Free speech

I've been having trouble finding things to write about lately but this just stood out to me. The NY Times told McCain that they wouldn't publish his op-ed piece unless he rewrote it to be more like Obama's piece. What? There are so many things wrong wit that. Isn't the point that you'd like for them to be different and have different opinions on things so you have an actual choice in voting? Isn't the point of an op-ed piece that it's your opinion? Isn't that the point?! I spent an hour just saying, wow, in disbelief. The editor wrote, "It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama’s piece." He also outlined what he'd like McCain to write in his piece. How about the editor just write it and he can put McCain's name on it? I'm so sad. Sure, they can print whatever they want. They can choose to not print something. It's their right to print whatever they want, blah, blah, blah. Seems to me that if they cry so loudly any time they feel THEIR right of free speech is being impinged on, they might want to allow other people to say what they want to freely too. It might be kind of cool if they printed one piece from Obama and one piece from McCain and then went on and on like that; weekly printing their positions on different topics; helping to educate the public on who they might vote for. How cool would that be to provide an open place for the exchange of ideas? How naive of me I suppose.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/21/mccain.nyt/index.html
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/21/mccain-campaign-says-new-york-times-blocked-op-ed-response-to-obama/

Ximena Sarinana

I get so annoyed with myself. I just found a new artist that I like. At my core, I am an insanely jealous person, competitive, spiteful. I know this about myself. So as they're interviewing this 22 year old artist from Mexico on the radio, I immediately think, she's going to be a lousy no talent hack. And then I liked her. A lot. A lot a lot. And I get mad at myself both for liking her and for being jealous of how awesome she is and how much I like her. And I rush back to my desk from my hour lunch break from my receptionist job and log on to my computer to find her. Maybe she'll be ugly. (Right.) She's not. She's cute and bouncy and just as awesome as her music is. And I'm even more jealous. Her name is Ximena Sarinana. She's awesome.

And I also begin to wonder, why do I find more artists that I like when I listen to NPR than when I listen to mainstream radio? Who knows. This artist was featured on The World. She sings in Spanish. I don't speak or understand Spanish. But then I hear her songs and think, piff, I could learn Spanish. Again, the bitterness boils.

Her music is a little jazzy and I think that's what I like so much. There are utube videos of her singing Volare and It Don't Mean A Thing. It must be the jazz vibe. I love old standards. This weekend I will play my monthly gig of songs from the Great American Songbook. Songs I love. Songs sometimes you hear once or twice in my longer sets. Maybe I should just give in to my jazzy side. Well, I'll at least buy her album. Even if it drives me nuts.

It's not available yet but you can pre-order it at amazon. Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Mediocre-Ximena-Sari%C3%B1ana/dp/B001781JXQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1215725058&sr=1-1

http://www.myspace.com/ximecutecrewsite
http://www.myspace.com/ximenasariana678
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIi964kHRAw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2aSZqv9t-s&feature=related