The Rant
The American Prospect: Robert Kuttner: Land of the Free, Home of the Turncoats
Ok so I know I keep saying that all these bloggers are describing how I feel till you’re sick of it…. but THEY ARE and Robert Kuttner outlines it well!! IT’s mind boggling that out of one side of their mouths come statements about America;’s exceptionalism and out of the other so let’s destroy it?? Am I missing something?
Today, America feels more like 19th-century Germany. Contending interests cannot be brokered. Passions trump reason. Faith overrules science. An ordinary policy difference is a Kulturkampf, casually but vehemently branded as treason. One of our two major parties has turned nihilist, giddily toying with default on the nation’s debt, reveling in the dark pleasures of a fiscal Walpurgisnacht. Government itself is the devil.
Whether the target is the Environmental Protection Agency, the Dodd-Frank law, or the Affordable Care Act, Republicans are out to destroy government’s ability to govern. This attack, not on policy differences but on government itself, is new and ominous. Its modern roots are as diverse as Ronald Reagan, the Dixiecrats, and the anti-New Dealers. But even Reagan knew when to compromise, and nobody would describe the Gipper as nihilist. Read More
The Run and Soundtrack: Unconditional Ana Popovic
But anyway today was a running day and my goal was to run an easy 4 plus miles. Now for me slowing down is hard each time I go out I try to beat my last times and I know that’s not the way to train! So one thing that I can do is keep an eye on the heart monitor and try to keep it low! That’s what I accomplished today on the course I ran I was able to keep my heart rate in the mid 140s and it max out at less that 150 after the steepest climb up Pancoast! Overall I ran at an easy 10 minute mile pace! The soundtrack was a blues album that’s been on the iPod for a while and I like it more ever time I listen Ana Popovic’s latest release Unconditional . Popovic was born in Belgrade, Serbia and introdiced to the blues by her father and his extensive blues library. She formed her first band when she was nineteen and within a year she was opening for acts like Junior Wells. Unconditional is her fifth solo album.
Ana Popovic and Grammy Award winning John Porter produced the album and it was recorded in New Orleans. From her website Ana says:“I recorded in Eclectic cities like Memphis and Los Angeles but always wanted to go to New Orleans the capture something of their rich musical history” “I loved being in New Orleans for a period of 3 months. I love everything about that city. It’s vibe, spirit and optimism and not to forget hospitality and kindness of the people. I think it influenced the album in more ways than just musically. ”
Some great New Orleans musician help out on the album artists like slide guitarist Sonny Landreth,keyboard wizards Jon Cleary and David Torkanowski on hammond B3 and piano, Calvin Turner on bass and Doug Belote on drums with harp player Jason Ricci makes a guest appearance.
Popovic is considered on of the worlds best female guitar players and I’ll take that a step further and just say she is one of the best guitar players period! The album is full of great guitar licks and hot vocals, some of my favorite tracks include: “Count Me In”, the title track “Uncoditional”, “Slideshow” an instrumental track, and “Soulful Dress” and as usual they are the favorites but that doesn’t mean I don’t like the others because I like them all! So if you’ve never heard Ana check out her great stuff……. and the music too!
Here’s Ana performing ” Unconditional” at Musikfest 2011
Related articles
- Ana Popovic – Unconditional (Eclectogroove EGR CD 512) (3songsbonn.com)
- BB King and Queen Ana (3songsbonn.com)
