Friday Random Ten

A smart playlist from iTunes of songs on my harddrive, selected randomly.
This is also duplicated at annamaria's site.
Happy Friday!
Here's my random list:
1 Peter Gabriel - Don't Give Up
2 Jimmy Lafave - Early Summer Rain
3 Jerry Garcia - Mississippi Moon
4 Bjork - Verandi
5 Bela Fleck & the Flecktones - Vix 9
6 Los Lobos - Volver Volver
7 Lucinda Williams & David Crosby - Return of the Grievous Angel
8 Lyle Lovett - Give Me Back My Heart
9 Audio Adrenaline - You Still Amaze Me
10 Patty Griffin - Reprise

My bonus info for you today is 2 new awesome sites to explore and expand your musical horizons -
Liveplasma (thanks to jenn for this one) will map artists in a way that shows similar artists in style. You can lose some time here easily!
Pandora (dusty taught me about this one) is a great service for listening and finding new music. Give them an artist to start with (say, The Decemberists) and they will begin streaming songs that are close in style, character and musicality. Absolutely incredible site.

Surprise.

It is always a surprise to me to discover she still loves me.
Every day I wonder, "Will today be the day she stops? Will today be the day I cross over the line? Will today be the day she learns that one thing to make her stop?"
I know so much about myself and what goes through my mind, it seems incredible that she could love me.
So every time I see it, I am surprised. And joyous.
Does she say it? Not usually; at least not with direct words.
Mostly it's a gesture, a phrase, a confidence shared. It is in the trust I am given.

You'd think by now, I would just accept it as a given. The sun will rise, I will be loved. But I expect neither as a right. Every day, both are gifts I can't earn.

Accept the gifts you are given today.

Love surprises.

Red State, Blue State

Some quotes to consider.

A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.

That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.

I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.

I belong to no organized political party. I am a Democrat.

Now, do you know who the people are that said each one? The answers are farther down in the post.

I'm taking a freshmen level Poli Sci course this semester and I'm just amazed at the level of political misunderstanding by the majority of students. I know I've got years of perspective and wisdom that come from simply living longer, but still......

Now, I've gotten more realistic and pragmatic through the years (some would say cynical and calloused!), but I think my core understandings of liberty and freedom coupled with responsibilities hasn't changed all that much. And what is the appropriate role of government in the economy and society. Yet in this class I'm seen as even to the right of Pat Buchanan! This of the guy who was nicknamed Radical Rob by a sociology teacher in high school! Some folks suggested that I was bold enough to wear pink shirts not because I was secure in my manhood but because of my pink-o politics!

So why the quotes. If you didn't know the sources you might think they were from today's neo-cons. But they're not.

WC Fields was the last one: "I belong to no organized political party. I am a democrat."

That one was just for fun. As a lifelong Democrat whose Dad was a New Deal democrat from the first vote he ever cast 'til the day he died, I couldn't help poking fun at the real big tent party. The other four are for more serious consideration.

The first three come from Thomas Jefferson, who many consider, along with Andrew Jackson, as one of the founders of the Democratic Party. But if you compare his quotes, and the philosophy they represent, with quotes from any of the recent Democratic presidential candidates you can't help but be struck by how different the political orientation is.

The fourth quote: "I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me." is from Ronald Reagan.

Some things for folks to think about as the inside the Beltway crowd starts figuring out how to take advantage of the ineptitude and scandals of the Republicans. Especially when the Dean wing of the Democratic party is trying to set the agenda for the coming years.