Mark Twain said this- "An inglorious peace is better than a dishonorable war."

Yeah, and it's cheaper, too! How much money are we going to piss away "rebuilding" Iraq? Like with the deal that contractor Parsons got, to build 142 medical clinics in Iraq. Well, 2 years and $200,000,000 later, they've only managed to build 20 out of 142. Now, they've negotiated a buyout of the contract with the Army Corps of Engineers, so that basically means that they are getting paid anyway. What a load of crap!

Here's an Irish joke for ye...

A married Irishman went into the confessional and said to his
priest, "I almost had an affair with another woman."

The priest said, "What do you mean, almost?"

The Irishman said, "Well, we got undressed and rubbed together, but then I
stopped."

The priest said, "Rubbing together is the same as putting it in.

You're not to see that woman again. For your penance, say five Hail Mary's
and put $50 in the poor box."

The Irishman left the confessional, said his prayers, and then walked over
to the poor box. He paused for a moment and then started to
leave. The priest, who was watching, quickly ran over to him
saying, "I saw that. You didn't put any money in the poor box!"

The Irishman replied, "Yeah, but I rubbed the $50 on the box, and according
to you, that's the same as putting it in."

Busy, busy, busy!!!

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely NOT complaining! Besides all the stuff in my last post, I also did a Lehman Band concert yesterday afternoon, on euph. Lots of fun stuff, 2 movements from John Corigliano's Gazebo Dances, Swashbucklers (themes from old movies like Sea Hawk, Conquest of Cortez...) Whistler & His Dog, Jager's Symphonia Noblissima. Other stuff, too. I've been having a section of the Corigliano, the Tarantella, running in my head all day...

This morning, I was back at Ted Blumenthal's for our Monday morning quartet session. Today, I got to read through the 1st part on the Bozza Quartet. Man, that piece is tough, especially sightreading the 1st part. I've done the 3rd and 4th parts before, they aren't as whacky as the lead part. Glad there's no band rehearsal tonight! We only play quartets for 1.5 hours, but it's high intensity, no breaks. Like E.T. said, "Ouch!"

Coming up this week, I'm doing Guys & Dolls over at Horace Greeley HS, in Chappaqua. Yes, that's where Bill & Hillary live these days. I doubt they'll be at any of the shows...

Tomorrow is a Yonkers Philharmonic concert, we're playing on La Gazza Ladra, and Capriccio Espagnole. Fun stuff for low brassers. The orchestra's also doing the Bruch Violin Concerto and The Birds by Respighi. I don't think I'll ever get to do Mahler with this bunch, but the trombones are getting more fun stuff to play. I'm finally getting to the point where I don't have to think about what I'm doing when I play my Xeno trombone. I got it this past summer, but didn't really get a chance to play it much until October or so. I've been playing quartets at a friend's, Ted Blumenthal's, every week since December. That's helped my chops a lot, plus I'm getting to play literature I never got to do in school. I did THREE St. Patrick's Parades last weekend. Saturday was beautiful, we did a doubleheader, but Sunday sucked. Cold, rainy, and long. Coming up this week, I'm doing Annie Get Your Gun at Valhalla HS, that's a fun show. This may be the 1999 version with Bernadette Peters that we're doing. I've done the original orchestration, we'll see how this one works. Anyway, that's what's going on these days musically...

One of the things I like to read in the paper is the section with "This Day in History," which has events from the past, birthdays of famous folks (although I will confess to not recognizing many of the celebrities under 30!), and the Quote of the Day. Here's the quote for today from someone else I never heard of, English poet Coventry Patmore (1823-1896)...

"Nearly all our disasters come from a few fools having the 'courage of their convictions.'"

Remind you of anybody?

From the NY Times...

"Television evangelist Pat Robertson said Monday on his live news-and-talk program ''The 700 Club'' that Islam is not a religion of peace, and that radical Muslims are ''satanic.''

Robertson's comments came after he watched a news story on his Christian Broadcasting Network about Muslim protests in Europe over the cartoon drawings of the Prophet Muhammad.

He remarked that the outpouring of rage elicited by cartoons ''just shows the kind of people we're dealing with. These people are crazed fanatics, and I want to say it now: I believe it's motivated by demonic power. It is satanic and it's time we recognize what we're dealing with.''

Robertson also said that ''the goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination.''"


Pat, Pat, Pat...

Lots of folks might think that YOUR followers are also "crazed fanatics" whose goal is "world domination." Should we bring back the Inquisition? What is it about politics that encourages religious extremists, both Islamic and Christian?

Jesus said "Love your neighbor as yourself." If someone came up to you and told you that you have to worship in only one, approved way, and that way conflicted with your own beliefs, wouldn't you resist? Isn't that the basis for KEEPING religion and state separate? Mutual respect, remember that? Jesus also said, "Let he who has ears to hear, listen." He was acknowledging that people have a free will to believe as they wish, and that it doesn't give anyone the right to impose one set of beliefs over another's. Jesus DID say to teach the Gospel, He DIDN'T say to FORCE people to listen and believe in them.

Let me just say that I DO believe in God, I just have a hard time with organized religion. There are too many different religions that ALL share the same basic moral belief system of "Love your neighbor as yourself" that I think it impossible to say that only one particular brand is the right one. I feel that they are all different manifestations, and that those who insist on one over the others are merely interested in advancing their own agenda. Even tracing back Catholicism, the doctrines that are followed today were imposed by the winners of the arguments set forth at Nicea or even as far back as Peter. Who's to say that THEY were right, or didn't have an agenda to push?

I like this quote from the Gospel of Thomas, one of the Gnostic Gospels that was banned by the Council at Nicea-

Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and it is outside you.

When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty." It seems to me that Jesus was saying that religion should be a personal belief, not subject to external interpretation or decree. That's how I believe, and there isn't anyone who's going to force me to believe that gays are evil, or that abortion is wrong for everyone, or that women can't be priests. (BTW, I'm not crazy about abortion, and don't feel that it should be used as a form of contraception. At the same time, I have no great need to legislate my belief on someone else. There's that pesky "Let he who has ears to hear, listen" stuff again! I also have no use for those who would criminalize abortion on one hand, and cut back on supporting that child once born.)

What IS it with these right-wing war-mongerers who feel compelled to comment on the pro-Cindy Sheehan sign on my car? This guy today at Stop & Shop walks by, won't even look at me, and growls "Cindy does NOT speak for America, asshole!" Well, I guess that MIGHT be true if you only count the 25% or so who think the war in Iraq is a good thing, and that W is doing a "heckuva job!"

Well, I guess we should be grateful that the guy could actually READ the sign, that's more than W, who's still working on "The Pet Goat," and has his staffers TELL him what's going on, instead of cracking open a newspaper himself.

These idiots who go for the "My President- Right or Wrong" thing really tick me off. If your President is consistently WRONG, shouldn't we, as good citizens, point that out? Or, should we just bend over, grease it up, and say "Please, Sir, may I have another?" And, hey, why is it that, these brain-dead GOPers, who are all My Country, right or wrong, and Support the Troops, etc., were so against Bill Clinton? Wasn't HE our President, too? At least Clinton didn't cut the VA budget, then tell you that he supported the troops. These fucking hypocrites are just repeating the propaganda that is spewed at them, and they don't even question it.

Look, you don't have to agree with me, but for chrissakes, THINK for yourself! Read something in the newspaper besides the sports and gossip. Try to wrap your brain around the FACT that every deal, every law that's passed, that goes down under the Bush Administration benefits some big corporation and/or someone in the administration. If you are in a tax bracket where you are making all of your income from wages, and NOT from dividends or interest, then trust me, they are not looking out for you. The Bushies can point fingers all they want at others, that's a favored tactic to deflect blame, but they are probably the most corrupt, useless administration since Grant, and THAT'S saying something...