How Wrong Would it Be?

How wrong would it be to suggest that Casey Sheehan’s death was the best thing that ever happened to his mother, Cindy? To see her reveling in her new celebrity is to see a woman who has found her place and calling in life, no matter that it came not only at the cost of her but also in spite of whatever the volunteer would have wanted to have said in his own memory. See, no one--not even his mother--can claim divine knowledge of what Casey would want to say to us if he could still speak.

Would he still support the effort and be proud of his service? Or, would he urge others to protest?

Cindy doesn’t need to know what he would have said, since his death gifted her with the moral authority to scold anyone who disagrees with her. She can spout the looniest stuff and people who would dissent are cruel for not respecting her grief. It’s the direct opposite of those on the right who treat any criticism of the President as being un-patriotic: a ridiculous shield that lends authority where it doesn’t necessarily exist.

No one is above criticism, not even the grieving mother of a wartime casualty.

Sheehan is a leftwing loony of the first order and always has been. While I won’t suggest that she hasn’t suffered and while I can’t imagine that she would willingly have traded her for her fame, I would say that this has worked out pretty well for her and not so well for Casey. His memory won’t be of his selfless service or sacrifice as a volunteer in the United States military; his memory will always live in the shadow of his mother. Her persistence and garish media manipulation have all served her own purposes in causes that were formed well before Casey had died.

Casey’s death was what she needed to put attention on her causes and give her cover to say whatever she wanted while maintaining credibility and standing in the sight of the live sex show public.

I’m sure she would trade it all in to have her son back, but I’m equally sure that she happily pats herself on the back for all the sacrifices she continues to make in service to her causes. There is a religious zeal and self-righteousness involved, where she continually reminds us all of how much she has lost and how her campout is really her way of serving so that other parents don’t have to see their die, too. “Look at me,” she seems to say, “and see how much I’m willing to give up for you.”

Her reward, at the end of the day, is her sacrifice.

So, how wrong would it be to say that her son’s death was the best thing that ever happened to this attention seeking, paranoid and self-righteous woman?

Because, let’s be honest, her desire to question the President isn’t really in any hope that he could answer her questions. He’s already done that. No, his answers simply aren’t the one that she believes in her heart to be true; they aren’t the answers she’s already emotionally invested herself in, and, therefore, they must not be the “right” answers. She doesn’t want a conversation, she wants to scream and yell and continue her very public tantrum.

She’s already had her moment to meet the man; she’s already heard his answers.

Yet, for a person who believes that our “country isn’t worth dying for,” it’s inconceivable that her would choose to risk that sacrifice. For a person who believes that the neocon cabal that controls the country allowed the attacks on 9/11, it is just as implausible that we needed to act against terrorists in Afghanistan or in hopes of changing the political structures of the Middle East by toppling a corrupt regime in Iraq.

And, ultimately, if she thinks that George Bush represents the threat to the world, does it matter what he says or what he feels? She has already given herself to hating him on such a visceral level that it would be something like me asking for a meeting with Osama bin Laden--I don’t care what he has to say, I just really want my chance to take a shot at the guy.

Maybe I’m being heartless. Maybe some of this is just dead wrong. But, as it relates to a woman who continues to pimp her dead son’s memory to support her own agenda, I really don’t care. Defend the words and thoughts that she supports--that the US isn’t a democracy, that without blogs to protect us we would be living in a fascist state, that our government allowed the attacks on 9/11 just to give us an excuse to invade countries in the Middle East, and all the rest of the garbage that she spews--but don’t bother to defend her. At least, not to me.

Strings for the Deaf

The String Quartet Tribute to Queens of the Stone Age

Compulsive purchases are so often wrong that I nearly put this one back on the shelf. I'm glad I didn't.

Following in the footsteps of Apocalyptica, this string quartet transforms the music of a hard rock band into something resembling chamber music. Queens of the Stone Age, the world's most famous stoner rock band, is best known for their bouncy pop rock song, "No One Knows," and have been making sludgy heavy metal music for years.

The droning nature of their music (referred to as robot rock by Queens cornerstone, Josh Homme) makes them a surprise candidate for a string quartet. Luckily, the instrumental representation of the vocals adds complexity and depth to what would otherwise be repetitive and bland.

While I am in no position to make judgments about the skills or renown of the musicians involved, the music is a joy to hear. The chaturbate rooms sound is warm and involving, although on cheaper speakers the tone of the violin quickly becomes tinny. This is a disk best experienced with good quality speakers or headphones.

Whereas the opener, "First it Giveth," feels a touch abrupt in execution, most of the rest of the album works to capture the aggression of the originals without sacrificing the grace and beauty of the strings. "Hanging Tree" is one of the most harsh songs on Songs for the Deaf, on Strings it becomes a more gentle and nuanced things. "Mosquito Song" translates particularly well, as does "Go With the Flow." Both are gorgeous and surprisingly intricate. On occasion--"Song for the Deaf," for example--an electric guitar fills out the sound behind the cello and violin. The trick is used only to supplement the overall sound, but never to dominate the song.

The finest song on the album is the well-developed rendition of "Gonna Leave You." The layers and the structure are perfect. Its only downfall is that at two minutes, forty-seven seconds, listeners are likely to want more.

The most notably bad thing about the album isn’t the occasional song that doesn’t translate well; the worst thing is the copywriting on the packaging. "Queens of the Stone Age have dished out a new taste of rock and roll that has grabbed the ears and attention of folks young and old, picking up many new fans along the way."

Hideous.

Aside from that lapse in taste, this is a fun, new way to hear the music of Queens of the Stone Age. Recommended.

Guess Who: Ten Point Review

Ashton Kutcher, for possibly the first time in his career, plays against type. And it works. I actually liked him when the calculated stupidity is turned down.

Bernie Mac, playing precisely to type, is still funny as hell.

Mac does blustery but charming extremely well.

Still, the movie is predictable.

And typical.

And one of the plot points just doesn’t seem worth all the furor which chips away at the movie’s tiny store of credibility.

The scene where Kutcher’s character is goaded into telling racial jokes is actually done very well.

One of the great thins about comedies is that they can deliver a message with the kind of gentle grace that self-conscious dramas can rarely achieve. They can do their best to demonstrate truths without having to hit us over the head with their messages. But here’s the problem: is jasmine live interracial dating really that big of a deal any more? Is it really that unusual or remarkable? Perhaps it is, but it just isn’t one of those things that rouses much interest in me.

Luckily, there are a few scenes that are laugh out loud funny to compensate for the flat parts--just a few, though.

This movie just barely does better than tread water. It isn’t great, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected. In essence, by exceeding my exceptionally low expectations, I found myself enjoying the small charms that it had to offer.

Network Problem

Okay, I got home, sat down to check my favorite bloggers, news sites, and stuff, and found a problem. I couldn't get to any of the mu.nu sites or Instapundit. That wasn't that big of a deal--occasional network issues happen to everyone, right?

Then I couldn't get to Dean, Michelle.

Huh. I tried some of my other favorite sites and found a good number of them not loading.

Okay, Network Utility, here I come. Pinging Instapundit works just fine, but trying to load it in my browser on either the laptop or the desktop fails. Okay, how about a traceroute? Traceroute fails ugly. After 10 hops (when it reaches newnet-2.border1.sjepnap.net (the IP is 66.151.157.146)), it just flounders around trying to find a route, but failing.

What is the network problem (that has persisted from early this afternoon until now--at least five hours)?

Okay, whatever your theory might be, let me throw in a little wrench: pinging Dean and the traceroute to Dean both work, but loading the site still fails.

Now, for the worst part, while I can get to resurrectionsong and all the sites associated with this server, I can't get to sites that I'm working on that reside on another server with the same hosting company.

I'm a little confused.

Consider the Birds

Sooner or later, I'll get around to writing a proper review, but for now I'll just suggest that you run out and get Woven Hand's Consider the Birds. That is, of course, assuming you can find it; it took me the better part of a weekend to find a local store that had the CD in stock.

The quickest way to describe the music: Country inflected, glowering, powerful music with an omnipresent Christian message.

A little more explanation: this is the, mostly, solo project from 16 Horsepower's David Eugene Edwards--a fire and brimstone singer that captures a kind of music that you're unlikely to hear in any other release.

Extremely popular in parts of Europe--and everything that Britney Spears is not. Namely, talented, unique, and relevant.

As a note: for Denver fans, Woven hand will be playing Bender's Tavern on the 25th of this month. I plan to be there--once I figure out where Bender's Tavern is...

ResurrectionSong: Help Wanted

I have Expression Engine installed and I've begun setting it up in hopes of making the transition to the new software next week. The next two steps in getting the site ready will be creating accounts for the current authors of this site and then preparing a new template for EE. Following that, I will attempt to import all of the entries from MT--and, if that works, I'll kill off the archived files between AfricaBlog and ResurrectionSong.

I've decided that I will happily sacrifice my search engine stats in hopes of simplifying my life and solving the problem of comment spam.

Which leads me to the recruitment drive. I will be creating accounts for Don and Jerry, but I would love to open the doors to new writers. If you would like to contribute to ResurrectionSong, these are the requirements:

You have to either be a regular commenter on this site or be willing to submit a sample of your writing. While my writing isn't what anyone would consider great, one thing that I've been proud of is the overall tone and ability of the writing on this site.

You have to possess an open mind and a willingness to be challenged. I will be giving authors the authority to ban commenters from the site, but that is, ahem, the nuclear option. If you want to state your opinion just so that other people can agree with you, then you're missing the point of this blog. I encourage the conversation that happens when any number of reasonable people decide to disagree politely.

I would prefer to welcome new voices--that is, people who don't have their own blogs--to the group. I will, however, consider other bloggers who can make a convincing case as to why they would fit in well at ResurrectionSong.

This will be an ongoing recruitment drive, but if you want to be approved and writing when the new EE-driven site is launched next week, get your request in now.

Email me with all the relevant information and the request. If I agree that you'll be a good fit, I'll send you the login and password information.

Diversity of thought counts as does diversity of experience. I would love to have a regular female voice, for example; this isn't because I want to fill a quota but because the difference in life experience will bring a different kind of view and voice to the site.