This piece, from Toronto, Canada begins to feel like a harbinger of things to come. Many of us still know the words to Neil Young's song, Ohio. Perhaps these will stick as well...

    Neil Young Lets Loose a War Cry
    By Robert Everett-Green
    The Globe and Mail

    Wednesday 26 April 2006

The world awaits Young's most powerful album in years, a disc fuelled by outrage at Washington.

    We met outside a bagel joint in north Toronto, then drove a few blocks to a quiet street where two strangers could sit in a big old Cadillac and listen to the car stereo in peace. Then Robert Young slipped a CD-ROM from a plain white sleeve and gave me a rare preview of the nine explosive new songs on his brother Neil Young's much-anticipated album, Living With War.

    The disc was made in a hurry, recorded in three days on Neil Young's California ranch and another 12-hour session in a Los Angeles studio. I can hear the urgency in Young's singing, as if there's not a moment to lose when a great lie has spread over the land and only strong, sustained truth-telling can turn it back.

    Living With War is a fierce, comprehensive indictment of the Bush administration and all its failures, at home and abroad, but it doesn't feel like an outsider's dissent. It's the work of someone who clearly identifies with the core values of ordinary Middle Americans who voted for Bush, who sent their sons and daughters to war, and who are beginning to feel betrayed.

    Flags of Freedom, for example, starts like a proudly patriotic song from the days before the Vietnam War began to stain the self-image of the republic. Young depicts a parade of recruits marching off to war down the main street of their small town, church bells ringing and "the flags of freedom flying." But when the soldiers have passed, with parents and sisters watching, Young pointedly asks: "Have you seen the flags of freedom? / What colour are they now?" It would be hard to miss the sense of doubt and disappointment, made sharper by Young's allusion to a similar, more confident query at the end of The Star-Spangled Banner.

    The disappointment turns into rage in Let's Impeach the President. This long impassioned outcry begins with a trumpet flourish from the Last Post and ends with a 100-voice chorus shouting Young's angry responses to numerous clips of Bush's own words about Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and the case for war in Iraq.

    "Let's impeach the president for lying / and leading our country into war," Young hollers, "abusing all the power that we gave him / and shipping all our money out the door . . . Let's impeach the president for spying / on citizens inside their own homes / breaking every law in the country / tapping our computers and telephones."

    The text alone can't convey the sense of gasping outrage in Young's singing, and his forceful arrangements for guitar, bass, drums and sometimes trumpet. His electric guitar's gnarly, saturated tone has an almost drunken quality, as if it too were reeling from the great betrayal.

    But the music throughout the album feels sparse and tightly controlled, as if these statements were too important to be gussied up with ornament. The trumpet, when it appears, does so only briefly, with a different character each time, evoking the sounds of a border town in Bush's native Texas (in Shock and Awe), or doubling the guitar melody like a quasi-human voice (in Living With War).

    Likewise, the choir plays several roles, and offers much more than backing vocals. It's the sound of the people, whether represented as a church congregation (in the title song) or a chanting crowd of protesters (in Let's Impeach the President).

    Mostly, it's a big-tent collection of ordinary citizens, which at the end of the album sings an a cappella version of America the Beautiful, recalling in a more robust key the final scene of Michael Cimino's devastating Vietnam film, The Deer Hunter.

    The title song makes the most powerful use of core American themes and symbols, and the rhetoric of the religious right. Both the melody and the lyrics ("I join the multitudes, I raise my hand in peace . . . I take a holy vow never to kill again") feel hymn-like, in spite of the song's rock idiom. The voices rise as Young inserts a line from The Star-Spangled Banner ("the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air") and it seems at first as if the reference is purely ironic. But he goes on with another line from the anthem, and suddenly the meaning is more ambivalent, more complicated by a sense of bedrock patriotism.

    At bottom, this is a profoundly patriotic record. Its predominant theme is spoiled hopes, and the list is long, including hopes for a safe environment, for economic justice at home and abroad, for peace between nations. But a few songs make it clear that Young isn't finished with hoping. Looking for a Leader, which comes right after Let's Impeach the President, is an unvarnished call for a new authority figure who can right the wrong, clear out the corruption, and make the nation's symbols feel pure again. "Some one walks among us, and I hope he hears the call," Young sings, "Maybe it's a woman, or a black man after all."

    Young supported Reagan, and was one of the first major rock musicians to lend support to the so-called war on terror, in his 2001 song Let's Roll. It would seem to be a challenge for Bush's allies to brush off his attacks on "the shadow man running the government." But the struggle is already skewed in their favour, because most of these songs probably won't make it on to American radio, which is heavily dominated by the ClearChannel empire. Those are the folks, you may remember, who yanked the Dixie Chicks from the airwaves after Natalie Maines dared to criticize the President in front of a microphone.

    Young knows all about that, which is why this album will be streamed for free on his website (http://www.neilyoung.com) for a week starting Friday, before a commercial release on Reprise/Warner. It's going to spread on-line, and on college radio, and by word of mouth. It's a media virus, and it's also Young's strongest record in years.

 

    Angry Young Man

    Sample lyrics from Neil Young's upcominga album, Living With War:

    Back in the days of shock and awe
    We came to liberate them all
    History was the cruel judge of overconfidence
    Back in the days of shock and awe
    Back in the days of "mission accomplished"
    Our chief was landing on the deck
    The sun was setting on a golden photo-op
    Back in the days of "mission accomplished"
    - from Shock and Awe

    Don't need no Madison Avenue War
    Don't need no more boxes I can't see
    Covered in flags but I can't see them on TV
    Don't need no more lies
    - from The Restless Consumer

    Won't need no shadow man
    Runnin' the government
    Won't need no stinkin' WAR
    Won't need no haircut
    Won't need no shoeshine
    After the garden is gone
    - from After the Garden

    Lookin' for a leader
    To bring our country home
    Reunite the red white and blue
    Before it turns to stone . . .
    Yeah maybe it's Obama
    But he thinks that he's too young
    Maybe it's Colin Powell
    To right what he's done wrong
    - from Lookin' for a Leader

We'll watch this issue closely. In the meantime, here's an article by Art Brodsky that should get you thinking about the technology you're used to using...
 

Congress Is Giving Away the Internet,
    and You Won't Like Who Gets It
    By Art Brodsky
    TPM Cafe

    Saturday 22 April 2006

    Congress is going to hand the operation of the Internet over to AT&T, Verizon and Comcast. Democrats are helping. It's a shame.

    Don't look now, but the House Commerce Committee next Wednesday is likely to vote to turn control of the Internet over to AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner and what's left of the telecommunications industry. It will be one of those stories the MSM writes about as "little noticed" because they haven't covered it.

    On the surface, it may seem a stretch to think that those companies could control the great, wide, infinite Internet. After all, the incredible diversity of the Net allowed everything Web sites and services of all kinds to exist in perfect harmony. What's more, they were all delivered to your screen without any interference by the companies that carried the bits to and fro. Until recently, they had to. It was the law. The telephone companies, which carried all of the Web traffic until relatively recently, had to treat all of their calls alike without giving any Web site or service favored treatment over another.

    The result was today's Internet, which developed as a result of billions of dollars of investments, from the largest Internet company that spent millions on software and networking, to the one person with a blog who spent a few hundred dollars on a laptop. The Internet grew into a universal public resource because the telephone and cable companies simply transported the bits.

    Last fall, however, the Federal Communications Commission, backed by the U.S. Supreme Court, decided that the high-speed Internet services offered by the cable and telephone companies didn't fall under that law, the Communications Act. Out the window went the law that treated everyone equally. Now, with broadband, we are in a new game without rules.

    Telephone and cable companies own 98% of the high-speed broadband networks the public uses to go online for reading news, shopping, listening to music, posting videos or any of the thousands of other uses developed for the Internet. But that isn't enough. They want to control what you read, see or hear online. The companies say that they will create premium lanes on the Internet for higher fees, and give preferential access to their own services and those who can afford extra charges. The rest of us will be left to use an inferior version of the Internet.

    Admittedly, it hasn't become a problem yet. But to think it won't become one is to ignore 100 years of history of anti-competitive behavior by the phone companies. And it was a mere six weeks or so from the time the FCC issued its ill-fated decision to the time when Ed Whitacre, the CEO of (then-SBC) now AT&T issued his famous manifesto attacking Google and other Web sites for "using my pipes (for) free." They don't, by the way.

    Here's the inside baseball: A couple of weeks ago, a courageous band of legislators tried to stop the madness in Subcommittee. Ed Markey, Rick Boucher, Anna Eshoo and Jay Inslee proposed some good language to protect the Internet. For their troubles, they just got four more votes, other than theirs. Just three Democrats, other than the sponsors, voted for it. Only one Republican voted for it. When we talk about special interest giveaways, this one will be at the top of the list. And we won't have only Republicans to blame.

File under local child makes good!

Attention Editor/Reporter:

Emily Krok of Westfield was selected as a winner in the annual "Try
Prayer!" Contest. The national competition is sponsored by Family
Rosary, which encourages family prayer, especially the Rosary. A
press release about the winner is attached. Please include in any
upcoming coverage of local or religious news. An electronic file of
the winning entry is available.

EMILY KROK
OF ST. MARIA GORETTI SCHOOL WINS AWARD
IN "TRY PRAYER! IT WORKS!" CONTEST

Family Rosary presents Kindergarten Award
in the 2006 "Try Prayer" Competition

EASTON, MA. - Family Rosary has selected Emily Krok of St. Maria
Goretti School in Westfield, Ind., as the second-place winner in the
Kindergarten division of the 2006 U.S. "Try Prayer. It Works!"
contest, a national competition that encourages students to express
their faith through art, poetry and prose. Emily was selected from
more than 2,800 entries depicting the 11th annual contest's chosen
theme, How Receiving Jesus in Holy Communion Changes Us.

Each year, children and teens from Catholic schools, parishes and
other Catholic organizations utilize their creative skills to
illustrate a different faith-based theme. This year, the theme was
How Receiving Jesus in Holy Communion Changes Us, and students from
kindergarten through 12th grade creatively depicted how they use
values and virtues taught by Jesus and Mary in their everyday lives
through various artistic forms.

For her award-winning entry, Emily submitted a colorful drawing
depicting the change that takes place within her when receiving the
sacrament of Holy Communion.

Emily lives in Westfield. The 6-year-old is in Kindergarten at St.
Maria Goretti School, which is located in the Diocese of Lafayette.

"The contest enables children of all ages to express creatively the
importance of this Holy Sacrament in their daily lives," said Father
John Phalen, CSC, President of Holy Cross Family Ministries.
"Receiving Jesus in Communion can change us in profound ways and is
a marvelous occasion for children to examine their faith. They can look at the miracles around them and show how they have an impact
upon each of us. All of the entries reflect such virtues and are an
inspiration to young and old."

In addition to the "Try Prayer! It Works!" contest in the United
States, separate competitions are conducted in Mexico, East Africa,
West Africa, Bangladesh, Brazil, Peru, Ireland, Chile, Haiti and the
Philippines. Entries are judged on content, ability to capture and
interpret the theme, artistic and technical proficiency, and
adherence to rules.

In the United States, up to three winners are chosen per grade:
first-place winners are awarded $100 U.S., while the sponsoring
organization earns $200 U.S. Runners-up win a set of Family Theater
Productions movies.

Family Rosary was founded in 1942 by the late "Rosary Priest,"
Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, CSC. The "Try Prayer! It
Works!" contest derives its name from an experience in the life of
Father Peyton. While a seminarian, Father Peyton was stricken with
severe tuberculosis. At one point, a frustrated physician said, "Try
prayer! We have done all we can for you." Father Peyton prayed his
Rosary to the Blessed Mother, and he made a miraculous recovery.

The experience - coupled with his spiritually rich family life as a
youth in Ireland, where his family prayed the Rosary each night -
inspired Father Peyton to devote his life to Mary, Mother of God,
and to the spiritual well-being of the family. His famous slogan,
"The family that prays together stays together," still resonates
today.

In the spirit of its founder, Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton,
CSC, Holy Cross Family Ministries serves Jesus Christ and His church
by promoting and supporting the spiritual well-being of the family.
Faithful to Mary, the Mother of God, the Family Rosary in the
U.S.A., a member ministry, encourages family prayer, especially the
Rosary. For more information, call 800-299-PRAY (7729) or visit
www.hcfm.org.

This story, from the Indianapolis Star via the AP wire service, is about a doctor making a housecall. An old-fashioned practice in a decidedly contemporary setting. When was the last time a doctor came to your house?

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) -- Child welfare officials and a sheriff's deputy visited Britney Spears' home because her infant son was accidentally dropped from a high chair, according to published reports.
Six-month-old Sean Preston fell April 1 as his nanny was lifting him from the high chair and something in the chair snapped, Star magazine reported Tuesday. The infant slipped from her arms and fell, bruising his head on the floor, the magazine said.
People magazine and the Los Angeles Times also reported the incident on Wednesday.
Though a doctor examined the baby at the house, Spears and husband Kevin Federline took the baby to the emergency room to have him examined six days later, People said.
Spears' attorney, Martin Singer, said in a statement that the hospital made a report to the Department of Children and Family Services as required by state law.
"DCFS immediately responded and determined there was no problem and no reason to open a formal investigation. They determined that the parents weren't involved in the injury and nothing was improper within the home," he said.

    
Here is a telling quote concerning the Bush administration and how it might be able to turn a liability into a dubious advantage...

"Although they may be reckless with the security of the United States, I think they are utterly cold-blooded realists when it comes to political power," noted Gary Sick, an Iran policy expert at Columbia University, who sees the latest reports and threats by senior administration officials as an effort to intimidate Tehran.

    "(O)ne of their strongest negotiating tools is the widespread belief that they are irrational and capable of the most irresponsible actions. That is their record, so they have no need to invent it. If they can use that reputation to keep Iran - and everybody else - off balance, so much the better," he added, noting, however, that if that analysis is correct, "there is always the huge danger of miscalculation and accident".