Sure, just ignore Reverend Niemoller

I have heard the same argument over and over again about "if you don't have anything to hide, why don't you like the Patriot Act?"

What ticks me off first is that a lot of these same people saying this consider gun registration a slippery slope to total confiscation. Hey, if you don't plan on using your guns for drugs and crime, what's your beef about registration? If you get gun education, that's just carte blanche for taking a fully automatic weapon to a crowded mall...eh, I digress.

Reverend Martin Niemoller lived during World War II and warned about the Nazis. He said, to paraphrase, that they came for less popular groups and he didn't speak up for them because he wasn't one of them, but by the time the Nazis got to him, no one was left to speak up for him.

Remember that. To take his famous poem and modify it for modern times

First they came for the Islamic Jihadists
and I didn't speak up because I was a Christian
Then they came for the Muslims
and I didn't speak up because I was a Christian
Then they came for the homosexuals
and I didn't speak up because I thought homosexuality was a mortal sin
Then they came for the liberals
and I didn't speak up because I was a conservative
But then they came for me
and no one was left to speak up

HEAD THE WORDS OF MARTIN NIEMOLLER.

I'll speak up for you.

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RIP, Jerry Falwell--and a pox on those who are sitting there, gloating

I

heard on the news about Reverend Jerry Falwell's sudden death.

Let me say first I never liked him. He was the antithesis of all that is Christianity, especially when he blamed secular causes for 9/11.

But, you know what? Right now that doesn't matter. I went on a blog on MSNBC's website and was appalled at all the people ready to dance (among other things) on his grave. I was glad to see it get axed and quick. Unless we're talking about Saddam Hussein or Adolf Hitler (and, let's be honest, he was nothing like those people), it is sacrilegeous to dance on someone's grave, especially when that person has just died.

I don't want to hear excuses about it, either. Follow your own advice here. You wanted Rev. Falwell to consider your opinion? Would you have wanted Falwell to dance on your grave if you lived a life antithetical to, say, Leviticus? Then take the high road for once and at least show some compassion for his family. To do otherwise is just going to fan the flames of religious division, whereas his closest followers can simply say "Well, there's that TOLERANT Secular movement up to no good again." Trust me, you won't be making your case at all.

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The Sad State of Music
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Music

Wow. That's all I can say...and I don't mean that in a good way.

They say that the C in rap is silent. My addendum is that it is unfortunate that the rest of it isn't.

Rap music started out as a new form of artistic expression. RunDMC with their "You Be Illin," for instance, was funny. Especially the guy who walked in to a KFC, put down a quarter, then ordered a Big Mac with a small fries. It had a beat, it had rhythm, and it was often good, clean music.

Fast forward two decades. Now you have every Tom, pric- er, Dick and Harry putting out obnoxious hip-hop rap music. Don Imus looks like a saint by comparison to this stuff they pass off as music. 50 cent's "Candy Shop", a tune called "Shake Your Money Maker", etc. All of them involve drugs, sex, crime, adult language and often misogyny and racist words (don't tell me the N-word is any different used by a black than a non-black...you're just kidding yourself).

Hey, I can do that, too. (starts banging hand on table nearby and doing a "rap")

Rap, guns, drugs, language

foul language, dirty words

aabbaabbabbbbabbubbubahmy words are so stupid

I'm gonna play them all night long

Gonna play them all night long

Gonna play them all night long

Gonna (square wave synthesizer in the background)

Pkkpkkpkkkp WORD!! YEAH!!! DIRTY DANCE TIL YOU CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE YOU (BAD WORD)

Hey, I have enough to cut an album.

Unfortunately, it's not just rap, either. All kinds of music today are nothing but synthesizers replacing real instruments entirely, guitars playing nothing but power chords (two distinctive notes do not make a chord), loud thumping bass. I think I need to invest in Beltone (hearing aid manufacturers), because today's youth will need their services early on.

What happened to the days of hard rock and metal, where you used actual chords, ones that have more than two distinct notes in them? Groups like Soundgarden and Metallica? Medium rock groups like Live? Soft rock groups like Seals and Crofts or Chicago?

That's not to say there aren't good groups out there, but they're a minority these days. Local groups tend to emphasize actual music, actual instruments. Such groups as Red Clay Ramblers and Holy Ghost Tent Revival from NC, for instance, actually SING for a change.

Welcome to my Blog

Hello, I am Brent White and welcome to my blog. Everyone has a blog so what makes mine different?

Well, okay, nothing makes my blog different. I'm just a fence-sitting, roadgeeking, anime-loving, IT guy who likes to make his views known.

Anyways, here goes...