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Random thoughts of the day:

1.  So I arrived at the gig Sunday, and at the venue prior to our show another, earlier show was finishing up (kinda like a baseball double-header, we were playing in the "nightcap," apparently).  The earlier show was a show put on by one of these "School of Rock" outfits that have been springing  up around the country. 

It's kind of disconcerting when a bunch of 13-year old kids play tighter than the band you're in, but then again, they don't have jobs, kids, and a mortgage, so I guess that's expected.  Time to rehearse directly translates into results.

But, the one thing they did that I found aggravating was that in between each song, whichever kid was on lead vocals would pull out a piece of paper with some notes on it and read a poem or statement on philosophy and how rock is about rebelling, being a maverick, not accepting the pressures society puts on you, etc.

Now far be it from me to discourage someone from speaking his or her mind on originality and being an artist, but YOU'RE FRIGGIN 13!!!  YOUR PARENTS ARE IN THE AUDIENCE!!!  THEY'RE PAYING YOUR TUITION FOR MUSIC LESSONS!!! YOU ARE NOT REBELLING!!!!

And there's no Santa Claus either, kids.  Now that I've pissed all over your Christmas Tree, let's move on to....

2.  I got a bad gut feeling about troop increases in Afghanistan.  But I also think withdrawing is a bad idea.  I can get on board with it if we pull out of Iraq and then use the money we save there to pay for the Afghan war.  If we had done that in 2003 we wouldn't be talking about it now. 

3.  Cincinnatti and TCU got screwed in the BCS.  But are we really surprised about this by now.  PLAYOFFS NOW!!! PLAYOFFS NOW!!!  PLAYOFFS NOW!!!

4.  Speaking of the BCS, Ari Fleischer is apparently their spokesman now and is trying to position wanting a playoff system in Division I-A as being in support of Obama.  Huh?

5.  The.  Browns.  Suck.

6.  If you think the stimulus didn't work, just think of how much worse the recession would be if funds hadn't been injected to keep local governments (i.e. schools, police, fire, parks districts, etc.) from having to do mass layoffs as well as the private sector.  So maybe it didn't stimulate healing, but it stopped the hemmorraging.

7.  When I was in business school, my very laissez-faire, pro-Republican economics professor constantly espoused Cap and Trade as a wiser way to regulate pollution, a market-based solution that worked via rational incentives rather than arbitrary punishments.  And now that a Democratic administration is pushing for it, the Republican Party is against it.  Huh?

8.  There's an ad out there claiming that "Liberals" have equated support for Health Care legislation to racism, apparently to try to get some type of backlash.  The argument goes something like this:  Jesse Jackson (whom I personally wish would just shut the hell up)  said something to the effect of "I can't understand how any black man could want to vote against health care."  The commercial then twists this into "anyone who opposes healthcare is racist" and then accuses liberals of playing the race card.

My gut is to say that seriously, if you buy that argument you're moronic.  Except I've seen the American people buy dumb arguments before.  I hope they don't buy that one.  If you oppose it, do it on the grounds that we gotta figure out how to pay for it!  That'd fly better with someone like me!  But don't just say "eh, it's because Jesse Jackson said you're racist."  He didn't, and I'm not.  And I'm for healthcare reform.  But let's move on.

9.  Who was the first guy who looked at a lobster and said "Hell, I'm gonna eat that?"  Must have been starving.

10.  If you want to buy our MP3's, check out our "Bizmo" widget on the left-hand side of our Myspace page.  Buy something for someone you love for Christmas.  Unless you celebrate something else.  But then you should buy something for someone you love just 'cause you're a nice person.  You are a nice person, aren't you?  Don't prove me wrong.

OK.  10 blog ramblings.  Merry Christmas, Happy Haunakkah, Happy Kwanza, or whatever else you celebrate!  Just celebrate, dammit!  

Peace!

Frank Gondo 

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/7000-unemployed-Amer...

They'll bail out Wall St., but not Main St. Call your Senator and tell them to vote for extensions of unemployment benefits in States with high unemployment rates!

I awoke this morning to the bewildering news that President Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  Many of you know that I am a supporter of Pres. Obama, and agree in principle with his efforts on foreign policy.  I was, however, befuddled at the news.  I mean, he's only been in office since January, he hasn't actually done anything, yet, so why him?  Why not someone who's helping Darfur refugees, or someone of that ilk?

I spent the rest of the day dreading the reaction of the right, in anticipation of all the venom and vitriol that would be spewed from the President's opponents, particularly those so opposed to his push for universal healthcare. 

I came to the conclusion that this wasn't so much Obama having earned it, but more so the world (particularly Europe) "flipping the bird" to George W. Bush.

But then I thought a little deeper, and I came to a different conclusion.

The President of the United States, for better or worse, is the face and personification of our country.  In the eyes of the world, he (or she, eventually) represents us US citizens.  Republican or Democrat, Liberal or Conservative, Protestant or Catholic, Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, strong or weak, right or wrong.

In November, we replaced an administration whose foreign policy advocated unilateral action, spurning and demonizing opinions of the rest of the world which did not fit with their preconceived notions of how the world should work.  We replaced it with an administration that advocates diplomacy, recognizing that violence begets violence, that alliances beget strength, and that achieving a goal through finesse brings rewards in exponentially larger quantities than solely acting through force.

This award is not about the man Barack Obama. Even he admits that he does not belong among the winners of this award.  However, as our President, as our face in the world, this award was given to him as a recognition of our movement as a nation away from the policies of bullying, deception, and intimidation that marked our past administration.

This award was not for Barack.  It was for us.  For the citizens of the United States.  President Obama is only the representative accepting it for us.  We should gracefully accept it.   

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