Ray Manzarek, R.I.P.
Posted by on 5.20.13 @ 7:45PM
Ray Manzarek, keyboardist of The Doors, passed away today of bile duct cancer. He was 74.
Manzarek and Jim Morrison were classmates at the UCLA film school and would form The Doors shortly after graduation in 1965. Guitarist Robbie Krieger and drummer John Densmore were quickly recruited to join the band.
Between 1967 and 1971, The Doors charted with hits like “Light My Fire”, “Hello, I Love You”, “Touch Me”, “Love Her Madly” and “Riders on the Storm”.
When Morrison began missing live performances, Manzarek would often take over lead vocals as he did with “Soul Kitchen” during a 1968 concert in Amsterdam.
After Morrison died in Paris on July 3, 1971, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore released two more albums as a trio but never replicated their earlier success. They broke up in 1973.
Manzarek occasionally reunited with Krieger and Densmore and spent the past decade touring with Krieger. In the late 1970s, Manzarek front a short lived band called Nite City. He also released six solo albums between 1973 and 2011. Over the years, Manzarek collaborated with the likes of Philip Glass, Iggy Pop and Echo & the Bunnymen.
While Morrison lived fast and died young, Manzarek was a devoted family man who was married to his wife Dorothy for over 45 years. Manzarek is survived by her, two sons and three grandchildren.
Here is an interview Manzarek did a few years back sitting at his keyboard. Manzarek begins the interview by saying, “You don’t make music for immortality. You make music for the moment, for capturing the sheer joy of being alive on Planet Earth.”
But as George Harrison wrote, “All things must pass away.” With that, I leave you with “When The Music’s Over”.
Thoughts on The Tornado in Moore, Oklahoma
Posted by on 5.20.13 @ 6:43PM
I was out most of the day and did not learn of the devastation of the mile wide tornado in Moore, Oklahoma until about an hour or so ago.
At this point, the casualties are unknown. But a woman who spoke with Bret Baier told him there were children being pulled out from under cars on the roof of an elementary school.
How absolutely awful.
If there’s a silver lining in all of this is that we can be confident that Americans from across the country will donate their time and money to help those devastated by this storm.
UPDATE: The death toll is at 51 and is expected to rise.
Evangelical School Gets Salvation from Controversy
Posted by on 5.20.13 @ 5:32PM
The lesson coming out of South Carolina these days seems to be that people don’t like being told what to do by outsiders. South Carolinians know what they believe and outside outrage isn’t going to change that.
We saw it when Mark “I’m Hiking the Appalachian Trail” Sanford beat Elizabeth Colbert Busch by a whopping nine points, despite Sanford losing funding from the NRCC and Colbert-Busch being funneled seemingly endless money from national Democrats.
And we’re seeing it again on the other side of the state. Blue Ridge Christian Academy, a tiny private school in the Appalachian Mountains received endless mockery and criticism from people on the social media site reddit after a fourth-grade quiz on creationism was posted on the site.
As the Greenville News is reporting, the quiz correct answers directly contradicted accepted facts in secular textbooks:
It was labeled “4th grade science quiz. Dinosaurs: Genesis and the Gospel.”
Eighteen questions. The first four were true or false.
The earth is billions of years old. A lopsided pencil mark circled false.
Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, another circle: false.
It went on from there, testing students on the beginning of the world according to creationism, the belief that the literal interpretation of the first book of the Bible explains it all. Both were marked correct.
With that kind of content, the redditors, most of whom are definitely not from South Carolina, responded with scorn and disdain.
And of course, South Carolinians responded like true South Carolinians. Instead of being angered, people have started donating. Blue Ridge Christian Academy, which was scheduled to close on May 31 due to loss of funding, has received thousands of dollars in donations and continues to get more daily. All of the money might just save the tiny school.
Lesson learned: Leave South Carolinians alone.
Open letter to Anré Dárel Washington
Posted by on 5.20.13 @ 4:36PM
Hello Anré,
Congratulations on your college graduation. I enjoyed your interview on CNN, but would offer one suggestion for your consideration:
You said that you want to go to Washington to learn about Progressive policies.
Why not open your mind to the possibility that actually reaching a good outcome is more important than being able to simply feel good by calling yourself “Progressive.”
After all, decades of Progressive policies have done absolutely nothing for African-Americans, other than destroy black families and force black kids into failing schools. (And then there’s the bipartisan disaster of the drug war’s impact on black Americans.)
It may be fashionable among the left to demonize Republicans or conservatives (I am not a Republican, and I am politically libertarian, not conservative). It may make some people you know feel good to call certain people mean or selfish or racist — without any evidence at all. (And to be sure, I am not suggesting that you would do this yourself, but I guarantee you know people who fit my description.)
But results matter. While “Progressives” spend so much time talking about their good intentions, their results have been a disaster for the most vulnerable in America. Meanwhile, it’s conservatives who fight, for example, for school choice — while Barack Obama once killed the school choice program in Washington, D.C. which was helping thousands of some of the nations neediest (especially needy of a good education) black children because he found it more important to support a teachers’ union. (He has opposed it again since then, while Speaker of the House (Republican) John Boehner fought hard for it.)
You may consider it heresy, but I urge you to open your mind to thinking about “what policies will actually reach the outcome I want?” rather than thinking “what Progressive policy should I support today?”
I would suggest to you that you read “The Law” by Federic Bastiat. It’s great…and it’s short! (You can read it in one sitting.) Indeed, if you send me a mailing address, I’ll gladly send you a copy at my expense. I also recommend “Free to Choose” by Milton Friedman and “Economics in One Lesson” by Henry Hazlitt.
America is not in great need of another smart young black Progressive/liberal. What we need is more smart young black leaders who are willing to think outside of the liberal dogma and actually do things that WORK instead of things which play on people’s worst instincts.
If you’re open to investigating ideas which are smart, effective, and supportive of the best of human instinct, I’d be happy to introduce you to think tanks oriented in that direction in DC. I hope that the results of your college education have not been to permanently install intellectual blinders on your very promising future.
I wish you health, happiness, luck, and prosperity in the next phase of your life.
Ross G Kaminsky
U.S. News: Obama-Kelley Meeting
Posted by on 5.20.13 @ 1:56PM
Reporter Elizabeth Flock of U.S. News and World Report, over here in the Washington Whispers column, has discovered the announced purpose of the meeting that drew NTEU president Colleen Kelley to the meeting discussed in today’s special report.
Writes Flock:.
The timing appears fishy, but a closer examination of Kelley’s visit reveals she was visiting the White House to participate in the “Workplace Flexibility Forum,” a March 2010 event that was about the state of flexible work arrangements. According to a April 2010 story in the federal trade worker publication FCW, Kelley spoke at the forum about the benefits of teleworking and other flexible work schedules. FCW reported that the event was hosted by Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. The visitor log also notes that Kelley’s visit took place in the “South Court Auditorium,” a large room in the Old Executive Office Building across from the White House — not exactly a prime location for a private meeting.
Flock also includes this link to an April 2010 story in the online publication FCW:The Business of Federal Technology. Kudos to Flock for nailing down the specific topic of the meeting and the physical location of the meeting in the White House complex.
There is an interesting sentence in Flock’s article. This one:
Kelley’s office didn’t immediately respond to request for more information about her March 2010 appearance, but we will update when we hear back.
Kelley’s office didn’t immediately respond.
We await Kelley’s response.
And we will be back.
Spectator Radio! Drone Policy Interview with Dan Mandis
Posted by on 5.20.13 @ 1:04PM
Check out my recent interview with Dan Mandis of 850 KOA in Denver, Colorado about all things drone: Legal issues, national security implications, and the robotic aircrafts’ future here at home. The link can be found below. And remember folks, sharing is caring, now in this digital media age more than ever:
It’s Not Just the IRS
Posted by on 5.20.13 @ 11:48AM
If you read one (non-Spectator) article this morning, make it Jillian Kay Melchior’s latest piece over at NRO. Melchior interviews a Texas woman named Catherine Engelbrecht, who, after filing with the IRS for tax-exempt status for two Tea Party groups, was harassed by the IRS…and the FBI and ATF and even OSHA:
In July, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration paid a visit to Engelbrecht Manufacturing while Bryan, Catherine, and their children were out of town. The OSHA inspector talked with the managerial staff and employees, inspecting the premises minutely. But Bryan says the agent found only “little Mickey Mouse stuff, like, ‘You have safety glasses on, but not the right kind; the forklift has a seatbelt, but not the right kind.’” Yet Catherine and Bryan said the OSHA inspector complimented them on their tightly run shop and said she didn’t know why she had been sent to examine it.
Not long after, the tab arrived. OSHA was imposing $25,000 in fines on Engelbrecht Manufacturing. They eventually worked it down to $17,500, and Bryan says they may have tried to contest the fines to drive them even lower, but “we didn’t want to make any more waves, because we don’t know [how much further] OSHA could reach.”
Apparently those “few bad apples” in Cincinnati who the left keeps blaming for the IRS scandal were also wielding omnipotent control over other government agencies.
We already knew this went well beyond the IRS trying to deal with a (nonexistent) surge of new tax-exempt applications. Tea Party groups were completely denied tax-exempt status for 27 months. Sensitive IRS applications were inappropriately leaked to left-wing news outlets. But Melchior’s article suggests something much more extreme than a renegade IRS: a concerted attempt across several government agencies to wage war on the Tea Party.
Now can we please get that special prosecutor?
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