Brenda Lee

Brenda Lee - 1961

Brenda Lee used to figure heavily in the young feeder's impure thoughts. I've tried to analyze her voice; it never seemed to match her age. It has a breathy skip to it that you seldom hear in a young girl. A good example of this vocal feature can be heard in this YouTube video clip of "All Alone am I".

The Wikipedia entry on Brenda claims that her "popularity faded in the late 1960s as her voice matured". I would put it differently, maybe her voice 'changed', but I thought Brenda's voice was mature when she was a teenager.

Brenda Lee is still performing. She's scheduled to be in Wichita August 14th. I don't think I'll go. I don't want to risk damaging the naughty image of her I conjured up as a boy listening to Sweet Nothings.

Recapitulation all over again

Matador Practice

The old feeder is throwing out almost everything at the feedlot. I did decide to box up photographs, slides and negatives. In the process I came upon the photo above. It is one of the first pictures I ever took, maybe the first one that wasn't hopelessly blurry.

I used to like to watch wannabe bull fighters practice their passes. These cats were full of bravado and self-confidence; they made an impression on a 9 year old yo. They had coaches that charged them with a sort of wheel-barrow contraption that had bull horns mounted on the front. With this it was possible to simulate the movements that are peculiar to individual bulls.
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Maybe I'll post a few more old pictures.

Worried about "Swine Flu"?

Defoe - a better Great Plague read than Pepys

The old feeder's family gives him a raft of shit for living a secluded, hermit-like life. Besides the fact that I've always preferred solitude to whatever the opposite is said to be, I avoid people partly to avoid the diseases they carry. Having cirrhosis of the liver, almost any nasty virus could finish me off.

There is certainly no shortage of swine flu alarmists. Oddly enough, most of them seem to one worlders who figure that only increased statism, big government health care, or UN rule can save us. There are others who disagree and advise the peasantry to relax and go to a movie. The old feeder sides against the alarmists, more because of their totalitarian bent than their science. I'm still not planning to hang out in crowded, virus and bacteria infested places.

One of my favorite books is Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year. My old copy, bought when paperback classics could be had for sixty cents, is pictured above. I read it about once every two years or whenever the news talk turns to epidemics. Its a novel; Defoe was just a kid when the bubonic plague came to London in 1665. But it is nearly a first hand account by a great writer.

Samuel Pepys, the London diarist of the day, covers the Great Plague (and everything else that he saw) but his plague coverage is not as captivating to read as Defoe. Defoe's details can be shocking, disgusting, poignant and disconcerting. People avoided crowds in those days, even though they didn't understand how the plague was spread. I suppose it was a safe bet that some of the people you might have seen on the street in the London of 1665 had fleas. Fleas are great jumpers.

If you want pure plague entertainment, I suggest Edgar Allan Poe's very short story, The Masque of the Red Death. You can read it here and read about it here.
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Join the Disease of the Month Club. Pay your dues a year in advance and get a free broken bone.

Resisting National Socialism

Members of the White Rose, Munich 1942 (click pic)

Presented without comment: the Wikipedia article on German resistance to Hitler's National Socialist administration.

Senator Ben Nelson

The Millions and Billions on spending has go to STOP. Our NATION is in DEBT beyond BELIEF and our GOVERNMENT keeps on SPENDING RECKLESSLY. I personally do NOT care how well intentioned our politicians try to make this out to be. We owe CHINA buckoo BUCKS and we’ve got spending and DEBT to the point of NO RETURN. The government should step back and STOP trying to control every single aspect of our lives. This is NOT the country I was born into.

Read Senator Ben Nelson's Letter to Me

Reckless Democrats: Rationed Health Care & Government Takeover

The Democrat-controlled federal government has spoken; they want a government take over of our health care system on their terms and if necessary without any bipartisan support from Republicans. Details of the emerging plan from Congress indicate that this will likely cost more than $1.5 trillion. In fact, during recent testimony, Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Doug Elmendorf, said “In the legislation that has been reported we don't see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal spending by a significant amount. And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care costs.”

“Nancy Pelosi has unleashed spending like never before and there’s no end in sight. Nebraskans are relying on our Nebraska Congressmen, especially Congressman Lee Terry, like never before to act as a check and balance to unbridled Democrat power,” said Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Mark Fahleson. Fahleson also asked, “Do you think we could expect that from Democrats like Tom White?”

The Wall Street Journal today referred to the Democrat majority in their article as “A Reckless Congress: Democrats want to ram through one of the greatest raids on private income and business in American history.”

Republicans have repeatedly said they want to see reform, but it must accomplish what it sets out to do. The Democrats’ health care reform plan carries the risk of leaving 36 million Americans without health insurance even after the hefty price tag. Republicans are attempting to stand between Democrats and their euphoric dreams of a welfare state while offering a plan that won’t obliterate the health care industries.

Chairman Fahleson added, “Rationing health care. Government takeovers. That’s the Democrat agenda. Nebraskans know better. In 2010, voters will have their first opportunity to send a powerful signal to Democrats that will not go unnoticed. Candidates like Tom White who are going to rubber stamp unchecked spending do not stand a chance.”

- The Nebraska Republican Party

Hat Tip: Domestic Divapalooza: Reckless Democrats: Rationed Health Care & Government Takeover

Blogging from Omaha with Pride!

Gratuitous Rilke

Some Like it Dark

Du Dunkelheit, aus der ich stamme, ich liebe dich mehr als die Flamme, welche die Welt begrenzt, indem sie glänzt für irgend einen Kreis, aus dem heraus kein Wesen von ihr weiß. Aber die Dunkelheit hält alles an sich: Gestalten und Flammen, Tiere und mich, wie sie's errafft, Menschen und Mächte - Und es kann sein: eine große Kraft rührt sich in meiner Nachbarschaft. Ich glaube an Nächte.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Bad Law?

Igor Stravinsky's Mug Shot

Anything you read about pianist, composer and conductor Igor Stravinsky must mention his arrest for tweaking the US National Anthem. Wiki: "On April 15, 1940, Igor Stravinsky's unconventional major seventh chord in his arrangement of the Star-Spangled Banner led to his arrest by the Boston police for violating a federal law that prohibited the reharmonization of the National Anthem."

There seems to be no record of Igor doing time in a federal penitentiary, so the music police must have let him off with a warning. The law must have been repealed. Somehow, I find myself wishing the current Congress would spend more time deliberating such weighty matters. Some silly music laws would be more palatable than the results of their current efforts to reharmonize our Constitution to suit national socialist thought.
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The old feeder never much liked Stravinsky's stuff. I admit that, as a kid, I liked the adaptation of The Rite of Spring that Walt Disney used in Fantasia. This might be because it wasn't a real ballet, or because Stravinsky himself called it "execrable", only changing his tune after seeing the color of Walt's money.
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Shouldn't Roseanne Barr have been severely punished for this?

Aquí

Octavio Paz

Back at the Feedlot

The Old Feeder's Situation - Click for More

The old feeder is back at the feedlot. A few family health crises have kept me navigating hospital halls laid out like rabbit warrens, sleeping on couches and eating more institutional cafeteria food than I like. All this has done little to improve the confusing, rifted mess that my personal life has become.

Blogging remains less than attractive. Sorting out my relentlessly confusing affairs of the heart and the necessary and pressing disposition of my pack rat accumulation of worldly goods is daunting. So far all I have done is a mountain of laundry. Today I'll try to thwart the distraction of bittersweet sentiment and nagging regret long enough to wash a sink full of dishes.

When unrestrained, I can be nauseatingly dramatic, no?

To those feeder readers who were kind enough to be concerned, my relative is out of the hospital (if not the woods) and I'm back at home. I'll be OK, one way or the other. Thanks for the kindness.

Patriotism on the Blogosphere

I'm going to pull up my news reader and share some of the posts I have read. Who knows, maybe this will be some new reading material for you. You might even stumble on a blog you've never heard of. Whatever you do, enjoy reading them and I hope everybody had a great 4th of July weekend.

Beckiyagh: Happy 4th of July
BlogMommas: Happy Canada Day

By the way, I was thinking of Canuckguy and my friend Terri that lives in Canada when I wrote the Happy Canada Day post. You know how sometimes I contribute things here on Plains Feeder? Well, sometimes I write things over on BlogMommas.com too.

Caffeinated Thoughts: The Declaration of Independence
Cincinnatus: 4th of July Tribute
eMail Our Military: 56 Men Signed the Declaration of Independence

Michelle Malkin: Independence Day: America Turns 233
RedState: Independence Day
Stop The ACLU: Happy Independence Day

I think the fellas will like the Stop The ACLU one because it's an old school pin-up. I myself think it's pretty cute. If only today's pin-ups could look to the past for inspiration instead of just taking it all off. But anyway... back to my listing of posts around the blogosphere... lol :]

Chicago Ray Report: Happy Independence Day To Us All
The Poor Farm: For You, Nuckle Kim

Thanks for your service, dedication and patriotism Nuckle Kim! It's an Honor!


Smart Girl Nation: Happy Birthday America

Nebraska Voted NO on Cap and Trade, Thank Goodness!

During our Americans for Prosperity "Hot Air" event in Omaha last week, well over 300 grassroots activists joined me at an event urging Nebraska’s Congressmen and Senators to vote NO on the job-killing, energy tax legislation called Cap-and-Trade. Many activists called them right from our events.

I'm pleased to report that all three Nebraska Congressmen—Jeff Terry, Lee Fortenberry, and Adrian Smith—voted NO on Cap-and-Trade.

Even better, on the day of our Hot Air Tour event, Jim Fagin from Sen. Ben Nelson’s office emailed us to say: “Senator Ben Nelson strongly opposes cap-and-trade legislation because of the terrible impact it would have on our economy and has been on record to that effect for some time.”

And Sen. Johanns has been a great champion on the issue, leading the way earlier this year to block a procedural trick called reconciliation that could have forced cap-and-trade through with limited debate and no amendment.

So it looks like Nebraska is a perfect 5 for 5 on this crucial issue!

Please consider sending a note thanking your Congressman and Senators for opposing cap-and-trade, protecting Nebraska families from higher utility bills, higher gasoline prices, higher prices on consumer goods and lost jobs.

You can send the note by clicking here.

Sen. Nelson especially needs our strong support because he’ll face intense pressure from the White House and Harry Reid to follow the Democratic line. Please let him know you appreciate the stand he has taken.

Thanks for all you are doing for freedom.

Tim Phillips
President, Americans for Prosperity

HT: Domestic Divapalooza

4th of July Tribute

HT: Domestic Divapalooza