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A Short List of Things I Would Rather Be Doing Instead of A 10-page Analysis of Ani DeFranco's "Not A Pretty Girl"
michael
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tax credit for home buyers
michael
Well, if this passes, this could end up being the best time ever to buy a house.
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Notes From an Undecided Voter #1 - Health Care
Chad
Yes, it’s true. I am an honest-to-goodness undecided. I don’t want to get into the reasons that I am undecided as much as get my thoughts on screen as to what it would take to make me stop being an undecided voter. This first one is directed at the Senator from Illinois.
Hey there Barackster.
So, listen: Health care in this country is messed up, and everyone knows it. However, when I hear your compatriots talk about how they’re gonna fix it for us, my eyes start to glaze over a bit. To my formerly Republican ears, it sounds a lot like you guys want to fix the blame for our national health care problems squarely on “Someone Else.” Big Insurance. Bit Pharmaceuticals. Big Fast Food.
I can’t remember how many times I heard something that sounded like, “I met Jack and Jane Americana recently in Clicheville, Indiana. Jack is a (Insert Stereotypical Midwestern Job Here), and Jane is raising (insert national average of offspring here). Jack and Jane work hard, play fair, pay their taxes, and yet they can’t afford health care because Large American Company X is evil and shafting them.”
Here’s what you’re not mentioning: Jack and Jane Americana are fat. The health care problem will never, ever be solved until we start giving the people of this nation a little wake up call. We are the enemy. We are the problem. No nationalized health care is gonna fix that. No corporation is going to fix that. I realize that calling perspective voters fat-tubs-of-crap is not a great way to win votes, but it will win mine.
Yes, Health Care is a mess. Yes, some corporations are just downright evil (this means you, Blue Cross). However, step one of fixing our national health care system is not shifting blame, it’s a little tough love.
So c’mon, Barack, Tell it like it is. Go sink a few more 3-pointers, tell Jack and Jane that you love and accept them, and acknowledge that there are problems that are bigger than they can solve by themselves and that we all need to come together for a change, but that they also need to get the eff up off the couch. You mocked John McCain for his “Nation of Whiners” comment, but you need to tell the truth if I’m gonna vote for you.
Oh, and also I’m coming for you next, Senator McBadass.
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Know Your British Isles
michael
I didn’t. Now you can!
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Funkabee
Chad
So,
Addison Road has long been absent of straight ahead punditry, and believe me when I tell you that I have little interest in changing that fact. However, I am on a political quest this year, so from time to time I may start conversations about candidates. Let’s not forget that Addison Road is a virtual summer BBQ, so if politics come up, just make sure that you can have a beer around the fire pit when it’s over.
I am a truly undecided voter. There is a strong possibility that I will vote for a Democrat next year for the first time in my adult life. I won’t be Hillary, but only for the reason that she seems like Nixon, willing to do or say anything to get elected. I really like Bill Richardson, and I am intrigued by Obama. Ron Paul’s grassroots movement is appealing, but I’m not convinced about the man himself. I respect Rudy, and believe that he did an amazing turnaround on NYC, but I do not believe Islamic Terrorism in and of itself is the single greatest threat facing our nation. I cannot stand Mitt Romney, because of his stupid face, and because the fact that he’s a bionic used car salesman. John McCain is pretty cool, but his teeth are unelectable. Fred Thompson (Air Traffic Control Dude from Die Hard 2 for President!) looks like a really tall, bored muppet.
Last week, during the CNN /YouTube debacle, –err– debate last week, there was Huckabee, who came off as poised, funny, competent, and endearing. Compare the three responses to this question. Guliani sounds like a Mafia henchman going to his annual confession. Romney sounds like he is still trying to sell you that ‘78 Pinto, and then there’s Huckabee. He takes a totally loaded, hot potato question, and in my opinion hits the nail square on the head.
I don’t know much else about this man, so I started poking around the tubes and I found this. I don’t care about the man’s politics anymore. Any distance-running, bass-playing presidential candidate gets my vote.
Funkabee in ‘08
I want the Huckabee camp to know that, upon his election, we the people expect August 10th, Leo Fender’s birthday, to be declared a national holiday.
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we're not gonna take it, no we're not gonna take it
michael
A campus march is being organized at APU next week to protest the firing of one of the inter-campus shuttle trolley drivers. Who was fired for getting in an accident while driving the trolley. While talking on a cell-phone. Again.
Student Activism = 1, Common Sense = 0.
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No, It's BECAUSE I'm a capitalist
michael
A portion of a conversation I had with a socialist friend, early in the morning, when they probably weren’t thinking clearly:
Socialist Friend: … which is why I think the writer’s strike is returning power to the people, which is great. Although I’m sure you probably hate the union and think this is totally evil.
Pigheaded Capitalist Me: No, actually, I think this is a good strike.
SF: what? wait, you’re a conservative, free market fanboy. How can you be in favor of the strike?
PCM: It’s because I’m a raging free market fanboy. There is no right more basic to the freedom of the market than the right to withhold goods and services. Refusing to work for less than a certain wage is a capitalist move, not a socialist one.
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Seize Him, And Make Him King
michael
Posts in the Sermon Prep: Seize Him series
- Seize Him and Make Him King
- Inappropriate Zeal
- Seize Him, And Make Him King
The service went pretty well this morning. I had a few people come up afterward and take issue with the message, but I think they were, for the most part, reacting to what they thought I was implying, not what I actually said.
Thank you for your help, as always. For those interested, here’s the audio:
Sermon Audio: October 21, 2007
And, if you’d like to follow along, here’s the manuscript. Tons of spelling errors, I know. Oh well.
Sermon Manuscript: Seize Him and Make Him King
Previous in series: Inappropriate Zeal
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Rate My Professor
michael
Well, awards season is here again, and yet again, The Michael Lee Experience has failed to win. My lowly little profile on ratemyprofessor.com failed to place in the Top 50 Highest Rated Profs, and didn’t even get nominated for Top 50 Hottest Profs. I guess I’ll have to be content with critical acclaim and a small but dedicated local fan-base.
I’m the “Of Montreal” of uni profs.
By the way, can someone tell me why Facebook hasn’t developed a professor-rating app yet? Seems like a pretty natural fit …
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Music and Ethics: With Strings Attached
michael
Posts in the Music and Ethics: Blog Dilemmas series
- Why Be Virtuous?
- Ayana and the Sacred Song
- Music and Ethics: With Strings Attached
This is another in the series of ethical questions I’m having my class work through. I had just finished writing this up when i heard on NPR that Altria is shutting down it’s philanthropic work over the next two years. Good timing! Bonus points on this one if you can tell me what book I was reading when I came up with the names.
Gordon Struan is on the board of directors for Green Valley Orchestra (GVO), a professional regional orchestra known for its innovative programming and willingness to perform new works by modern composers. Struan’s role is to maintain and develop financial donors.
GVO, like many such ensembles, is having a difficult time meeting its financial obligations. Although their concerts are well-attended, the income from concert ticket sales alone is not enough to pay the salaries of the orchestra members. Without significant donations from outside foundations and wealthy patrons, the orchestra simply could not continue to perform.
Struan is faced with a dilemma. His three largest donors all lost large sums of money in the collapse of the real estate market, and have informed him that they are no longer able to donate to the orchestra. Struan must raise $6 million, or the orchestra will have to cancel their season and declare bankruptcy. Two potential donors have indicated that they might be willing to step in and give the needed money, but both come with strings attached.
The first potential donor is a company named Altria. Altria has long been known in the arts community for their philanthropic activity; they support many regional performing ensembles, and seem especially interested in supporting innovative groups, like GVO, who perform new works. Altria is also the parent company of Phillip-Morris, a cigarette manufacturer that aggressively markets its Marlboro brand to children in 3rd-world countries. Altria’s support of the arts seems like a carefully calculated PR strategy to improve the public image of their company.
The second potential donor is Victoria Wagner, a well-known and very wealthy member of the local community. Wagner has never shown an interest in supporting the arts before, so Struan is understandably curious when she contacts him with the offer. In the ensuing conversations, however, if becomes clear why Ms. Wagner has had a sudden change of heart. It turns out that her beloved nephew is a struggling composer, and has had difficulty getting his works performed by professional ensembles. Ms. Wagner makes it quite clear to Mr. Struan that if she writes a $6 million check, she expects the Green Valley Orchestra to debut his latest composition.So, Struan is left with three options. He can accept the money from a cigarette giant hoping to buy some public good-will, he can accept the money from the doting rich aunt looking to launch her nephew’s career, or he can refuse both and close the doors of the Green Valley Orchestra.
Your job isn’t to solve this problem for Mr. Struan. In fact, I don’t even want you to tell me what you would do. Instead, I’d like you to think about the moral values that are in conflict in this dilemma. We will answer the following questions in class:
- If GVO takes the money from Altria, is it an implied statement of support for the company’s business practices?
- If a utilitarian were to evaluate the Altria donation, what consequences would they have to consider?
- Struan is having a hard time evaluating the Wagner donation. He has a sense that some moral principle is being violated by her request, but he isn’t sure exactly what it is. What do you think is wrong with her request? What kind of moral principle does it violate?
- Does it matter if the composition by Victoria Wagner’s nephew is well-written or not? Would it matter if he were already a well-established composer?
- Struan is a devout Lutheran, and believes that God’s commands are the final source of moral authority. Is there a biblical command that could help Struan navigate either decision?
- Kant said that we should act in ways that we would wish to see made universal rules. If Struan refuses to take money from morally tainted sources, is that an act that we would want to see universally applied? What would the consequences be if we applied that principle universally?
Previous in series: Ayana and the Sacred Song
