Nice shot, Jeff

Sunrise photo Jeff took on his world tour.

John Butler Trio

New music for you... The John Butler Trio.

Caught a live set of theirs on TV last night, and I was quite impressed. They have links on their site to free live show downloads, so there's no excuse not to take a listen.

Later

Politics and Religion

*Disclaimer* What lies below is my personal opinion, and only my opinion. It in no way should be taken for fact, and all points should be double checked with other reliable sources.

Over the past 24 hours, I've been very disappointed with the conduct of President Bush, his administration, and the so-called reporters that flood the internet with opinion rather than fact.

This began last night while I was checking some headlines, and noticed that President Bush and the First Lady had gone to Rome to pay respects to the deceased Pope. This annoyed me for a couple reasons. President Bush, to my knowledge is an Evangelical Christian, and not Roman Catholic. I understand the Pope was a world leader and greatly respected by peoples of all faiths, however, with crowds estimated into the millions of Catholics waiting to pay their respects, I found Bush's appearance in the front row to be a photo op, and a disruption to the poor souls waiting in line for many hours.

My irritation grew this afternoon when I did a little more digging, and realized there were actually 4 others in the leading US delegation, along with the President. Former Presidents Clinton and Bush, as well as the First Lady and Sec. of State Rice were also giving the red carpet treatment. I found it a bit strange that Former President Carter was not along with the delegation. Former President Ford, I discovered, is in poor health, and has been advised not to travel. But when looking into the missing Pres. Carter, I discovered a variety of "news" articles, from both ends of the political spectrum, explaining his absence. The far right claimed that Carter "had the audacity to suggest to President Bush that he lead the delegation, if President Bush were unable to attend." Hmm, that's odd, that doesn't seem very audacious to me. The far left chimed in that Carter had "been snubbed by the White House, and left to watch the service on TV." Now that can't be either. The President just couldn't be dumb enough to publicly snub another former President. After searching for an article that wasn't rife with its own political commentary, I finally found one that seemed to do the best job of explaining the situation.

It seems that Carter had been told there were a limited number of spaces available for the trip, and he declined, feeling it wasn't his place to infringe on others. However, by the time it was discovered there would have been room for him, it was too late.

The pieces that still don't line up for me is the following: 1) No President has ever been to a Pope's funeral/period of mourning. The highest ranking US government official, until yesterday, to visit a Pope's wake was LBJ, while he was Vice President. 2) Carter was the first President to have a Pope visit the White House, and I believe it was John Paul II. 3) Two other former Presidents attended along with President Bush. This being the case, I can find no reason, besides President Bush's dislike for Carter's public criticism of the Iraq war, for him not to be invited, especially above Dr. Rice, and Mrs. Bush.

Now that I've had some time to cool down from my initial infuriation, I see this as nothing more than one more publicity stunt by the Bush administration gone awry. I hope others beside me saw this and were equally displeased with politics playing a role in a diplomatic and highly religious event.

-peace

Mr. Scott Paulsen

I would like to share with you an amazing American story teller.

Back in my early highschool days, I moved away from the "pop" station in Pittsburgh that catered to the younger citizens of the area, over to the Monolith that is WDVE Pittsburgh.

For those of you not from the area, 'DVE, as it is known to locals, is the classic / new rock station. It is unapologetic, but not rude, entertaining, and just plain funny. While in highschool, the morning show team, amogst others, included a man by the name of Scott Paulsen. For the most part, Scott played the straight man of the team. He, like others on the show, had serial characters that would poke their heads in now and again. But Scott's real gift to the show was his ability to give outstanding, thoughtful, and hilarious commentary on the day's events.

I was saddened to learn that in my senior year, Scott had had enough of the DJ lifestyle. In his final show, he lefts us for "parts unknown", and far away from a job that required a 3 am wake up call every day. Can you blame him?

The morning show found a new straight man, and as I went to college, I listened to the radio a little less, and my interest slowly faded. But then one day, something miraculous happened. "What's that you say? Scott Paulsen is coming back to DVE?" I couldn't believe my ears. My favorite member of the morning show was coming back to the station to do a solo act in the evenings. It was the best of both worlds. Mornings I could catch the classic morning show antics, and in the evenings, I could hear thoughtful, gut-busting, commentary on any number of issues.

If you've never heard a commentary by Scott, I urge you to take this opportunity to visit his website. (www.scottpauslen.com) and take a listen. There are usually some audio clips from his latest shows. But if you don't have the time, I can describe his style as sarcastic, intelligent, and honest.

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of his book "Cow Tipping" (which is named after a song written about the subject) from a dear friend for Christmas. The book is a collection of the current events commentary and life-experiences, each a few pages long, collected over the past few years. I'm only about halfway through, reading time being at a premium lately, but each has caused me to either laugh out loud, or shake my head in agreement.

I can honestly say I feel some sort of connection with Mr. Paulsen. Growing up in the Tri-state area has a certain effect on a man, I've come to discover. It allows you to be somewhere between sophisticated and total hick, while embracing both as your roots.

So, Scott, if I can be so informal with someone I've never met, but feel I know personally, keep up the good work. Although I'm not longer in the listening audience on a nightly basis, your work has helped me to look back on my roots not with hatred or shame, but understanding and humor.

- yinz guys take it easy