We went to see Becoming Jane this weekend. It was well written and had powerful characters. I'm sure we'll buy the DVD. Anne Hathaway did fine though she was surrounded by stronger actors and actresses. She used her beauty to counter the acting skills of the others. I mean what ingenue really wants to go toe to toe with Professor McGonagall (who adlibs "very difficult color green") and Mrs. Weasley.



Rumsfeld, Rove, now Gonzales. Please congress, do not stop pursuing them just because they are getting out of Dodge. Time for Cheney and Bush to go too.

My students are doing well for themselves in college. I've been hearing from some of them lately. College Choir auditions are the first week of classes or the week before classes begin. Some have already made the group in a previous year, but there are lots of places still open.

While it is fun to be in any college ensemble, major institutions always have a choir that is “the” representative of the college’s prestige. They are usually made up of upperclass music majors and grad students.

Anne is at UT and broke through this year into their top choir as a sophomore. She is confident and her success did not surprise her, but she had to jump over a lot of voices to get into the choir.

Lauren is at LSU and has moved into the renowned Acappella choir for this her junior year. I’m very proud of her. Many LSU voice majors never make this choir.

One of my freshman boys, Brandon, has been selected for the Chorale at Georgia Southern. He is not a music major. Very impressive because that choir carries a hefty scholarship for those who land a spot. He is the third current member of the Chorale that is one of my alums.

But what has taken my breath away is that two of my freshmen girls have landed in the top choirs at their schools--big schools. Morgan is singing at Clemson. Twice as many enroll as are needed for this choir and then they sing for a place during the first week of class. After a week, half of them are asked to drop. Morgan, a non-music major, remained in the most competitive voice classification, soprano 1.

Ellen, without ever attending a day of class at LSU has been selected for Acappella Choir (along with Lauren, above). LSU’s Acappella Choir is one of the top 10 college choirs in America. We had practiced for her audition and I thought that she would turn heads. I’ve sat in those college auditions and you know about what you are going to get. The professors are trying to make some notes on a pad that will help them differentiate one singer from another some hours later when they are trying to sort everything out. Ellen was so sharp on her aria, the vocal technique so solid, the clarity and ring in the voice so beautiful. I felt that she’d begin to sing and everyone would look up and say to themselves, “who in the world is that?” She called me from a practice room before the audition, worried by the beautiful voices she heard warming up around her in other rooms. We went over what she should do to warm up. She had done that. I told her “Hey, you are not supposed to make this choir. Just go and have fun. You are ready.” When it was over she called to say she did well. Apparently so.

I have lots of ideas for blogging but seem to stay too busy to get the job done on many days. As I walk the dog in the mornings (we go about 2 miles beginning around 7:20) I can usually answer most of the worlds problems before returning to the house.

I worked with a former student this afternoon, Kaitlyn. She is progressing into a diva. I was thankful that I could think of some intelligent things still to say to her about her singing, but truthfully, she blesses me by coming by to sing for me. I hope some of my other standouts will fare so well as they continue on their singing way. Singing is difficult to understand and impossible to do. The stuff they put on TV and pass off as singing is a scandal.

As for Barry's home run record, you wonder if he would have been strong enough to do it on his own, without the drugs. Maybe. Why would you give up your chance to do it fairly? It's the 73 year that bothers me the most. I think Hank is still the guy. Barry is the guy in Michael Jackson world. He hit two of the longest five homers ever hit at Turner field in consecutive at bats, that season I believe. He was pumped.

The three baritones sang again this week. It was fun. It would be nice to be tenors, but baritones can wail too. It was our second sold out concert! I've been taking lots of drugs to help with my sinuses and very oddly, my head is clear, I can sing and breathe. A rare set of sensations for me.

It seems that 85% of the talk radio shows are conservative and 85% of the blogs are liberal. Hmmm. Some kind of conclusion must be drawn from that. But I'm not sure what.

I think it is time for a people's revolt against the war in Iraq. It was a bad idea based on false information, put forward for political purposes, that is, to enhance presidential power and solidify the country behind Republican leadership. Their goal was a "permanent" Republican majority. The Republican party has attacked the news media in unprecedented ways and created an alternate reality with FOX News that resembles the reality of Pravda and Tass in the former Soviet Union.

This whole "I am a war president" idea is ridiculous. An attack on a paper tiger by the world's only military superpower is not a war. It was a slaughter. Someone will total it up someday and we'll be humilitated. American losses: 3500 military and 1500 mercenary civilians. Iraqi losses: 35,000 military and 600,000 civilian. Sadaam couldn't hold a candle to us in efficiency of killing.

Our ideas about war come from WWII--our fathers or grandfathers war. Even there we misunderstand what war is. The educated will know that just over 407,300 Americam military lost their lives. But oddly, we think that WWII was fought in Europe and in the Pacific. Incorrect. WWII was fought in Asia.
The losses by China and the Soviet Union total 43,200,000. Oh there was plenty of slaughter in eastern Europe too, 5,000,000 killed in Poland alone, over 18 % of the population of Poland was killed. One in five died. I'm afraid we don't know much about war. We are insulated from it. We shed a tear on memorial day, but we are not wracked with the pain of war. And our memory of the horror is carried by the soldiers only, not by the population. We have not been afraid to walk on our streets.

Our war president has not raised a military force to fight against terror. He has not protected us from terrorists. He has not sealed the borders, galvanized our country to fight, organized the inspection of the ports, or called for conscription of our sons. He has merely blown up Iraq's infrastructure and thrown 150,000 of America's finest into a desert occupation where they serve as targets for insurgents (the American revolution comes to mind). In the process he has shredded the U.S. Constitution and brought us low in the eyes of the world. There is not even a definition of winning other than "withdrawing troops when someone besides George Bush is president." A political victory for the "decider."

It's time for a revolution. The Republicans are gearing up their media machines to say the war is going well now and we must stay to promote democracy in the middle east. They are saying that withdrawal will lead to chaos and murder in Iraq. They are saying it time to bomb Iran. But remember all they said before was a lie. Why would you think they would tell the truth now. They are lying now, too. The war is not going better and Iraq will not dissolve when we withdraw. Come on Democratic Congress. Pitch a fit. Stop the mania. Let's march on the Whitehouse or all over the country. A day of mourning for the Bush presidency.

There is nothing that feeds the soul like friends. Morgan, Karen, and Seabie came over yesterday afternoon and evening. I cooked out hamburgers and we looked at their pictures of Italy on Morgan's new computer. She is off to UGA on Saturday. She is staying on the south campus in the Honor's community. That's a cool place to be, though a lot of her classes will be a hike from there.

Okay let's just say that the heat has become unbearable. Dad said it was 103 in the shade yesterday in Waycross. I think it was 99 here and the air thick like a blanket. It has been that way for days. It hasn't been this hot in a sustained burst like this in many years. And there's no relief in sight.

I'm clinging on to first place in fantasy baseball, but everyone is improving their teams. I have a three and a half point lead to hold for 7 weeks. I can already see some losses coming. It will be close. Somehow Dougouts always manage to come in first. He traded some of his pitching largess for Tuh share uh last night. He probably picks up three points in homers with that move.

Another generation of seniors is moving on in the next two weeks. They are off to Clemson, GA, LSU, and everywhere else. It leaves quite a whole in my heart when they go. You see them rarely after they leave.

Yesterday we were looking at a video of middle school students from a number of years ago. Here was a little group of girls singing a little song. Laura, UGA grad, engaged to a symphony trombone player, now in the peace corps in Africa; Meredith, graduated from Vandy with her masters in speech pathology; Elizabeth, with her music degree from LSU, in a prestigious arts management internship in Chicago; Danielle, a music therapist, degree from GCSU, about to marry; Emily, music degree from LSU, engaged, pursuing singing career. All standing in the front row together. Can you say wow?

Carter, you would have enjoyed being with us last night in Fayetteville as we heard a nameless group of jazz players at Villages amphitheater. They played familiar straight up jazz for 2 and 1/2 hours. They weren't quite as smooth as preservation hall jazz, but they were a lot closer by. The night was the archtype of sultry, with the air hanging on us like a smoke filled room even though we were outdoors and the huge flag at the corner of the arena hanging absolutely lifelessly throughout the performance as a visual completion of scene, a steamy Georgian August evening.



It is interesting that talk radio is dominated by conservatives, but now it has come to light that blogging is dominated by liberal thinkers. One group talks, the other writes. One listens the other reads. The preznit is famously a non-reader. It's the academics against the college dropouts. Too simple I know, but that element is present. Seriously, why would this contrast of expressive styles come about? Is it dna or experiences?

Unprecedented congressional obstructionism. You hear the Repubs talking about the "do nothing" congress. The media has also picked up their talking point and repeated it. The truth?

The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail ... and so far it's working for us."   —Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss.

In all, Senate Republicans have launched 43 filibusters in the first seven months of the Congress, on a pace to triple the previous record. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has brazenly announced that every “controversial measure” will face a filibuster in the Senate, trampling majority rule to require 60 votes to cut off the filibuster. No longer can reforms be passed on a clean up-or-down majority vote in the Senate.

President Bush has vetoed legislation that would require him to end the occupation of Iraq and would allow stem cell research to go forward. Each of these enjoyed overwhelming support from the American people and passed the House and Senate. In all, the president has threatened 31 vetoes between May 1 and August 1, including a threat to legislation that will extend health care to millions of children, lower interest rates on student loans, and increase monitoring of food and other imports through our nation’s ports.

Read all about it in common sense.

Jon Stewart is funny. I am definitely going to see the Bourne finale which is out today.

Yesterday I happened to be in the car in the morning so I tuned into Neil
Boortz on the radio. I think it is important to keep up with what your enemies are doing. He was falling all over himself talking about his visit to the oval office last week. Yes, THAT oval office. Seems the preznit took time out of his busy schedule making world peace to sit down and chat with an important group of American policymakers, conservative radio talk show hosts. I wouldn't say that he was giving them their talking points orders, but hey . . .

Boortz went right to how things are looking up in Iraq. In fact, he said even two liberal journalists had been forced to admit how well things were going there after their recent visit. The correspondents, Ken Pollack and Michael O'Hanlon were touted everywhere yesterday as liberal journalists who had seen the light. Well it's all crap folks. They have always been on the shrub's team. And things aren't going better. Read about the scam here if you like.

In my morning paper (The AJC), the article that caught my attention was the failure of the water system in Bagdad. Water only comes out of the taps for a hour or so during the middle of the night. The water stinks and is so foul that it is causing diarrhea even after boiling. It's 130 degrees in Iraq right now. So hot the parliment is closed for the month. There is no water for the citizens. Tell me again how things are getting better.

The catastophic failure of the bridge in Minnesota brought out this news comment. There are so many problems with the nation's bridges that it would cost 65 billion to repair the infrastructure. I had just noticed that the cost of the Iraq war was sure to go over 1000 Billion (a Trillion or if you like, a million million) dollars. The preznit will kill us all by chasing mosquitoes with 30,000 pound bombs. Did you hear that the B2 are being fitted with 30,000 pound bunker busting bombs. Target? Nuclear facilities in Iran. I'm telling you, Cheney and the preznit are not taking notice that the electorate has turned against them. This administration will be mentioned in 100 years with the same tone as Nero.

Investigations into vote fraud in the 2004 Ohio Presidential election have been thwarted by the systematic destruction of ballots in 2/3 of Ohio's counties. This is in violation of federal law which requires the ballots be kept for 22 months and in violation of a court order which required they be kept as evidence for the investigation. Yet, mysteriously, they have been destroyed. Not an accident you understand. Not a few random counties destroying ballots. The scale of the Repub corruption is mind boggling. Read more here.

Bits and pieces of ideas.

I love my house. Some how it is very balanced and beautiful. But it is not the house that makes me happy but the people who come through the front door. A parade of beauty, youth, ambition, and energy, students are wonderful.

Picking out literature for choirs is difficult. It is the most important thing a director can do and yet publishers do not make it easy to find good stuff. Publishers barely discriminate between great stuff and banal pablum. They publish 20 times more pablum than great stuff and you have to sift through to find beauty. Why do they feel they have to have a stable of composers and drive them to publish? Just because he/she wrote a winner five years ago doesn't mean that he/she can write 10 winners a year to make your publishing company fat. There aren't that many Mozart's and Bach's out there, thank you very much.

Emotion or logic. Bush or Kerry? In a way. If we trust our emotions to make all our decisions we may find ourselves with at least temporary fascism, or perhaps just fascism. The preznit is pushing us that way. There is a terrific article in the Huffington Post by Marty Kaplan, a professor at USC Annenberg.

He begins:

Americans are stupid about risk, me included. It's nuts to fear plane crashes more than car crashes; loopy to be more afraid of online sexual predators than of lightning; irrational to pay more attention to shark attacks than to climate change. Doubtless there's something about our lizard brain stems that accounts for our poor choices in boogeymen, and thus for the media's pandering to our catastrophilia. But no vestigial pathway in our panic-hardwiring is an excuse for the Bush administration's current ramping up of its shameless exploitation of our fears.

Each of the 95 times President Bush mentioned Al Qaeda in his South Carolina speech last week, and each of the innumerable times in coming days that his disciplined minions will push the Iraq-is-about-Al-Qaeda button, the real message is, of course, 9/11. If we don't win in Iraq, the Bush case goes, the terrorists will kill you and your children in the air, at the mall and in your bed.
Set aside for a moment the baldfaced Bush lie that Al Qaeda accounts for more than a sliver of the terrorism in Iraq. Ignore the convenient Bush amnesia of the cause for Al Qaeda's presence in Mesopotamia: his own invasion-of-choice. Forget the absurdity of fight-them-there-so-they-won't-fight-us-here: a defeat of Al Qaeda in Iraq, even if it were militarily and politically possible, even if we were willing to spill all the blood and spend all the treasure required to accomplish it, will not cause the cells of terrorists already in America to disband, nor will it so bum, depress or demoralize the ferocious jihadists already plotting against us in encampments and networks around the world that they will abandon their zeal for revenge and seek new careers in hedge fund management or search engine design.


I challenge you to read the whole article.