Danger Boy Strikes Back!

Subtitle: Take that prop 8

i heart MPR

This is this morning's playlist from Dale Connelly's radio show on Radio Heartland

7:57 Ella Fitzgerald - Air Mail Special

7:53 Sam Bush - Bringing In the Georgia Mail

7:49 Arlo Guthrie - I'm Gonna Mail Myself To You

7:44 Cyril Pahinui & Bob Brozman - Hilo E

7:37 Peggy Lee - Fever

7:32 Chuck Suchy - The Story of Hazel Miner

7:31 Del Rey & Steve James - Truck Driver's Roll

7:22 Lucy Kaplansky - Delivery Truck

7:20 Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, Delivered

7:15 Leon Redbone & Dr. John - Frosty the Snowman

7:11 The Gypsy Hombres - Django Bells

7:09 Johnny Cash - The Cremation of Sam McGee

7:03 Cafe Accordion Orchestra - Winter Wonderland

6:54 John Prine - Other Side of Town

6:54 Muddy Waters - Got My Mojo Working

6:46 Mary McCaslin - Wayward Wind

6:45 Laurie Lewis - I'm Gonna Be the Wind

6:45 Lucinda Williams - I Envy The Wind

6:44 Loudon Wainwright III - Feel So Good

6:33 Dave Brubeck - “Homecoming” Jingle Bells

6:29 Over The Rhine - Darlin’ (Christmas is Coming)

6:25 Simon & Garfunkel - Why Don't You Write Me?

6:19 Alison Krauss & Robert Plant - Please Read the Letter

6:14 Hank Williams - Cold, Cold Heart

6:13 Joni Mitchell - Come In From the Cold

6:12 Nanci Griffith - Ten Degrees and Getting Colder

6:02 The Yes Yes Boys - Cold Morning Shout

the other shoe drops

President Bush returned today from his final visit to Iraq and Afghanistan. This trip was part of his effort to define his Presidential legacy. Lame duck Presidents often do this sort of thing late in their final year in office. It is a last attempt to influence the American people's memory of his administration.

At a press conference on this trip, an Iraqi journalist stood up and threw his shoes at Bush, shouting "This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!"

Now, we westerners may be scratching our heads in puzzlement, but the journalist was literally hurling one of the worst and most ancient Arab insults at the President of the United States. This was the same insult poured upon the statue of Saddam Hussein that American forces toppled from a Baghdad square in 2003 as Iraqis beat the statue with their shoes. In so doing, they were saying "you are filthy scum that deserves to be trampled beneath my smelly feet!" The severity of the insult is what made Jesus' washing his disciples' feet so shocking.

What made this insult so provocative was the animosity with which the "liberator of the Iraqis" was greeted. In truth, Bush is viewed with ambivalence in Iraq. No one pines for Saddam's resurrection, but who can blame Iraqis for craving the relative security they had under his regime?

In the end, Bush's doctrine of preemptive war neglected to account for the subtleties of Middle Eastern regional politics, Arab and Persian culture, and democracy building. War as the threat of force must always be an option. It provides credence to diplomacy. However, war as diplomacy is ineffective because there is nothing subtle about it.

As I listened to news reports about this incident, i remembered a video that Phil had brought to my attention a few years back. The video is a remix of U2's song "Bloody Sunday." It is extremely poignant because it captures the juxtaposition between the American democratic ideals enshrined in American political institutions and the use of force to attempt to bring about democracy.

To learn more about Bloody Sunday, read this.

bittersweet nostalgia

This was one morning that I didn't mind sitting in traffic. Actually, I was hoping my commute would never end.

I was reliving my first trip to Minnesota and drive back to Chicago at the beginning of my sophomore year in college. It was a crisp but sunny day, and the fall colors were full-bore. As I drove through St. Paul in my rusty '84 Accord that I had just gotten, I was listening to radio that would come to define my love of the state I would eventually call home.

In October 1999, I had hitched a ride from Chicago to Big Lake, Minnesota, on a whim to pick up a car that my friend Craig was giving me. It was sitting at his girlfriend's parents' house, and it needed a new muffler. I had planned to spend one night at Jenah's parents and head back the next day. What I hadn't expected was instant rapport.

I spent the next four days listening to Larry and Lynn Gantner tell me stories from their youth and listening to marvelous music. At times, we would be listening to an LP of Ella Fitzgerald singing Cole Porter; at others Hoven Droven would be playing in the background. At night, I would sit and listen to Larry play Beatles tunes on his guitar.

What stays with me most though is waking up every morning to hear the Prairie Home Morning Show on Minnesota Public Radio. The Morning Show is an eclectic mix of humor, world and local folk music, and musician live appearances. Or was. This morning was the last broadcast of the Morning Show. Co-host Jim Ed Poole (also known as Tom Keith, the sound effects man on A Prairie Home Companion) is retiring from the show.

The show's roots date back 40 years to the early days of MPR, but its current run with co-host Dale Connelly has lasted an astounding 25 years. Thankfully Jim Ed will still haunt the halls of MPR and the set of A Prairie Home Companion, and Dale will be hosting a much anticipated show on MPR's new HD radio channel called Radio Heartland. Dale will host live from 6-9 a.m. and will be responsible for music programming for the rest of the day.

All things come to an end, but I will miss the Morning Show because of what it symbolizes about the path my life has taken in the last decade.