Thank you for the winter friendliness that's snowing down all around

I got a Christmas mix CD in the mail from zimbra1006 the other day. I haven't listened to much of it yet (too busy coming up with the the game that turns up later in the post {g}) has an overlap of five songs with the Christmas CD that bethje made a few years ago. One of the overlapping songs is "Thanks For Christmas," which, for some reason, can be heard quite a bit at stores at this time of year. I even heard it at the Wawa gas pumps recently. I think it's on the Generic Store Christmas Tape. While it's cool to hear, it bugs me that these stores never play XTC at any OTHER time of year. Okay, I remember hearing "King For A Day" once or twice at the grocery store where I used to work, but that's hardly what I'd call a good example of the band. I also once walked by an Abercrombie & Fitch (or some comparable store) that was playing Mandy Moore's cover of "Senses Working Overtime." In general, though, I'd say XTC is drastically underplayed, EXCEPT for "Thanks For Christmas." I'm sure the fact that it's a Christmas song helps matters, but a lot of bands do Christmas songs that never get played anywhere. Someone who compiles those store tapes or runs the store radio feeds must be particularly fond of that song.

Speaking of music, I just recently found out that the Meat Purveyors CD that I bought for Beth's birthday includes a cover of "Middle Of Nowhere," which I knew from the Dusty Springfield tape that my mom has. It's pretty cool when that kind of think happens. It's like, "Hey, I know that song! One of my parents had that album!" I had the same kind of feeling hearing John Linnell's version of "North To Alaska," which actually came up randomly on Winamp the other day.

And, while on the subject of songs coming up randomly on Winamp (nice transitions, huh? {g}), zaph did this, and I might as well follow suit. Basically, I played a set of songs randomly, and chose a line from each one. Your job is to guess what song each line is from. I cheated a little, in that I skipped songs that I didn't know very well, or that I didn't think anyone would be able to guess. I also made sure that no artist was represented more than twice. I'll give a hint and say that four bands/artists have two songs each.

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Expect a political post later today!

Seems every message I got said burn it, break it

I usually carry around a binder with folders in it. Today, I found out that one of the folders (a Pokémon one that Beth gave me) had worn out around most of the holes. I really don't see how this happened. It's not such a big deal, since new folders are pretty cheap, but it's irritating. Pretty much everything I have seems to break, rip, or wear out much faster than it does with anyone else, and I can't figure out why. I don't THINK I'm rough with my stuff, but I guess I must be, unless I'm just jinxed.

No, this isn't the promised political post. That's coming up soon.

Early Morning Blues and Reds

On this topic from the Frank Black Forum, somebody posted a link to this article. Now, the writer of the article doesn't strike me as being all that bright. The accusation "Another trademark of intellectual bullies is that they can't resist calling people names" is pretty much hypocrisy summed up in a single sentence. Nonetheless, I think Alan Akers is clusmily fumbling toward an actual point here, and one that I think I've seen expressed in a less stupid manner, although I can't remember where. It's probably true that a lot of blue-staters don't really know that much about the red-staters. I could probably even include myself and my journal in this. Yes, a (small) handful of people from all over the country, and even some from Foreign Parts (lozenger8, for instance), read it, but I get the feeling that most of my readers are on the liberal side of the political spectrum. At least, I can't recall receiving much argument when I've posted anti-Bush messages. Maybe there are right-wingers reading this who just don't feel like speaking up, or don't think it's worth their time to do so. Of course, I think that's also relevant, since people are probably less likely to associate with those who have fundamentally different viewpoints on such matters. On the other hand, does Akers REALLY think that this sort of ignorance is an exclusive trait of The Other Side? I would imagine that most red-staters are equally, if not MORE, ignorant of what goes on in the blue states. Certainly, the stereotype of the South and the Midwest is one of very insular people (you live on the same farm all your life, never travel any farther than the local farmer's market or church, and marry your first cousin). Obviously, we can't trust stereotypes, but still, does he REALLY think his fellow South Dakota residents are true people of the world? Akers' argument that blue states are represented by the media is pretty much nonsense. I don't know about other blue-state Democrats, but I resent the fact that people in South Dakota apparently think newscasters and sitcom characters accurately represent me. For that matter, I tend to be equally puzzled by other allegedly Democratic areas of the country. What about California, for instance? They're a blue state in that they voted for Kerry, but I can't see how any liberal state could "recall" its Governor for no real reason, and then elect a washed-up action movie star who can barely speak English to replace him. It boggles the mind! I realize that not everyone in California agreed with this decision, though, just as I realize that not everyone in South Dakota agrees with Mr. Akers. I DO think that people tend to surround themselves with other like-minded people, and live, if you will, in cultural and intellectual bubbles. This isn't simply something done by "The Left" or "The Right." I tend to think it's more of a coping mechanism, since, after all, the world is a really big place, and you can't possibly take in EVERYTHING. Maybe I'm wrong. Any thoughts on that?

Really, I'm not sure I buy the whole Great Red State/Blue State Divide that the media are trying to sell us. That's not to say that there aren't fundamental differences between people, especially in such a large country as ours. Ultimately, though, doesn't it all come down to individuals, not homogeneous groups? I'll betray my own political leanings, and say that I think homogeneity is more of a right-wing kind of thing. Not that conservatives necessarily ARE homogeneous, but it sometimes seems like a lot of them WANT to be. I mean, which side of the political spectrum contains the people who think it's the American people's duty to go along with whatever idiotic notion pops into Bush's head, because he's the President? Which side includes the followers of Rush Limbaugh, who proudly call themselves "dittoheads"? I realize, however, that not all conservatives think this way. For that matter, I'm sure there are plenty of self-styled left-wingers who just go along with the crowd, rather than forming their own opinions. The fact that I'm more likely to AGREE with that "crowd," and hence less likely to argue with them, doesn't mean I think being a blind follower is a good thing in that case. Anyway, my main point is that there are always going to be disagreements, especially when you get a lot of diverse people together. Reducing all of these multiple arguments and viewpoints to red and blue, or Republican and Democratic, or conservative and liberal, is really oversimplifying the matter. I don't think mending the gaps between the Reds and the Blues should necessarilly be the top priority in this country. When people are constantly telling you that the country is divided, and this is a Very Bad Thing, and the blue states hate the red states and vice versa, well, might this not be a self-fulfilling prophecy? I don't think there's a simple answer for why people can't get along, but I don't think it's so much Red vs. Blue as it is the good old-fashioned "I hate people who are different from me!" (or, in extreme cases, "I hate all people who aren't me!") mentality. Whether Bush is a uniter or a divider (and really, aren't ALL elected officials essentially dividers, whether they want to be or not?) doesn't concern me so much as the fact that he seems to have absolutely no compassion or concern for anyone but himself and a tiny minority of the population. If you want to see an example of "cultural ignorance," you need look no further than the White House. Well, maybe he's not ignorant, and he just doesn't care, but it works out much the same way in the end.

For what it's worth, I also don't understand what Akers is saying about liberals "oppos[ing] laws requiring abstinence education." First of all, what IS "abstinence education"? I'm pretty sure everyone knows abstinence is an option. Or are there people out there who think they're required by law to have sex? Well, the way things are going, maybe there are. Are there really cases of "The Left" insisting that abstinence NOT be taught in schools, though, or is this yet another misrepresentation of the facts?

( And finally, here's a quiz result )

An end-of-the-year survey

Yeah, I know I've been making a lot of posts today, but I saw this survey on countblastula's journal, and thought I might as well fill it out.

( Survey says: )