the Irish were pushed when their lands were confiscated by the English - and they could only subsist the newly introduced potato in that soil, but millions died (–while the English were exporting abundant Irish harvests all over Europe).

These are all excellent examples of the "struggles" from a people who could be sent to the Australia if they were caught in public speaking their native language or mentioning the name of Ireland in patriotic songs and poetry, so they used metaphors, often referring to reflections and dreams of reclaiming their 'commons' and ousting the "alien spawn" - meaning the English.

Btw, Irish investigative journalist Kevin Cahill's book "Who Owns The World" (sample chapters here: http://www.who-owns-the-world.com/ ) reveals that when Ireland became a Free State in 1922, the ownership of land was simply transferred from the English Crown to the Irish Free State, so, now the Irish, like all Commonwealth countries, including AU, can only have an "interest in an estate" e.g a leasehold of freehold, rather than a deed. All Commonwealth land "absolutely" belongs to the Queen of England. Mabo overturned English Common Law in Australia, so Aboriginal Native Title is the only actual deed to ownership in AU. :)

I've just finished re-reading the entire Anglo Saxon Chronicles which gives an annual report from 1AD to 1154AD. (Bede's Ecclesiastical History gives better coverage of the history of Roman occupation, up to 731.) In a nutshell, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle provides excellent insight into William I, the Conqueror, in 1066, as the first to introduce EU Feudal system, when he 'enclosed' the commons in England. In 1167, King Henry made the first English claim of rights to Irish land when Strongbow was given lands in return for mercenary services to the King of Linster. King Henry's argument is that Strongbow was his subject, therefore his lands 'belonged' to his king.
The Rocks of Bawn is one of many, many songs dealing with the struggle to reclaim the Irish "commons" because before the English "Ascendancy", the land was shared 'in common' by the various tribes. Thanks for this song. I'm looking forward to singing it!  Cheers! Mairéid
http://www.maireid.com

The Teachy of Nietzsche  No.2
Culture and the State – let no one be deceived on this point – are antagonists. Nietzsche


IN  MELBOURNE:

MULTICULTURAL DAY - Yarra Yarra Kooroboree

WEGOBEALL (Press) Release
Hi All,
 We can change the climate if we unite and grow for Multicultural (Woman, man and child) peace, harmony and holistic sustainability. Let's be more legal, constituted and sustainable. Please come to grow and make herstory at the launch of the Multicultural symbol/icon/flag of this country and earth.
 Help celebrate the 5th anniversary of the passing of Australia's First Treaty by planting a Multicultural garden at the herstorical site. For those who want to participate in a working bee at the site 2 weeks prior to Multicultural Day, it will be sunday Oct 26th at 11am. Bring garden tools & lunch. Multicultural Day will be saturday November the 8th at 11am. Please circulate amongst community, friends and family collective. Looking forward to continuing the journey of life. Love WARRINGAH
(for further information: Daniel Kiag
danielkiag@hotmail.com

No to ID (intervention & detention) & nationality
Equals yes to humanity & sovereignty.
It’s now time to unite for one MAS©TM
A womentality with the gap closed for all life.
Let’s Reinitiate, Rethink, Reinvest and
Re-establish with the law:lore of our country.

SATURDAY 8th November 2008
PLACE : JINDI BULUK,
YARRA YARRA,
WOIWURRUNG Country,
Burnley Gardens, Uni. of Melb.
F.R. Smith Drive
Melways Ref 45 A12
TIME : 11:00 am
ACTIVITIES : BYO Food to share , Clapsticks (Music)
Picks & Post Hole Shovels
Family Community Planting Day
Drug & Alcohol Free
CONTACT : E australias_first_treaty@hotmail.com
M 0409 202 037
Authorised and Initiated by
● BARAK ● NARRANDJERI ● WARRINGAH ● MERRIWURRUNG
● Daniel Kiag ● Craig McGrath

FAVOURITE GRATUITOUS MENTION OF THE WEEK
" Master Pizza, 30th Street, Tampa, Florida. A bunch of drunken Italian relatives reading one of my less-than-serious poems ALOUD between pitchers of beer. It was like a Joe Dolce moment." Michael LaRocca, Psychic


What I’m Reading This Week
The Nietzsche Calendar – a birthday present from my daughter Blaise. First edition, published in 1912 – a daily calendar with a quote a day from Friedrich. I have peppered a few of the juicy ones throughout the newsletter.

Forgotten Fatherland – the story of Elisabeth Nietzsche, Friedrich’s sister, who left Germany, pre-WWII, with a group of Ayran white racists  to establish Nueva Germania in Paraguay. When Hitler came to power, and Friedrich had long been committed to a mental hospital, Elisabeth returned to Germany and persuaded the Nazis that select writings of her brother could be ‘edited’ and used to promote the Nazi movement.  Nietzsche, like Wagner, never belonged on the same shelf as Hitler and the Nazis, and was only jerryrigged later to fit there  Obviously, the following is something they couldn’t use:
‘ What Europe owes to the Jews? - Many things, good and bad, and above all, one thing of the nature both of the best and of the worst: the grand style in morality, the fearfulness and majesty of infinite demands, of infinite significations, the whole Romanticism and sublimity of moral questionableness – and consequentially, the most attractive, ensnaring, and exquisite element in those iridescences and allurements to life, in the after-sheen of which the sky of our European culture, its evening sky, now glows – perhaps glows out. For this we artists among the spectators and philosophers are grateful to the Jews.’ Nietzsche

What I’m Watching This Week
THE UNIT – Season One – dvd drama series created for television by David Mamet, based on the book ‘ Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit by Eric Haney. Retired army command sergeant-major Haney paints a vivid portrait of the first decade of the elite U.S. counterterrorist unit, Delta Force, which has never had more than a few hundred men on its roster. An early volunteer for the force, he became one of the handful who survived dauntingly rigorous physical and psychological tests to join its initial cadre of men who then were dedicated to special-operations warfare. Delta Force was created by Army Col. Charles Beckwith in the late 1970s and based on the British Special Air Service counter terrorism unit.

What I’m Listening to This Week
FAURE – Requiem – Andre Cluytens.  Another lovely birthday present!

The Teachy of Nietzsche  No.3
The best thing I can say in honour of Shakespeare the man is that he believed in Brutus and cast not a shadow of suspicion on the kind of virtue which Brutus represents. It is to him that Shakespeare consecrated his best tragedy – it is still called by a wrong name. Nietzsche

BARAK OBAMA OFFICIAL WEBSITE

http://www.barackobama.com

 

Clarity on Candidates
By Paul Cooper
 
I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight...

If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic,different.'
If you grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, you're a quintessential American story.
If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
Graduate from Harvard Law School and you are unstable.
Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded. If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer,
become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review,
create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters,
spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor,
spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign
Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive (and according to the actuarial tables, a > 30% chance of succeeding the president during your first term).
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you'r e not a real Christian.
If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your
disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your un-wed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.
If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent  America 's.
If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI
conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secessi on of Alaska  from the USA , your family is extremely admirable.
 
OK, much clearer now.
(thanks to Russell Hannah)

The Teachy of Nietzsche  No.4
Buddha says: ‘Do not flatter thy benefactor.” Let no one repeat this saying in a Christian church – it immediately purifies the air of all Christianity. Nietzsche

MY FIJI  HOLIDAY WITH JOHN McCAIN

It was just before John McCain's last run at the presidential nomination in 2000 that my husband and I vacationed in Turtle Island in Fiji with John McCain, Cindy, and their children, including Bridget (their adopted Bangladeshi child).

It was not our intention, but it was our misfortune, to be in close quarters with John McCain for almost a week, since Turtle Island has a small number of bungalows and their focus on communal meals force all vacationers who are there at the same time to get to know each other intimately.

He arrived at our first group meal and started reading quotes from a pile of William Faulkner books with a forest of Post-Its sticking out of them. As an English Literature major myself, my first thought was "if he likes this so much, why hasn't he memorized any of this yet?"

I soon realized that McCain actually thought we had come on vacation to be a volunteer audience for his "readings" which then became a regular part of each meal.  Out of politeness, none of the vacationers initially protested at this intrusion into their blissful holiday, but people's buttons definitely got pushed as the readings continued day after day.

Unfortunately this was not his only contribution to our mealtime entertainment.  He waxed on during one meal about how Indo-Chine women had the best figures and that our American corn-fed women just couldn't meet up to this standard. He also made it a point that all   of us should stop Cindy from having dessert as her weight was too high and made a few comments to Amy, the 25 year old wife of the honeymooning couple from Nebraska that she should eat less as she needed to lose weight.

McCain's appreciation of the beauty of Asian women was so great that David, the American economist, had to move his Thai wife to the other side of the table from McCain as McCain kept aggressively flirting with and touching her.

Needless to say I was irritated at his large ego and his rude behavior towards his wife and other women, but decided he must have some redeeming qualities as he had adopted a handicapped child from Bangladesh. I asked him about this one day, and his response was shocking: "Oh, that was Cindy's idea  I didn't have anything to do with it. She just went and adopted this thing without even asking me.  You can't imagine how people stare when I wheel this ugly, black thing around in a shopping cart in Arizona.  No, it wasn't my idea at all."

I actively avoided McCain after that, but unfortunately one day he engaged me in a political discussion which soon got us on the topic of the active US bombing of Iraq at that time.  I was shocked when he said, "If I was in charge, I would nuke Iraq to teach them a lesson". Given McCain's personal experience with the horrors of war, I had expected a more balanced point of view. I commented on the tragic consequences of the nuclear attacks on Japan during WWII  but no, he was not to be dissuaded.  He went on to say that if it was up to him he would have dropped many more nuclear bombs on Japan.  I rapidly extricated myself from this conversation as I could tell that his experience being tortured as a POW didn't seem to have mellowed out his perspective, but rather had made him more aggressive and vengeful towards the world.

My final encounter with McCain was on the morning that he was leaving Turtle Island.  Amy and I were happily eating pancakes when McCain arrived and told Amy that she shouldn't be having pancakes because she needed to lose weight. Amy burst into tears at this abusive comment.  I felt fiercely protective of Amy and immediately turned to McCain and told him to leave her alone.  He became very angry and abusive towards me, and said, "Don't you know who I am."  I looked him in the face and said, "Yes, you are the biggest asshole I have ever met" and headed back to my cabin.  I am happy to say that later that day when I arrived at lunch I was given a standing ovation by all the guests for having stood up to McCain's bullying.

Although I have shared my McCain story informally with friends, this is the first time I am making this public.  I almost did so in 2000, when McCain first announced his bid for the Republican nomination, but it soon became apparent that George Bush was the shoo-in candidate and so I did not act then. However, now that there is a very real possibility that McCain could be elected as our next president, I feel it is my duty as an American citizen to share this story.

I can't imagine a more scary outcome for America than that this abusive, aggressive man should lead our nation. I have observed him in intimate surroundings as he really is, not how the media portrays him to be.  If his attitudes toward women and his treatment of his own family are even a small indicator of his real personality, then I shudder to think what will happen to America were he to be elected as our President.
  --
Mary-Kay Gamel
Professor of Classics, Comparative Literature, and Theater Arts
Cowell College
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California 95064
(thanks to Alicia Bay Laurel)

The Teachy of Nietzsche  No.5
From being people who merely pray we must become people who bless. Nietzsche


GOOGLE’S 10th ANNIVERSARY
To celebrate their 10th anniversary,  Google have made available their search engine with the same database as it had in 2001.  
Any searches you do only bring up results that were around in 2001 - no iPod or Youtube!
http://www.google.com/search2001.html
(thanks to Andrew Bicknell )


Nobel Honours Man Who Told Bush to "Please Go Away"
by Wolfgang Kerler

NEW YORK - Paul Krugman, a professor at Princeton University who is best known for his New York Times columns -- frequently involving scathing assaults on the policies of the George W. Bush administration -- was awarded the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on international trade and economic geography. Princeton economics and international affairs professor Paul Krugman listens during his introduction as the 2008 Nobel prize winner in economics at a new conference on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, October 13, 2008.
 (Tim Shaffer/Reuters)"To be absolutely, totally honest I thought this day might come someday, but I was absolutely convinced it wasn't going to be this day," Krugman, a 55-year-old U.S. national, said in an interview with The Times Monday. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which administers the award, said it was bestowed on Krugman "for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity".
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/14-1


Happy People Dancing on Planet Earth  
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080722.html
(thanks to Ramon Sender)

The Teachy of Nietzsche  No.6
Whoever gives advice to a sick person acquires a feeling of superiority over them, whether the advice be accepted or rejected. Hence proud and sensitive sick persons hate advisors more than their sickness. Nietzsche


Recycling Stats

1. recycling one tonne of paper you save 13 trees, 2.5 barrels of oil, 4100kWh of electricity, 4 cubic metres of landfill and 31,780 litres of water.
2. by recycling one aluminium can, you save enough energy to run a television set for three hours.
3. every year each Australian sends around 3.5 kilograms of steel cans to landfill - that's enough steel to make 40,000 fridges!
4. Average Australian produces 1 tonne of rubbish per year.
5. It takes 125 recycled plastic milk bottles to manufacture a 140- litre wheelie bin from recycled plastic.
6. Plastic can take up o 500 years to decompose.
7. Australians send 34 printer cartridges to landfill every minute.
8. Australians lead the world in newspaper recycling at a rate of 75%.
9. Approx 9 out of 10 sheets of office paper go to landfill rather than being recycled.
10. Plastic containers can ge recycled into plastic wood for picnic tables and park benches, carpet fibre, clothing, automotive parts, paint brushes and more plastic bottles.

 

SONGWRITING WORKSHOP 27

Benjamin Zander
‘Classical Music with Shining Eyes’

I'm going to turn my songwriting workshop this week over to guest tutor,  Benjamin Zander. Download this 20 minute video and you will not be sorry.
Required reading for keyboard players. Since 1979, Benjamin Zander has been the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic. He is known around the world as both a guest conductor and a speaker on leadership -- and he's been known to do both in a single performance.
    "Arguably the most accessible communicator about classical music since Leonard Bernstein, Zander moves audiences with his unbridled passion and enthusiasm." London Sunday Times
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html
(thanks to teana amor.)

~ FAMOUS DOLCES OF THE WORLD ~

Dolce of Worms (12th c.)

Dolce of Worms came from the elite leadership class of medieval German Jewry. She was the daughter of a prominent family and the wife a a major rabbinic figure, Rabbi Eleazar ben Judah of Worms, also known as the Roqeah (the Perfumer) after the title of one of his most famous works. Dolce and her husband were also members of a small circle of Jews distinguished for their piety, the Hasidic Ahskenaz, the German-Jewish Pietists. Dolce was a major banker and moneylender who supported her household financially. She was killed by thugs who broke into her house and were unable to negotiate what they considered agreeable terms for a loan. Seeing the valuables in her home, they robbed and savagely murdered Dolce and her two daughters, Bellette and Hannah.

RECIPE

Uptown Chicken with Red-Eye Gravy
             
4 Serves

 Ingredients:
1 1/2 tb  flour
(extra table for gravy)   
1/2 c Chopped lean country ham
1/2 ts Paprika    
1/2 c Strong brewed coffee
1/4 ts Salt    
1/4 c Water
1/8 ts Pepper    
1 tb Brown sugar
4 Skinned boned chicken breast    
8 Portabella mushroom slices
2 ts butter    
1 tb  flour
Vegetable cooking spray    
1 tb Water

Combine the flour, paprika, salt and pepper in a large zip-top heavy-duty plastic bag.
Add the chicken; seal bag, and shake to coat.
Melt margarine in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.
Add chicken, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
Combine ham, coffee, 1/4 cup water, and sugar; pour over chicken.
Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes.
Add mushrooms; cover and simmer 5 minutes or until chicken is done and mushrooms are tender.
Remove chicken and mushrooms with a slotted spoon, and place on a serving platter; set aside, and keep warm.
Combine 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl, and stir with a wire whisk;
add to cooking liquid in skillet.
Bring to a boil, and cook 1 minute or until thickened, stirring constantly with a wire whisk.
Pour over chicken and serve.

The Key to Everything


Is there anything I can do  
or has everything been done  
or do  
you prefer somebody else to do  
it or don't  
you trust me to do  
it right or is it hopeless and no one can do  
a thing or do  
you suppose I don't  
really want to do  
it and am just saying that or don't  
you hear me at all or what?

You're  
waiting for  
the right person the doctor or  
the nurse the father or  
the mother or  
the person with the name you keep  
mumbling in your sleep  
that no one ever heard of there's no one  
named that really  
except yourself maybe

If I knew what your  
name was I'd  
prove it's your  
name spelled backwards or  
twisted in some way the one you  
keep mumbling but you  
won't tell me your  
name or  
don't you know it  
yourself that's it  
of course you've  
forgotten or  
never quite knew it or  
weren't willing to believe it  
 
Then there is something I  
can do I  
can find your name for you  
that's the key to everything once you'd  
repeat it clearly you'd  
come awake you'd  
get up and walk knowing where you're  
going where you  
came from

And you'd  
love me  
after that or would you  
hate me?  
no once you'd  
get there you'd  
remember and love me  
of course I'd  
be gone by then I'd  
be far away.

~ May Swenson  ~
(From Another Animal by May Swenson.
Published by Scribner. Copyright © 1954 the Literary Estate of May Swenson. )

Newsletter Archive  and  Recipe Index
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dwomen/files/newsletterarchive.html


NEWS!  Joe Dolce new CD, 'The Wind Cries Mary,' chosen as ALBUM OF THE YEAR by 97.1 FM, 3MDR Radio, Melbourne!

" . . . He rewards those looking for Irish folk with a marvelous rendition of "Rocks of Bawn." He is not afraid to experiment with the traditional canon, and on this track it works wonders, giving the old classic a new sheen and opening it up to potential new generations.."  Nicky Rossiter,  Rambles


“Joe Dolce is the finest recording artist of the 20th Century. Musician, philosopher and master of political satire. How is it possible that Nietzsche wrote "Zarathustra" having never met Joe Dolce?” Todd Feely (UK) Amazon.com


Listen to some excerpts via the link below:
Joe Dolce Electronic Press Kit
http://www.sonicbids.com/JoeDolce



THE FINAL HURRAH

The Hotel Bill

A husband and wife are traveling by car from Brisbane to Melbourne .
After almost ten hours on the road, they're too tired to continue
And they decide to stop for a rest. They stop at a nice hotel and take a
Room, but they only plan to sleep for four hours and then get back on the
Road.
When they check out four hours later, the desk clerk; hands them a bill for
$450.00.
The man explodes and demands to know why the charge is so high. He tells the
Clerk although it's a nice hotel; the rooms certainly aren't worth $450.00.
When the clerk tells him $450.00 is the standard rate, the man insists on
Speaking to the Manager.
The Manager appears, listens to the man, and then explains that the hotel
Has an Olympic-sized pool and a huge conference center that were available
For the husband and wife to use.
'But we didn't use them,' the man complains.
'Well, they are here, and you could have,' explains the Manager. He goes on
To explain they could have taken in one of the shows for which the hotel is
Famous. 'The best entertainers from New York , Hollywood and Las Vegas
Perform here,' the Manager says.
'But we didn't go to any of those shows, 'complains the man again.
'Well, we have them, and you could have,' the Manager replies.
No matter what amenity the Manager mentions! , the man replies, 'But we
Didn't use it!'
The Manager is unmoved, and eventually the man gives up and agrees to pay.
He writes a check and gives it to the Manager.
The Manager is surprised when he looks at the cheque.
'But sir,' he says, this cheque is only made out for $50.00.'
'That's correct,' says the man. 'I charged you $400.00 for sleeping with my
Wife.'
'But I didn't!' exclaims the Manager.
Well, too bad,' the man replies. 'She was here and you could have....'
(Thanks to Dai Woosnam and his brother, Graham)