Sobek usually does an excellent job explaining the history and styles of classical music. I will not be doing that today. I am going to tip our collective toes into the most important style of music out today.
Metal.
We will not wander lost in the metal desert any longer, as I attempt to introduce you into into a few of it’s various forms.
The term “heavy metal” apparently springs from a Steppenwolf song from the 60’s. In the tune everyone knows “Born to Be Wild” the line “heavy metal thunder” – and thus a genre was created. Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath are considered the first of the “metal” bands (although Zeppelin has a lot of blues in it), from these Godfather’s of metal we now have a whole wide array to choose from. Avant-garde metal, black metal, celtic metal, death metal, doom metal, Gothic metal, Grindcore, Hair metal (the worst them all), Metalcore, Nu-Metal, Power Metal, Progressive metal (the greatest of all forms), Thrash metal, and then who knows how many more will appear.
It’s Monday and Obama’s on vacation so at least we have that going for us. I’m not sure how many rounds of Golf he’s going to play but we can be sure that since it gets him out of that bazillion dollar mansion and away from his wife he’s going to play AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. He’ll squeeze in the “Bookstore” visit and the “Ice Cream” visit and the insufferable yearly “bike trip”. But let’s be honest – this is about his royal highness hanging out with his (male) friends “playing golf” as much as possible-NTTAWWT.
So moving-on to the first ever MONDAY MUSICAL MOTIVATION.
It was Mare’s suggestion (was she drinking?) – so blame her.
I’m going to start this slowly. Lessen the shock. THIS is one of my favorite running songs. It’s got a strong beat (you can’t dance to it) that builds in intensity for the PERFECT running pace. Toward the end – if you’re not flying down the road you just don’t have any soul. The heavy sound was created on this album was made by plugging the guitars into bass amps.
There. Now that we’re warmed up I can move on to something a bit peppier. Well at least the folks on the video are dancing around … we’ll go with that.
These cool dudes played around here recently but I was probably working a fake double.
Now – for a bit of cold reality.
Depressing song but the BEAT – man. I can lift to that.
This is the song I always use when I need to finish strong.
Here’s a little zumba motivation. I was working both days during the final weekend – and it was slow – so I put the games on all the teevees in the bar and got to watch a lot. The gals were fun to watch – then the guys started competing.
OMG
So I’ve got an 8.5 mile run today then I work tonight. And the laundry room? Have you SEEN THAT? OMG. Nothing trashes my house like me working all weekend. Ugh. Ok. Let’s hit it folks.
I’ve seen some frightening footage from the riots, but the shit’s really about to hit the fan –
So, as we watch our country slowly crash and burn, I present to you the response from the left. Apparently, we’re just being hypocrites in our reaction to a city being destroyed.
But when a mob of mostly white people take to the streets, vandalizing cars, storefronts and street signs in the process it usually means someone either won or lost a game.
As Mic’s Zak Cheney-Rice noted in January, these rioters are usually called “revelers,” “celebrants” and “fans.” They’re not even called “rioters” in many cases. They’re not derided as “criminals,” “thugs,” “pigs” or even “violent.” Those descriptors, as events in Baltimore Monday night reveals yet again, are only reserved for black people. They’re the ones who need to be quelled by militarized police forces. They’re the ones who need to be off the streets, immediately. They’re diminishing the validity of their cause. Yet somehow, reckless behavior over a sports team, not a systemic matter of life and death, is viewed as a costly nuisance.
Huh, I BELIEVE that no one has ever called the assholes that destroy property in celebration (or anger) over the win/loss of any sports team. I’m pretty sure that they ARE called rioters and condemned by the whole of society and drunken assholes. No reporters show up on the street trying interview them to “understand” the motivation for their actions. People are usually arrested. It’s an embarrassment for all involved.
Then the author goes on to compare the drunken looting and destruction in Baltimore (and other recent events) to the Boston Tea Party.
“A month ago, I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be. And I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially had the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick. Right? So, you know, this is not theater.”
Delivered like the climax of third-grade pageant, the President’s “know whose ass to kick” remark has been sitting in my head like mayo in the picnic sun, slowly turning from something I just don’t prefer to something that makes me ill. I can’t think of another instance where a President’s use of profanity – even mild profanity – was published approvingly by the media. In fact, I really can’t recollect another instance where a President’s use of profanity was published at all, but I have no doubt that’s merely my failing memory. I believe Johnson, Clinton, and Bush 43 were known to use profanity on occasion (or more frequently), but I can’t point to specific examples, and I don’t believe they did so frequently as in the course of publicly performing their jobs. On the odd occasions they did employ impious language, I don’t believe the instances were intended for public consumption. Against that history, President Obama’s comment seemed crass.
Epitome of an ass-kicker
While decidedly un-Presidential, the comment itself doesn’t rankle me too much. What does bother me is the incongruity between the President’s statement and who he actually is. The comment directly contradicts his real personality, much as the moderate image he built for his election campaign contradicts the extreme leftward bent of his governance. Implying that he has the capacity to kick ass is a bald-faced lie. (I know, I know – this is like saying “the sky is blue” and “kids say the darndest things.” I should get over it. And I should. I’m not there yet.)
Each President brings his own personality to the job, and if ass-kicking is part of his personality, a comment like yesterday’s might be entirely appropriate. The problem is, ass-kicking is NOT part of the President’s personality. He’s a scrawny, effeminate, effete, pseudo-intellectual homunculus with pretensions to decisiveness and vision. An enraged Obama is slightly less threatening than a weeping Liberace.
In light of his shrewishly petulant comment, it seems only fair to consider whether the President has ever kicked ass, even once. He’s the multicultural man of mystery and we don’t have much of a picture of his life before politics, so we can’t say for sure, but his proclivities are not those generally associated with ass-kicking. The President’s hyper-inflated ego and narcissism are well documented, yet we don’t hear about the vainglorious sporting exploits of his youth and college. Why does that matter? Sport is an outlet for physically competitive urges. Physically competitive urges are directly impacted by testosterone levels, which also impacts one’s propensity for violence – or ass-kicking, as it’s sometimes known in the vernacular. I’m not saying he’s low on testosterone or low on the chemical underpinnings of an inclination toward kicking ass, but I am saying he doesn’t display the characteristics of a man endowed with an abundance of testosterone. In the conflict department, he’s rather milquetoasty.
Ass-kicker in Chief
As to oft-touted virtues of the President’s personality, his alleged predisposition for intellectualism and cool contemplation fails to evoke imagery of ass-kickery, too. He publicly avows his affinity for talking to our adversaries in the face of violent, confrontational rhetoric rather than drawing a line in the sand to protect our national security, and at least one rumor has surfaced that his administration entertains the idea of the US buying off the Taliban for peace in Afghanistan. Neither of these strategies bears the hallmark of an alpha male, or even hallmarks of a male who has any first-hand experience with real, personal confrontation. Based on his public actions, the President’s resolve to defend this country – to kick ass on its behalf – is as firm as tepid Jell-O.
One would be hard-pressed to find any form of ass kicking related to the President that was not a “they” enterprise when carried out. He simply does not act without a consensus of some sort. The pride of Obama’s pre-Presidential resume are his community organizing years, during which he and his Alinsky-ite comrades fomented discontent among the proletariat to extort “evil” corporate targets. He didn’t undertake his subversive endeavors in solitary dedication. To the contrary, he coordinated group efforts to recruit converts from disaffected masses to agitate for shared entitlements. As his career progressed, first as a legislator in the Illinois General Assembly and later in the US Senate, Brave Sir Barry did co-sponsor legislation from time to time, but not one bill bears his name as the primary, initiating author. He only acted when he had company, when he was part of a group. President Obama has conspicuously avoided taking any stance that would leave the US standing alone against the world. He positions the country so its official positions are consistent with popular international sentiment, even to the detriment of our until-recently favored allies. In fact, nowhere does he ever boast of standing alone for what he believes or for the traditional interpretations of the nature of our freedoms and government. Given his notorious ego, if Obama actually ever HAS stood for something on his own, we can be assured he would be the first to tell us. And he would tell us over and over and over again, like some sort of cliched political “Pete and Repeat are sitting on the fence” joke.
On the rare occasions the President has involved himself with a beat-down, he has taken a rather formulaic and cowardly road to the first blow. First, he obtains permission from his like-minded group to threaten. He gins up public or Congressional sentiment, and then couches solutions in terms of Hobson’s choices, e.g., the health care bill (“If we don’t pass this bill, 40 million people will remain uninsured”). Once he secures permission, Obama hires muscle; he appeals to external entities to follow through on his threats. As a community organizer, he appealed to his audience of malcontents with demagoguery and to the coercive power of the state through the courts. As a state and federal legislator, he appealed to his colleagues’ authority by co-sponsoring legislation rather than authoring any of his own. As President, he appealed to the bankruptcy court’s authority to browbeat secured creditors into submission to unsecured creditors in the auto bailout. Likewise, with regard to financial reform, the President appeals to Congress to “rein in Wall Street,” and fails to exercise the not insignificant powers he already wields through the Treasury, Justice, and other departments. All of his appeals to authority are preceded by demagoguery, so his appeals are pleaded against the backdrop of mutinous mobs, many of which are paid agitators. And then he lets his minions do the work. Like a political Charlie Manson, he just sits back and watches approvingly as his devoted army of thugs visits their own perverted brand of justice on a target, all the while ostensibly washing his hands of the unsavoriness.
Obama and friends kick ass
Ass-kicking is not a spectator sport. Ass-kickers have resolve. Ass-kickers have confidence. Ass-kickers know their minds. They act with conviction to realize their visions. Ass-kickers ACT. This President simply doesn’t have the mettle to kick ass. The President’s convictions lack the starch necessary for him to take a solid stance in the face of unpopularity, and he doesn’t have the fortitude or wherewithal to face his Goliaths alone. This President is as likely to kick ass as a quadriplegic mule skinner.
Why does this particular incident matter? It probably doesn’t. You know what Obama is, I know what he is, and the masses are figuring it out. His comment is just one more straw on the camel’s back. We might want to start counting the straws as they’re added, though, because our camel is already bearing a heavy load, and the straws of Obama’s multitudinous continued deceptions will weigh heavier still. The breaking point – his or ours – is coming.
Changing Headers since March 2009 