Christian Right - Christian?...WRONG!

My brother Greg sent me the jokes below. Living out here in Nashville has taught me that the more Churched up someone is, the less likely they are to follow the teachings of Jesus. In the context of an unrelated interview Bruce Lee said "The doctrine becomes the Gospel" It's the same for the Churched up self righteous "Chritian Wrong" as it is for the whack-job sector of the Muslim faith. Jesus was a rebel, he fought against organized religion, he saved the prostitute from persecution and loved his enemies. Jesus never had the opourtunity, on a non christian radio station, to spend 5 solid minutes praying for the local football team. Yes, they did that here. Not for the homeless, sick children, orphans, the folks in Darfur, inoccents killed, our soldiers.... The Football team.
So read these below, and if anybody's reading this blog...add some new ones.

My Prayer:
May the spirit on the one God with many names somehow make it's clear purpose known to all of the elements of it's creation. Let's us rise above man made doctrines and interpretations to find the common thread in all life that IS the image of God.


(1) Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of
homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

(2) Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad
guy when W's daddy made war on him, a good guy when
Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush
needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

(3) Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is
Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital
to a spirit of international harmony.

(4) The United States should get out of the United
Nations, and our highest national priority is
enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

(5) A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her
own body, but multi-national corporations can make
decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

(6) The best way to improve military morale is to
praise the troops in speeches, while slashing
veterans' benefits and combat pay.

(7) If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents
won't have sex.

(8) A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our
long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and
money.

(9) Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound
policy, but providing health care to all Americans is
socialism.

(10) HMOs and insurance companies have the best
interests of the public at heart.

(11) Global warming, evolution and tobacco's link to
cancer are junk science, but creationism should be
taught in schools.

(12) A president lying about an extramarital affair is
an impeachable offense, but a president lying to
enlist support for a war in which thousands die is
solid defense policy.

(13) Government should limit itself to the powers
named in the Constitution, which include banning gay
marriages and censoring the Internet.

(14) The public has a right to know about Hillary's
cattle trades, but George W Bush's driving record is
none of our business.

(15) Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a
crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then
it's an illness and you need our prayers for your
recovery.

(16) What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital
national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is
irrelevant.

Truer Words Never Spoken

The following words are from Daniel Webster 168 years ago.
Gut the education system, and add the FOX "Rove-neo-con" network..and voila! jw

"I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter -- from the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government. From their carelessness and negligence I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct. That in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing. Make them intelligent and they will be vigilant. Give them the means of detecting the wrong and they will apply the remedy."

-- Daniel Webster, 1837

JW

Homesick but happy

The cherry blossoms are in blume - the sun is shining and all I can think about is how much I MISS THE GIANTS!!!!! I know that I should be talking about how much I miss my Son (24), and Daughter(soon to be 21), that are living in California. They know, and you can probably imagine. But Damn! Spring has sprung and I am living in a "Dry" state - so to speak. I want to watch Jason Schmidt pitch...I'd settle for Radio. And herein lies the rub. Without out paying HUGE amounts of money, I am S.O.L. No KNBR. No Kruke and Kype. MLB.com want's money to listen to broadcasts that are FREE in SF. It's like some kind of whacko reverse blackout BS. Not that anybody reads my blog, and I am working on a post that explains everything about everything, but if you are out there, and you know a way that I can pick up KNBR radio out here in Nashville for free, PLEASE let me know.
Bye Bye Baby! (if you ever lived in SF you will understand)

jw

Don’t get wrapped up in the technology

A better title might have been "Don't throw away that cardboard box"

My wife Tammy and I wrote a song recently called "I See It All". Being a music technology burn out, I decided the simple approach to be the best. Using my Korg D1600 (Thanks Vadim), and with incredible disdain for drum machines (and this tune needed some drums), I used a cardboard box for the kick drum, a snare sample, and an egg shaker. I stuck a large diaphragm condenser microphone down in the box, and lightly tapped on the side of the box. Boom, Boom baby! For the snare drum, I triggered a snare sample with the space bar on my computer, and held the microphone (The same mic...Hey, it was already plugged in!) up to the computer speakers. Next was the egg shaker, and for that track I decided to use...the same mic for the same reason. The whole deal took 10 minutes tops.

The point being, I didn't lose track of the initial enthusiasm, and spirit of the song tweaking hi-hat velocities! The drums sound great. As a matter of fact, I didn't win a contest for free studio time because they said I already had a professional demo of the song... go figure.

Keepin' it real can be easy, fun, and very effective.

Joe White

No More War Songs?

It seems here in Nashville, the word on the street from all of the publishers is, "No more war songs". The company line seems to be, " ...we don't want to seem as though we are capitalizing off of the pain of our soldiers" (paraphrased)

I'm of the ilk that believes that this is a bunch of crap! What if the record industry had that sort of colusive brick wall in the 1960's? - It's time for songs that take the high ground. Songs that hold Christians and Muslims to their core moral values. Time for songs of humble healing. We don't need anymore "Boot in the ass" tunes for sure, but let's not stifle the necessary evolution of thought. Is it just me?

Joe White