Monday, April 30, 2012

Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Do any of you find it the least bit contradictory that our Nobel Peace Prize winning President is also the same individual that now authorizes drone attacks based on suspicious activity?

Now, the other drone attacks were bad enough, where we were pretty sure that we had a suspected target and we would hit unintended targets in the process, which we so neatly refer to as collateral damage.
But now, we'll launch without a confirmed target.  We’ll now launch a drone attack, just based on patterns of suspicious activity.

So, does this make you feel safer?  And if you feel safer, does that make it OK?
How many times have you heard that the "bad guys" don't respect life the way that we do?  Does this make you stop and think about how much we respect life?

I know that this is a downer of a subject, and believe me I would much rather write about something more uplifting, but how is it that we can turn a blind eye to this type of thing, and also cheer for the re-election of the current administration?
Are we really so afraid of the "terrorist threat" that we're OK with suspicious pattern bombing of people?

And yes, this country has done lots of bad stuff in its history, and you can argue that this is really nothing new.
But, I guess it's my own fault for thinking that this would be some of the stuff that was going to change.  It's been clear for some time now that the change was in style and hope died on inauguration day Jan 20, 2009.

Please visit me at http://www.leemanuel05.com  and also at Ezine Articles http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Leemanuel_Hightire  where I have over 25 articles available, and I'm sure you'll maybe even find something fun.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Ain't Too Proud To Beg

That's one of my favorite Temptations songs!

I know you want to leave me, but I refuse to let you go!
If I have to beg plead, for your sympathy,
I don't mind cause you mean that much to me
Ain't too proud to beg

Well, I ain't too proud to ask for you all to take a look at my project over at KickStarter.com

I'm trying to raise funding to produce my first album and you can check out my project here at this link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/222092430/debut-album-six-over-1-7-by-leemanuel

If you've never heard of KickStarter, please check out an article that I did on the subject at this link: http://ezinearticles.com/?KickStart-Your-Creativity&id=6942817

Stay Peaceful & Positive!

Leemanuel

Friday, March 30, 2012

I'm always right...aren't you?

As a general proposition, my sense is that most of us tend to think that we're right about stuff.
I'm driving at the correct speed, I say the right things, I do what I'm supposed to do.

You'll have two people that experience the same event, each sees it from their own
perspective, and both believe that their view is right.

Obviously some things are more clear cut than others.  But even, if you have an obligation that's due
on a date certain and you don't take care of that obligation in a timely fashion; you probably
still think that you're right (especially if no one calls you on it).

There's usually some justification in the back of your mind that excuses you from NOT doing what you were supposed to do.  Of course, whomever is on the other end of this equation, isn't interested
in your justification, and will probably tend to think of you as a "deadbeat".

But we still tend to think that we're right.

We make commitments that we don't keep, and somehow we're the injured party, instead of the party
on the other side that's wondering why you didn't show up for the weekly book club or whatever.

It's one thing to have a difference of opinion on something.  But I always marvel at how we can
look at objective facts which don't leave much room for varying interpretations, and we'll come
away with different conclusions and be convinced of our rightness.

And of course, I am RIGHT about all of this.

http://www.leemanuel05.com

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Shameless Plug

Heyas!

I've just posted a couple of new videos on my website.  I'm hoping you all will take a little time to check them out.

"Tactical Espionage" or "TE" is the pilot epsiode of a web series, and I make my on camera acting debut.  It was a lot of fun working on this and I'm hoping you all will like it.

The other video is a preview of one of the new songs which will appear on my upcoming album titled "There's No More Poor".  You get to hear a bit of the new song, and listen to a bit of my take on poverty.

So, please give this a peep and tell all your friends and family.  See, I told you this was a shameless plug.

Here's the link: http://www.leemanuel05.com/#!videos

Stay Peaceful & Positive


Follow The Money

Do any of you remember the movie All The President's Men?  That was the dramatization of the
Watergate scandal. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman portraying Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

Do you remember the advice given to them by Deep Throat..."Follow The Money".
The truth for almost any situation always tends to be at the end of the money trail. 

If you're wondering why politicians take certain positions, change their positions, speak one way and vote another...follow the money.

A lot of people use the saying "Money is the Root of all Evil".  However, in the Bible, it's actually
"The LOVE of Money is the Root of all Evil".

When you ask yourself, why we don't have single payer health care in the USA and couldn't even get
the much weaker "public option", what answer do you come up with?  Was it the mean ole Republicans?
Was the public insufficiently excited about single payer and/or the public option?  Was it that the
Administration wasn't skilled enough in their messaging to convince a Democratic Congress at the
time to do its bidding?

Or does it all ultimately come back to Money?  Campaign contributions are protected under law as
free speech.  But what happens when my wallet is bigger than your wallet?  Is my free speech
accorded more weight than yours?  Do I possess more influence than you?  Do policies get shaped
to additionally benefit me, further enhancing my position?

Let's say that you have a friend, and that friend is in need of cash.  And you generously provide
that friend with the needed sum.  And at a later date, you make some request of that friend.
Do you expect that friend with which you were so very generous to ignore or dismiss your request?
Or do you expect that friend to be very compliant with your wishes in light of your previous generosity?

Now you may say that politics is very different from what I just described, but is it really?
In particular, when the very generous friend is able to form a Political Action Committee and
bundle millions of dollars in contributions and make them available for the cause of the friend's election.  Is the recipient of this generosity really going to be uninfluenced by it?

Or is it more likely that the recipient finds themselves more willing to consider positions favorable
to the source of the contributions?  Convincing themselves that once they are elected they will
be able to serve some greater good, after of course providing the appropriate considerations to
those generous friends who made their election possible.

It seems that the only way to eliminate this dynamic is to have all campaigns publicly financed.
I don't know what the details of this would be, but I do believe that money completely corrupts
the process and shuts out the voices of those without means to participate.

It's been demonstrated that it's very easy to ignore the individual donor who perhaps contributed
$5 to a campaign.  I submit that it's probably equally easy to ignore the individual donor who
made the max contribution of $2,500 (although that might get you an autographed picture or something).

But the big moneyed interests don't get ignored.  It's the rules of the game and everyone plays by them.
Maybe instead of monitoring other country's elections and providing critiques, we need to get our
own act cleaned up.

Is it Democracy, when 1% makes the rules?

Please visit http://www.leemanuel05.com

Friday, March 16, 2012

Profanity In Songs, Keeping It Real or Over The Top

How many of you enjoy hearing profanity in your music?

Call me old school, but it doesn't really work for me.  That's not to say that there aren't songs where it has some context and is used to make a point.  But even in those songs, often it just doesn't seem to sing well in my opinion.

The first song that I recall hearing a swear word in it was the Isley Brothers "Fight The Power".  I was a little kid when it was released, and when it came on the radio there was a beep to get rid of the offending word.  When one of my older brothers purchased the album, I was able to hear the un-edited version.
Now, I was and am a big fan of the Isley Brothers.  And "Fight The Power" actually had some context and what I thought was a purpose to their using the expletive in the refrain:
I try to play my music, you say my music's too loud,
I try talking about it, I got the big run around,

and when I roll with the punches,

I get knocked on the ground, by all this bullsh#$ going down

So, the use of the expletive there to me, was in context and made sense.  But a lot of songs today appear to be gratuitous.  In fact they don't appear to even have any shock value, since a lot of it is almost every other word.  Now before any of you accuse me of being part of the morality police, I understand that a lot of people's normal speech patterns are filled with what I recall amusingly from a Star Trek movie as "colorful metaphors".  And maybe artists and writers believe that they are just "keeping it real".  OK, I get that, as far as it goes.
But I have a hard time hearing the word motherf&^%er sang with a melody, and can respond to it with, "yeah, that really flowed well".  Now, I'm sure that it "flows" better in rap/hip-hop, because that's more about cadence with speaking, and lots of attitude.
But really, are you able to listen to that in a ballad without cringing?  I can't.

I have occasionally found myself making use of "colorful metaphors" at times, but I just can't bring myself to include that in a lyric.  My best friend asked me to make a song I had written about the end of his marriage a little more raw.  When I asked him what he meant, he said he wanted me to include some "colorful metaphors" to drive the point home.  I told him that I understood his pain, but that just wasn't my vibe.  In fact, I would probably break out laughing during the recording if I was trying to sing profanity.

So, what are your thoughts on profanity in music?  Does it work for you?

Get 3 free downloads of my songs at http://www.leemanuel05.com/#!free-offers

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Stay The Course!

I am over weight, have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, but this in no way will change my strategy to consume a diet consisting mainly of fried fatty foods.

Do any of you question the wisdom of the words above?  Does it sound like perhaps a slight moment of pause should be taken to consider whether the results of such a strategy are at all problematic?

Does it somehow seem noble, that against all odds and practical wisdom that we will "stay the course"?

Now, take that idea above and substitute the words of our public officials.  On almost anything.  When something awful happens as a direct result of policies that have been implemented, how often do you hear them say that "this event while tragic, in no way changes our strategy, commitment, blah, blah, blah".

Do you ever wonder, well...WHY NOT?  I mean, that's like going outside in the midst of a Hurricane and insisting that despite the conditions you are not only NOT going to carry an umbrella, use a rain coat, or wear any protective gear, but that you are also going to pull up anchor and set sail for a nice sunny destination.

Who needs objective reality?  Reality is whatever "the Power Elite" say it is, and whatever "they" can convince a majority of people to believe.

I need to eat a pizza.

By the way, check me out at http://www.leemanuel05.com