Hitch on Reagan

No fan of Ronald Reagan, Christopher Hitchens still wonders why so many leftist "intellectuals" feel they need to prove themselves smarter than Reagan - and whether they, had they been in power in Reagan's place, could have brought about the defeat of the Soviet Union as effectively as he did.

US Warns Syria

Debka announced today that the US had issued a "sharply worded" warning to Syria to call in its troops and Hezbollah fighters operating in Iraq, or else face serious consequences.

Regime Change at DiL

I'm writing this from a brand-new Mac; my DSL broadband kicks in next week. Now I'll be able to get more done in less time ... that's going to be nice!

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Best of DiL

BEST OF DREAMS INTO LIGHTNING


WOMEN AND POWER: Gender, politics, and the price of empowerment – responsibility.
Women and Power

THE ABUSE OF POWER
I Am a Rapest
Seeds of Evil
It is not work. It is abuse.
Army of Occupation

THE L WORD: Liberalism in crisis.
Berman: Another Peace Movement
Galloway
The L Word
Are you a liberal?
Authority Figure
An Infinite Supply of Arab Murderers
Self and Other

SON OF THE MOTHER OF ALL BATTLES: My Iraq war.
The Long Road Home
The Kill
Armed Forces Day

KABBALAH SERIES: A meditation on Jewish mysticism, featuring Lawrence Kushner, Phillip Berg, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Madonna. To be continued.
Kabbala-la Land
The Kabbalah: Part 1
The Kabbalah: Part 2
The Kabbalah: Part 3
The Kabbalah: Part 4
The Kabbalah: Part 5

THE IRAQI HOLOCAUST
The Question
Uday vs. Women
Mass Graves
Sam’s Charge Sheet 1
Sam’s Charge Sheet 2
Al-Dujail
Denial
Memory

IRAN
True Security: Regime Change in Iran
Ebadi Boycott
And Iran...


WINNING IN IRAQ
Seven Iraqi Amputees
Flying Saucers
Winning In Iraq

WORDS TO LIVE BY
Faith

Break from Posting

No new posts until my hardware/ISP upgrade is complete, probably by Wednesday. Meanwhile, please feel free to explore the posts I consider most important, at "Best of DiL", below.
UPDATE: Some of the links work and some don't; I'm in the process of fixing this now.

The Axe

My mother left me an electric guitar.

Well, not precisely. But when Mom died last year, I inherited the house; and after all the red tape with the probate court, I was able to sell it. After depositing the check, the first thing I bought myself was a solid-body Ibanez.

If you love Jimi Hendrix, PJ Harvey, the Rolling Stones, Heart, Boston, the Indigo Girls, Yes, Soundgarden, Bo Diddley, Joan Jett, REM, Joan Armatrading, Chuck Berry, the Psychedelic Furs, the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, the Byrds, U2, Melissa Etheridge, Cream, Starcastle, Alice in Chains, and Joy Division, then you understand why I think the electric guitar is the most beautiful instrument in the world.

I’ve always been fascinated by how the guitar can be thin and rich and plaintive – like on Bob Seger’s “Main Street” – or rich and bold, like in “Plush” by Stone Temple Pilots. The driving power of Heart’s “Barracuda”. The apocalyptic drama of the Indigo Girls’ “Touch Me Fall”.

It was 1974 (and I was eleven) when the prog-rock sextet Starcastle rocked my world with their debut single “Lady of the Lake”. People claimed Starcastle sounded like Yes, but in fact the Champaign-Urbana based group had a sound all their own. Yes were doing some of their best work around this time too; the riff from “Siberian Khatru” – especially the live version on the lavishly packaged album “Yessongs” – is burned in my brain forever.

Strange to say, I didn’t really appreciate Led Zeppelin while I was growing up in the 1970s. I didn’t understand what they were doing musically until I heard Robert Plant’s solo album “The Principle of Moments”. Those guys did the most amazing things with sound.

In my last year of high school, my friend Chuck made me a tape with Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures” on one side and the Psychedelic Furs’ debut album on the other. Ian Curtis’ tormented vocals wandered down the industrial labyrinth of the Joy Division sound, while Richard Butler’s gravelly voice wound like a fiery thread around the Fur’s furious guitar and bass lines. To this day, my record collection is full of Joy Division and Psychedelic Furs.

I wore my Aerosmith concert jersey for my graduation photo. What more is there to say?

A few years ago I went to see a concert at the Rose Garden. It was just before tax day, and I still hadn’t turned in my 1040, and I had a million other things on my mind too, so I wasn’t really in much of a mood to see a concert. The headline act was some big-name rock band from Ireland. But the opening act ... well, that was something else! This tiny woman in a leather micro-skirt walks out on stage, picks up a guitar that’s almost bigger than she is, and starts blasting away. And doesn’t stop for an hour. That was my introduction to PJ Harvey. (And the main act? Some bunch of fat old guys that used to be a big deal ... think they called themselves “W-2”, or something like that ... )

It was Jimi, of course, who defined the electric guitar as an electronic instrument. A vibrating string has a base tone – defined as a function of half the string’s length and its linear density – but it also has a potentially infinite number of overtones, because there are also vibration nodes at thirds, quarters, fifths, and so on, of the length of the string. If you attach the string to a hollow object – say, a box, or the body of an instrument – more overtones will be produced by the instrument body. An acoustic guitar produces its rich sound because of the particular resonances of the string, and of the body of the instrument itself. With an electic guitar, though, you have one or more electromagnetic pickups placed at different points along the string: this means that you get to decide which overtones you want to bring out. Hendrix discovered the possibilities of using feedback, distortion, and higher harmonics to produce musical sounds no one had ever heard before.

But you know, the really cool thing about the electric guitar is that YOUR PARENTS WILL NEVER PRESSURE YOU TO LEARN THE INSTRUMENT. It’s true. Mom dragged my sister and me to piano lessons for years when we were kids, and I can still play, and I’m glad my mother forced me to learn ... I guess. But how many young people hear their mothers say, “Jonathan B. Goode, if I don’t hear some chord changes coming from your room RIGHT THIS MINUTE ...” ?

So it’s one thing you have to motivate yourself to learn. And that’s cool.

My guitar teacher has given me some finger exercises, some movable scales, and some chord changes to work on. I’m starting to learn “Chickenman”, the Indigo Girls classic (written by Amy Ray). The book calls for tuning the guitar DADGBD, but Guitar Guru showed me some fingerings I can use with standard tuning.

So now I’m on my way to being a participant and not merely a listener. One day, hopefully, I’ll really learn to play.

Mom wouldn’t be proud of me.

I've Been Your Fan Since Yesterday

I've just had one of those moments when nothing else mattered except music: not just any music, but that ONE BAND I feel like I've been waiting all my life to hear. In this case the band is Electrelane, a four-woman band from England. Their music is melodic, lyrical, moody, haunting. I heard their CD "The Power Out" yesterday at Everyday Music and had to buy it right away. Haven't taken it off the CD player since. Reminds me a little of the duo Dusty Trails (Vivian Trimble and Josephine Wiggs). Now I have to dig up all of Electrelane's EP's and singles.

The point of it all? Life goes on ... winning the war matters, but other stuff matters too. You've got to be able to enjoy life, or why bother? Freedom is for living.

But Iran Is Already A Free Country

In a singularly inspired column, Nick Kristof (who previously explained that the Iranian regime isn't nearly as bad as it's made out to be) argues that "the Communist Party signed its own death warrent" at Tiananmen Square fifteen years ago. "Political pluralism has not arrived yet," he acknowledges, "but economic, social, and cultural pluralism has." The same market forces that have transformed China "would also help transform Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Burma, if only we would unleash them."

And now for the big question:

"So when will political change come to China? I don't have a clue, but it could come at any time ..."

Well, yes, and so could the Messiah. But free trade would transform Cuba, North Korea, and Iran into nuclear powers, and I don't even want to think about what that would unleash.

Let's Blogroll!

Baldilocks isn't holding her breath waiting for Tenet's tell-all book. She also has some thoughts about Reggie Rivers, older veterans, and the science of love. Go check out her recent posts.

Lady luck smiles on Ginmar. Let's all pray things don't change again.

ASV has a few theories.

Serenity has a special seires in honor of the anniversary of D-Day (June 6). Take a few minutes to read the names and the stories, and look at the faces. Don't even try to understand the numbers - they defy comprehension.

Mamamontezz has a very special D-Day tribute of her own.

Jane calls on the Blogistan Liberation Army to march forward. (Also includes a short piece by yours truly.)

And again on the subject of anniversaries, do you remember what happened fifteen years ago? Instapundit does.

Meanwhile, in a certain Western nation, Christians are being harassed for practicing their religion in public, the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler reports.

Finally, the Belmont Club offers a postscript to the Bin Laden memo. Wretchard stresses the main points illustrated by the fictional memorandum: that our enemies, understanding that they cannot defeat us in a direct confrontation, have sought (with great success) to turn the self-destructive elements of Western society against the West itself. He concludes: "In the Memo author's view, that this possibility exists at all is a judgement on the West. The West is disgusted with itself; longs to die; yearns for condemnation. The job of the Faithful is but to put it out of its misery. Standing offstage only by their implied presence is the remnant of the West that that has not lost sight of love; that remembers its covenant; that recalls "the starlight on the western seas." That is whom the Jihad must defeat and all it must defeat."

Morning Report: June 3, 2004

- DCI George Tenet resigns. (various) George Tenet, the Director of Central Intelligence for the US Government, has announced his resignation, which will become effective July 11. Tenet, a Clinton appointee, has denied that his resignation is the result of outside pressure, citing personal reasons. His position is commonly referred to as "Director of the CIA", which is certainly one of his responsibilities, but the correct title for the job is Director of Central Intelligence - reflecting the fact that he is the head of all the nation's intelligence agencies, not only the CIA. Deputy Director John McLaughlin has been named as acting Director.
Fox: Tenet Resigns
Debka
- MSF pulls out of Afghanistan. The French-based humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) announced that it is pulling out of Afghanistan, following an attack on its workers.
CNN: MSF out of Afghanistan.

Abu Ghareeb (Abo Ghraib) Photos!

Wonkette and Washingtonienne in girl-on-girl action! Disaster in Falluja! Collapse and Catastrophe! Murder! Mayhem! Nick Berg!

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