From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V9 #375 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Wednesday, December 20 2000 Volume 09 : Number 375 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: that was the year that was... [steve ] kirsty et al. ["Andrew D. Simchik" ] Re: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Fremen [steve ] Re: that was the year that was... [steve ] Re: fegmaniax-digest V9 #374 [grutness@surf4nix.com] the unusual business of not fucking each other over ["Chris Gillis!" ] Re: Kirsty MacColl [Eb ] Re: Kirsty MacColl [Jeff Dwarf ] statement from Kirsty's managers [Marcy Tanter ] from the Telegraph [Marcy Tanter ] Robyn does Bob [GSS ] Sam the Eagle speaks [The Great Quail ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 22:05:30 -0600 From: steve Subject: Re: that was the year that was... Christopher Gross: >Since each state would have as many electors as Congressmen, we could >just make each Congressional district serve as an electoral district as >well, and require each electoral vote to go to the candidate who won >the most in that district. Take another look at this, I don't think it would be any better than what we have now. Percentage of vote is the only way to go. - - Steve __________ Sealed with a curse as sharp as a knife. Doomed is your soul and damned is your life. - Lord John Whorfin ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 20:58:13 -0800 From: "Andrew D. Simchik" Subject: kirsty et al. >From: The Great Quail >1. I said I was "uncomfortable" with some Naderite sentiments. In >fact, when I hear a Nader voter moaning about Bush, I get actually >more than a little uncomfortable, Well, I get more than a little uncomfortable with the simplemindedness of this reactions, especially coming from such a complex thinker. So I like your olive branch idea, not because I think the list has been an unfriendly place lately (since the aftermath of the election I've liked it better and better -- I'm coming to like a few posters I've never liked before, though I must confess one of them still bothers me a lot), but because I think you're repeating yourself, which always encourages others to do the same. >From: grutness@surf4nix.com > >do yourself a favour, then - pick up a copy of "Electric Landlady". I've actually never really warmed to _Electric Landlady_. I like _Kite_ an awful lot, but anyone who doesn't have the _Galore_ compilation should pick that up first for sure. >From: grutness@surf4nix.com >well, you do vote for them on separate ballot forms, and put the completed >forms into different ballot boxes, don't you. Don't you? Please tell me >that logic that simple has reached the US! Hee hee hee. That's so cute. >From: Viv Lyon > >All I'm saying is that Bush's grand viziers will have a damned difficult >time getting anything done, once the democrats forget all this bipartisan >bullshit. Is this true? I think I would be very encouraged if it were that difficult for the parties to get stuff done. >From: "jbranscombe@compuserve.com" > >point that there are a vast number of Americans, as there are British, who >believe that their nation is 'Great' in the face of overwhelming evidence >to the contrary. So I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I'm curious as to whether you have any contrasting, truly "great" nations in mind. I'm not sure I can think of any offhand. Drew - -- Andrew D. Simchik, drew at stormgreen.com http://www.stormgreen.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 23:43:44 -0600 From: steve Subject: Re: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Fremen Jon Fetter: >I just hope "Crunchy Apple, Hungry Kitten" will be playing somewhere in >this nape of the central Pennyslvanian woods. It's going on the art house circuit, at least at first. - - Steve ___________ Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are. - B. Banzai ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 23:43:52 -0600 From: steve Subject: Re: that was the year that was... Michael R Godwin: >Well, we have been hearing stories over here about black voters being >turned away from the FLA polling stations. If that really happened, it's >what I would call electoral fraud. But did it happen? Depressing Democratic turnout is standard procedure for the Republican Party. They've done it for decades. In fact, the current Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court did it when he was a young Republican layer in Arizona. - - Steve __________ I'd sit down and meditate but my ass is on fire. - Bill Nelson ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 18:56:23 +1300 From: grutness@surf4nix.com Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V9 #374 >At first I read that as "whackaphone." I imagined a big foam-rubber >trumpet, say three feet (~1 m) long and available in day-glo green, orange >and pink, that you could both shout through and whack people over the head >with. Is the whakapohane anything like that? Please? no, the whakapohane is the traditional removal of trousers and presentation of rear end as a form of insult and challenge. The big foam rubber trumpet is only just starting to take its place in Maori customs. Apparently in Grimsby the same thing is domne with inflatable fish called "Harry the haddock", and in Green Bay they use cheese. >> >BTW, here's a question for you furriners: Do parliamentary-style countries >> >like Canada and the UK hold local elections at the same time as national >> >elections? >Basically, I was wondering if people in these countries vote for more than >one thing at the same time. I only mentioned local elections because I >figured that in a parliamentary system that might only happen if you voted >for, say, city council at the same time as the parliamentary election. we usually have referenda at the same time as the general election, but the voting for these is always on separate voting papers (printed on different coloured paper, too, so they can't be confused). Votes for councils are completely separate, as there is a fixed term for these, whereas for government there's a maximum (3 years), but the government can call an election any time within that time that it wants, or if the house loses confidence in the government (i.e., if the government loses a major 'confidence' vote in the house, such as on supply. One of the advantages of our and Britain's styles of government is that the Prime Minister IS the majority leader, so there's no deadlocks when the majority is from a different party to the President). James PS - Pops Staples too? Jeez. I guess Jesus finally made up his dyin' bed. This reaping stuff is starting to get really depressing. James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- You talk to me as if from a distance -.-=-.- And I reply with impressions chosen from another time =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 19:38:14 -0800 From: "Chris Gillis!" Subject: the unusual business of not fucking each other over Viv Lyon wrote: > > On Tue, 19 Dec 2000, The Great Quail wrote: > > > 3. The Feg list has been an unfriendly place lately. Agreed. Or at least they are more based on posturing than any sort of willingness to let tired dogs lie, nor contribute to the list itself. Perhaps Quail (with appropriate omissions) has created the List's new political conversation mantra: > > And I have some > > responsibility for that as well -- my tirades against [...] get as > > tiresome as any other constant axe grinding. So I hereby extend an > > olive branch to [...]; I will stop calling your actions into > > question on this List, for at least a while. This is not a political > > debate list, and we are all Fegs first and foremost, and I do feel > > that the List has taken a downturn in the last few months, over this > > and several other issues. Much like the Brian Wilson screeds of old, posturing and soapboxisms don't really get us (and I mean the "us" beyond the four or so people involved in any single discussion) any place we could not predict. > I don't feel that way at all. In fact, I think the list has been lively, > entertaining, challenging, and while contentious, never to the point of > people getting pissed and taking off. I don't think it is an issue of "nobody has left, so it is all right," but one of knowing where the boundaries are. Often times there is little disagreement on the issues: election really sucks, sure does; consumerism is a bit rampant, sure is; these are complex ideas we are reducing to simple statements, sure are. It would be nice to see a relaxed tone, with measured prose in which opinion and fact are clearly delineated, and used appropriately. A tone where contribution to the list as a whole is important (not just a "hole" to dump the latest tit for tat screed into). It would be great if discussions that got heated got so with the List in mind and kept the discussion cognizant of the complexity and causes at hand, rather than binomial splits in simple logic until nothing is left. Kindly, .chris - -- chris@photogenica.net http://photogenica.net - -- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 22:03:57 -0800 From: "Chris Gillis!" Subject: the unusual business of not fucking each other over Viv Lyon wrote: > > On Tue, 19 Dec 2000, The Great Quail wrote: > > > 3. The Feg list has been an unfriendly place lately. Agreed. Or at least they are more based on posturing than any sort of willingness to let tired dogs lie, nor contribute to the list itself. Perhaps Quail (with appropriate omissions) has created the List's new political conversation mantra: > > And I have some > > responsibility for that as well -- my tirades against [...] get as > > tiresome as any other constant axe grinding. So I hereby extend an > > olive branch to [...]; I will stop calling your actions into > > question on this List, for at least a while. This is not a political > > debate list, and we are all Fegs first and foremost, and I do feel > > that the List has taken a downturn in the last few months, over this > > and several other issues. Much like the Brian Wilson screeds of old, posturing and soapboxisms don't really get us (and I mean the "us" beyond the four or so people involved in any single discussion) any place we could not predict. > I don't feel that way at all. In fact, I think the list has been lively, > entertaining, challenging, and while contentious, never to the point of > people getting pissed and taking off. I don't think it is an issue of "nobody has left, so it is all right," but one of knowing where the boundaries are. Often times there is little disagreement on the issues: election really sucks, sure does; consumerism is a bit rampant, sure is; these are complex ideas we are reducing to simple statements, sure are. It would be nice to see a relaxed tone, with measured prose in which opinion and fact are clearly delineated, and used appropriately. A tone where contribution to the list as a whole is important (not just a "hole" to dump the latest tit for tat screed into). It would be great if discussions that got heated got so with the List in mind and kept the discussion cognizant of the complexity and causes at hand, rather than binomial splits in simple logic until nothing is left. Kindly, .chris - -- chris@photogenica.net http://photogenica.net - -- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 01:40:47 -0800 (PST) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: What have you done for me, lately?/kirsty maccoll not that we necesarily need anything from them at this point, but The B-52's (they have been touring). and on my way walking into work, i thought of mentioning Kirsty, since it's been a while since _Titanic Days_ and i didn't know of anything since then (save _Galore_ and the BBC sessions record). and they i read about what happened. and for her children to have to witness it. that's just horrible. Eb wrote: > I was musing, last night.... > > In the past year or two, several notoriously "dormant" artists > finally released new albums. Names like Peter Gabriel, Nine Inch > Nails, XTC, Elastica, King Crimson, the Meat Puppets...you get the > picture. I was brainstorming about who else is still grossly overdue > (who, indeed, still seems to be active/viable). > > From my own collection, I jotted down: > > Due since 1988: Mary Margaret O'Hara (retired?) > Due since 1990: Danielle Dax (released an EP in recent times, I > believe?) > Due since 1991: My Bloody Valentine (dead band?), Chris Stamey > (collaborative album released in 1995), Wire (reactivated?) > Due since 1992: Young Fresh Fellows (maybe Wire and YFF shouldn't > count...and, yes, ditto for the Soft Boys) > Due since 1993: KATE BUSH, THE BREEDERS. > > Due since 1995: LAURIE ANDERSON (album coming shortly, I believe), > Bandit Queen (dead band?), Ruby (dead band?), Simon Bonney (retired?), > the Bats (dead band?). > > Due since 1996: WEEZER, THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS, SUZANNE VEGA, the Wrens > (though I believe they self-released an album on cassette, later), > the Chills (rarities comps don't really count), the Clean (dead > band?), the Golden Palominos, the Blue Nile, Sam Phillips, Scott > Johnson, Gavin Friday, Mazzy Star. > > Due since 1997 (perhaps not so overdue, by modern standards): Mike > Watt, Bob Dylan, Tanya Donelly, the Cranes, David Byrne, Eric > Matthews, Foetus, John Lydon, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Pigeonhed, > Portastatic (EP released this year, but...), Robert Wyatt, the Moog > Cookbook, World Party, the Sundays. > > I put a few names in capital letters, whose inactivity is especially > puzzling. Who would you add to this list? And don't name artists whom > you want to come out of "retirement," but artists who seem to be > legitimately functional. > > Eb > > PS Is it mere coincidence, or is the above list notably weighted > toward female musicians? ===== "The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing. Journalists, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands." -- Oscar Wilde Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 01:42:34 -0800 (PST) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: REAP (Kirsty MacColl) Eb wrote: > >Singer Kirsty MacColl has died aged 41, her record company V2 has > said. > > WHOA! This definitely throws me. > > I interviewed her at IRS headquarters, around 1993...she was a tough > interview (got offended at any question with the slightest relation > to her private life), but jeez, whatta voice. wasn't that right before she and lillywhite got divorced? > Electric Landlady would rank among my most underrated albums of the > '90s, and Kite was very good, too. And I > keep hoping Tropical Brainstorm will get released domestically, so us > Yanks won't have to pay import prices.... > > And what a horrible, stupid way to die. :( and that her children had to see it happen... ===== "The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing. Journalists, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands." -- Oscar Wilde Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 02:22:55 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: Kirsty MacColl Jeff: >> I interviewed her at IRS headquarters, around 1993...she was a tough >> interview (got offended at any question with the slightest relation >> to her private life), but jeez, whatta voice. > >wasn't that right before she and lillywhite got divorced? I believe I read an obituary which said she and Lillywhite were divorced in 1997, but separated a few years earlier. So yes, possibly. And yup, the question which offended her was about the relation between her lyrics and her own romantic life. ;) I thought it was just a temporary glitch in the conversation (the rest of the interview was uneventful), but then she autographed my CD afterwards as follows: "Dear Eric, Never expect answers to personal questions or I'll have to lie! Love, Kirsty MacColl." She followed her signature with a girlie "x" kiss. Heh heh heh. Incidentally, I'm surprised/pleased with the large volume of response to her death. I mean, she's hardly a major star, but I saw testimonies, etc. all over the Internet. Heck, the BBC news site has *four* separate articles about her, running simultaneously! And the guestbook of her oh-so-ironically titled "Voice of an Angel" fansite is stuffed.... Eb, looking at the inscribed CD right now and sighing ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 02:34:28 -0800 (PST) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: Kirsty MacColl Eb wrote: > Incidentally, I'm surprised/pleased with the large volume of response > to her death. I mean, she's hardly a major star, but I saw > testimonies, etc. all over the Internet. Heck, the BBC news site has > *four* separate articles about her, running simultaneously! And the > guestbook of her oh-so-ironically titled "Voice of an Angel" fansite > is stuffed.... well, hopefully that'll motivate someone to reissue the catalog. also she's probably better known than her sales would indicate, if for no other reason than her oodles of session work. so there are probably people who never knew she had her own career, but know the name quite readily just by virtue of her being a sessions singer. ===== "The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing. Journalists, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands." -- Oscar Wilde Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 09:55:12 -0500 From: Marcy Tanter Subject: statement from Kirsty's managers The statement in full reads: "Singer Kirsty MacColl died tragically yesterday afternoon in a boating accident in Cozumel, Mexico, where she was holidaying with her two sons. Kirsty, who was aged 41, was taking a holiday after a busy and successful year. "The accident happened when Kirsty, a keen diver, was hit by a speedboat travelling illegally in an area reserved for swimmers. Her two children were with her in the water at the time, but both of them are alright. Kirsty's former husband Steve Lillywhite is flying to Mexico to be with the children. "Kirsty has a long and illustrious career in music ranging from hits of her own like 'There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears His Elvis' to work with everyone from Johnny Marr to Big Country to Simple Minds and most famously Shane MacGowan and The Pogues on the poignant 'Fairytale of New York' - coincidentally in the charts again, this time courtesy of Ronan Keating. She comes from a musical dynasty and her father Ewan MacColl was one of the stalwarts of the British folk scene throughout the sixties. "Kirsty MacColl was a bright, fun loving person as well as a talented singer and writer who was loved by anybody and everybody she came into contact with. Manager Kevin Nixon, who has worked with Kirsty for four years, said: "We are absolutely distraught. I was personally immensely proud to be her manager after being a fan for so many years before that". Dr. Marcy Tanter Assistant Professor of English Box T-0300 Tarleton State University Stephenville, TX 76402 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 09:58:34 -0500 From: Marcy Tanter Subject: from the Telegraph IN a world increasingly criticised for rewarding style over substance, Kirsty MacColl was the antithesis of a pop star. She shied from the media, hated commercialism and put her children above her fame. Her inventive, intelligent lyrics and powerful voice earned her the unstinted praise of her musical peers. But it was her commitment as a mother which her family emphasised yesterday. Her brother Neill MacColl said she was a"brilliant mother" to her two sons, and had cared for them unstintingly since her separation from her former husband, Steve Lillywhite, a record producer, three years ago. Last night Mr Lilywhite flew to Mexico to be with their sons. The singer had taken the children for a holiday on the island of Cozumel, on Mexico's east coast. They were swimming together when the singer was struck by a speedboat and died. A spokesman for the police in Cozumel said last night that the driver and owner of the speedboat had been arrested. It was not immediately clear whether the accident happened in a marine park, a conservation area where speedboats are banned. Johnnie Walker, a Radio 2 DJ and friend of the singer, said: "She was one of the true, real characters of popular music and although there has been pressure on women in music to conform in the music business, she was always herself and said 'I am what I am'. We'll miss her sense of humour and her beautifully crafted songs." Jools Holland, the musician and television presenter, who played host to MacColl as a guest on his BBC2 show recently, said: "My thoughts go out to her family at this tragic time." Some pop music critics believed MacColl sold herself short over the years and never gained the public acclaim which was due her, but many of her friends believe she was just not willing to put her career above the needs of her children. Johnny Marr, a guitarist with the group The Smiths, said she had "the wit of Ray Davies and the harmonic invention of the Beach Boys," and Bono, the lead singer of U2, described her as "the Noel Coward of her generation". Nowhere was her wit more evident than in her first British hit, There's a guy works down the chipshop (swears he's Elvis). MacColl released her first single They Don't Know, when she was just 19. She said recently, "pop music has always been my first love". But she never conformed to the stereotype of a female pop singer. For a start MacColl wrote her own songs, although many of her most famous hits were collaborations with many leading musicians including The Smiths, Talking Heads and Billy Bragg. MacColl also hated performing live, suffering as she did from stage fright. She was always true to herself and her songwriting despite the commercial demands on her as a female musician in the world of popular music. Her debut album, Kite released in 1989 established her as an artist in her own right. Her powerful voice and character received their widest audience in her duet with Shane MacGowan, of the Pogues, Fairytale of New York, a bitter tale of love in the gutter, which made the Christmas number two in 1987. In recent years the singer was drawn to Latin American music and travelled extensively in Brazil and Cuba. In an interview earlier this year she said finding Latin music was an inspiration: "It was like a sudden liberation of my brain. "I'd spent so long being unhappy in a very British way, and suddenly there was all this . . . this new stuff." The BBC said yesterday it was postponing a series recorded by MacColl and due to be broadcast tonight - - MacColl's Cuba - until it had talked to her family. Dr. Marcy Tanter Assistant Professor of English Box T-0300 Tarleton State University Stephenville, TX 76402 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 10:29:27 -0500 (CDT) From: GSS Subject: Robyn does Bob Hey splangies, I recently dumped a UK broadcast, sent to me by a kind British Feg a couple years ago, from minidisc to wav to MP3 at 256/44. It is Robyn doing Bob Dylan's, 'It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry". I have a few more select jems I am working on and they should be ready soon. I have looked for other copies of this song at MP3 sites including theos-place but have not found any. Give me a site name or an email address and I will send it over. It is about 9meg in size, but I can reduce the quality and make it smaller, just let me know. gss np-it takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 11:52:56 -0500 From: The Great Quail Subject: Sam the Eagle speaks Look, I really think that jmbc is again deliberately misreading my words. I even try to include elements in my last two posts to head this sort of thing off, but I fear that either I am being inscrutable, or jmbc is reading to quickly. First of all, I said that anyone calling the majority of any nation morons is going to be offensive. I did not in any way suggest that jmbc believed this of all nations, as was implied. I am also getting a bit weary of jmbc's implications that I am some fire-breathing right winger. I am hardly "boiling in a rage" when someone suggests that my country is not great. I am certainly not accusing anyone, least of all Vivien, of being Un-American. Anyone who knows me, or has taken the time to construct an image of me based on my online personality, should be able to tell that I am hardly a Rush Limbaugh type of guy. It was half-jokingly suggested that I'd of call one of Vivien's comments Un-American; that's so wrong that it pains me to think someone would believe that of me. Vivien is a great American, she is in some ways a quintessential American. I don't agree with all her positions, nor do I agree with all the ways she expresses herself politically, but she is working to make her country a better place. Though I disagree with her frequently, I do not call into question her patriotism or "American-ness." A nation is a very complex organism composed of many elements. Government is one of them; so is culture, ideology, ethnic identity, and so on. And throw in all the tensions and resolutions created by the interactions of these elements. To claim that any large nation is not "great" seems a bit myopic to me. Especially a nation such as America, which is large and powerful and influential. Indeed, this is a great nation; the sense of the word "great" is multi-layered, and to deny America's greatness is just silly. Can you deny that Rome was great, that the British Empire was great, that The Ottomans were great? And on the other hand, there is a dark side to this, in that such huge entities are often terrible, too. "Great and terrible" -- a powerful combination, it draws its mystique from the very paradox at its heart; another one of those contradictions that seem to express reality so well. Such a thing as a "great nation" has many such contradictions and nuances; it is foolish to merely cast such a complex reality into a simplistic mold: America is infallible! America is evil! And so on. This is politics by bumper sticker. Now, more to the point, to set aside semantics and address what I feel is really the concern. yes, I do think America is great, and not just in size, power, and influence. But great in spirit, too. This country has produced some amazing people, some inspiring ideology, and some brilliant art. And of course, some of this art and ideology comes as a reactions against other, darker currents. But that's just part of the mix. There is a spark of resistance, of continual evolution towards a more lofty ideology. Patti Smith once said that this country was truly great, but always in the process of waking itself up, and it was up to each person to fulfill the potential of this amazing experiment. I agree completely. And yes, America is also terrible -- the list of sins is long, that's undeniable. But to simply bash a country and act as if the dark side were its totality is simplistic and foolish. Hell, I truly dislike French culture. I find the French as a whole to be quite annoying, and historically speaking they drive me nuts. But they have also produced some of the most astonishing art and philosophy.... I mean, I can say something like "In general I dislike the French," but I would never assess them on just the merits of the Dreyfuss affair, the Catholic excesses, the Vichy government, and their colonial activities. I also respect their greatness, especially when manifested in people like Voltaire, Sartre, Monet, Debussy, Messaien, Boulez, and so on.... I am an American, and I am proud to be an American. I also feel that I have a responsibility to keep vigilant, to keep evolving, and to do my own part to keep this country on a track to what it truly can be. When I feel shame as an American, it really upsets me. I mean this -- some things we do *shame* me, and that's a powerful emotion. It's an emotion felt by someone who knows they can do better, but have not. I am glad I love my country enough that I can feel such shame when she disappoints me. I also love my country enough that I feel proud when she does something good. In fact, the love I have for my country is very similar to the love I have for a family member; it is deep, it is real, and most of all, it is complex. (To talk about another musician, David Byrne's song "Miss America" comes to mind.) Does that make me a blind jingo? I do not think so. Because I hope that every person feels something similar about their country. I am sure James feels the same about New Zealand, and Randi feels about Canada, and so on. And additionally, I do not feel this makes me a raving nationalist, either. I am also a citizen of the world, and I have a separate but related "patriotism," if you will, for the entire world. Every human is part of hundreds of groupings, communities, and granfalloons. My love of America does not make me feel negatively about Australia, or Europe, or wherever. As a human being, I feel proud when other humans do good, and shame when other humans do bad. But America is closer to home, it is home, it is family, so these feelings are going to be stronger and deeper when they involve the US. So while I am ashamed that partisan politics have tainted this election, while I am ashamed that the US supports repressive regimes in the name of commerce, while I am ashamed of the Ku Klux Klan and so on; I am not ashamed to still love this country. having love for something is the most powerful way to change it. - --Quail, Brooklyn, New York, The United States of America, the West, the World, the Universe. - -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Great Quail, K.S.C. (riverrun Discordian Society, Kibroth-hattaavah Branch) For fun with postmodern literature, New York vampires, and Fegmania, visit Sarnath: http://www.rpg.net/quail "People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history." --Vice President Dan Quayle ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V9 #375 *******************************