The Goods On This Friday

This weekend marks the third anniversary of my adventure in blogging.

And I have nothing momentous or profound to say about it whatsoever.

So let's get on with it...

I'm enjoying a very restful Good Friday. And that's... good!

A very necessary period of downtime. Just relaxing, drinking good coffee, listening to good music, surfing the web, trying not to follow any agenda or attach myself to any schedule. Off the workaday grid, so to speak. Will get together with some of boys in the band tonight for a rehearsal, probably go for a few beers afterwards (wait a minute... are pubs open on Good Friday? Hmmm, I can't remember). Either way, it should be a good way to spend the evening.

What have I been listening to? The new Solomon Burke CD is quite good. He goes a little over the top at times, but even when he does, it's entertaining. The lead-off track "I Need Your Love In My Life", is fantastic. Great Keef-esque rhythm guitar.

Been quite impressed with Josh Rouse's latest album, Nashville. Nice, warm, acoustic pop. "It's The Nighttime" is a great, catchy tune. Hear it and other selections streaming from his site. The piano ballad "Sad Eyes" is a little on the saccharine/schmaltzy end of the spectrum, but I find it hard to resist nonetheless. Overall I find him a cut above most of the other pretty-boy folk-pop romeos around these days, people like John Mayer. Rouse may be travelling the same road, but he's not so firmly planted in the middle of it.

Been following the Schiavo case, of course. Sad, sad story all around. I don't know all the details, and of course, none of us do, unless we have firsthand knowledge of her telling her husband or anyone else that she didn't want to be kept alive artificially in such a vegetative state. But seeing as how 30+ judges have heard the case at virtually every level of the judicial process, and the findings have all concluded that she did express that view, and has a right to die, I'm inclined to believe that those were her wishes. Similarly with the conflicting medical opinions. I'll side with the court-appointed experts over the bought-off hacks on this one.

Pat Boone was on Larry King the other night. His grandson had been in a lengthy coma after a fall, and then came out of it, despite doctors' advise that he wouldn't. Pat was calling the Schiavo case murder, and tossing around unsubstantiated innuendo about abuse from her husband. The fact that Larry King pointed out that the kind of coma Boone's grandson was in is a medically different condition than the vegetative state Mrs. Schiavo is in, didn't seem to disqualify Boone as "the voice of morality".

The bullshit, faulty logic and spurious argument coming from the right is simply incredible. If I hear one more right-wing pundit use the dog analogy, I'm gonna scream. Here's the spiel. "If I did to a dog what they're doing to Terri Schiavo [withholding food and water], I'd be arrested." Wrong. If you did that to an otherwise *healthy* dog, yes. But Terri Schiavo is not a healthy person. Fact is, if your dog was hit by a car, and was in misery, you'd be *expected* to put it out of its misery, perhaps even legally required to do so, but certainly ethically and morally obliged to end its suffering.

Then there's this ongoing talk of "activist judges." Apparently an activist judge is one whose decisions run contrary to right-wing, conservative Christian agendas. I guess some of the Reagan and Bush appointees on the Federal bench and on the U.S. Supreme Court have now succumbed to the same disease. People are screaming that "the judges are running the country". Funny, I don't remember these people so upset when judges appointed George Bush to his first term as president.

The level of hypocrisy is truly astounding. But that seems to be the central principle guiding American decision-makers--and we in Canada have certainly seen it in the area of trade disputes--if the game goes against you, change the rules. Or even better, ignore the rules.

I was happy to hear a voice of reason on CNN use the phrase "sanctity of the marriage bond" in defense of Mr. Schiavo's actions and in criticism of the bill passed by Bush and the Congress. Ah yes, that creature that is under attack by the forces of immorality and needs to be protected: the heterosexual marriage. Thank god Bush and the neo-cons have such respect for that institution.

And then there was the guy on CNN today protesting via megaphone outside of Jeb Bush's gubernatorial mansion, seemingly outraged that the groundspeople were watering the plants while Mrs. Schiavo was being denied water. Do us all a favour buddy, and start denying yourself food and water. Interesting too how Jeb Bush seems to have lost his righteousness and stomach for doing "the right thing" now that opinion polls are showing that his brother's ratings are taking a hit.

And what happened to the time-honoured conservative value of keeping "Big Government" out of people's lives? If one good thing comes out of this, other than more people getting their wills and their wishes in order, maybe it's the prospect of a rift developing on the right when the more moderate conservatives get a real clear look at what kind of religious zealots they're politically sleeping with.

But I'll just say right now, in lieu of a real living will with all the proper legalese language, that if I ever end up in a vegetative state from which there is no hope of recuperation, I don't want my body to be kept "alive" artificially. That's not being alive.

To quote a T Bone Burnett song:

The frightening thing is not dying
The frightening thing is not living