Friday Morning Musings

Friday Morning Musings

       As usual, morning TV, both local and network seldom fail to provide something which makes me say , "huh?"

       Today was no exception. Right out of the box, at the local level, a short  segment  pointed out that, so far, no Central Florida student athletes  have "taken a knee",  a la Colin Kapernick,  during the playing of the national anthem.  Failing to leave it at that, the piece went on to point out that Orange County Public Schools had determined/decided  that a student was within his or her  rights to do so "If they had parental permission." Really?  And if they don't? What then, have two burly assistant coaches grab them by the arms and force them to stand?  Kneeling may be bad taste, but it's not a crime. About the only thing more questionable than Kapernick's personal decision is the  proliferation of  twists in pantyhose of those who disagree with his actions.

         This issue, like not standing or reciting the pledge of allegiance, has long been settled in law at the USSC level. Mandated Bible reading was declared a violation in Schempp vs Abingdon Township (by 8-1), Mandated prayer outlawed in Engle vs Vitale (6-1, but would have been 8-1 but 2 Justices were ill) , and forced standing during  the Pledge outlawed in Minersville School Board vs Gobitis (6-3). It is worthy of note that none of these USSC decisions was even close. Finally, in WVa. State Board of Education v Barnette  in a 6-3 decision (of a relatively conservative court, it was 1943 during WWII!) forced or mandated pledging or saluting was outlawed.

        I point out all the above legal minutia to illustrate just how ludicrous and illustrative of administrative  hubris it is for the Orange County School Board to magnanimously agree to yield to students all the civil liberties which they have had for more than 50 years. "With parental permission?" Puhleeze!

        On a more mundane note, Good Morning America, while ballyhooing the CMA awards, which I'm sure will be shown on ABC,  played a snippet of a slew of redneck Adele and John Legend  wannabees  singing the John Denver classic, "Country Roads."  It struck me as I listened to the mostly nasally whiny  or  twangy ( and in the case of Willy Nelson, simply  ruined)  voices that none sang it nearly as well as the late Mr. Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.

         I have never been a fan of country music, which we used to call more properly "hillbilly" music, mostly because of the general lack of real vocal ability of its practitioners. Poseurs in cowboy hats who wouldn't know cow shit if they stepped in it, seem to be cloned from somewhere near Nashville. I have also felt it worthy of note that those occasionally really good singers who are of the genre have, as an index of success, that their music "crosses over" into the mainstream, which is itself   muddied these days by a proliferation of subgroups, admittedly.

        The one thing which has stood out to me is that those few country singers who I have enjoyed could all actually sing real music - Dolly Parton (great writer also) , Garth Brooks (raised on rock), Wynona (a kick ass rock singer when she lets herself be one), and Vince Gill (guitar genius and great tenor) are examples. Ray Charles' superb album  "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music"  showed us that a great performer can make even Hank Williams material sound good. Unfortunately, this generation  has mostly missed the best of the bunch. If you really want to know how really good country can be without the nasal whine and twang , listen to anything Patsy Cline ever sang, then listen to Kitty Wells, or a contemporary, but have a barf  bag at hand.   

        And finally, for now, I see that we are to be subjected to yet another Oliver Stone film. This time he will, no doubt,  issue an apologia for the espionage activities of one  Edward Snowden. I am far, far from politically conservative as most of my readers are aware. All that said, I would make the case that the difference between civilians sworn to protect classified material and military personnel with the same obligation is essentially non-existent. There may be some who would differentiate the severity of the breach based on the nature of the classified information. I would  deny such a claim because at the onset, the employee, civilian or military doesn't take a "conditional oath, along the lines of, " I promise to protect the security of classified data as long as I agree with the program." In the information age, it is inevitable that one cost of keeping ourselves as safe as is humanly possible may well mean that innocent private matters might be  scrutinized as well.

        Like Snowden, Jonathan Pollard, was a civilian analyst for the department of defense. Like Snowden, Pollard decided that some of what he knew would be helpful to others, in this case Israel. his rationale was that Israel was an ally, ergo "entitled" to said data.  Unlike Snowden (so far), Pollard did 30 years in jail and was, only last year, paroled. In defense of his actions, Pollard declared that he committed espionage only because "the American intelligence establishment collectively endangered Israel’s security by withholding crucial information."  While Pollard was compensated financially for his actions by Israel, comments (from the safety of Russia, of course) by Snowden make it fairly clear that his motivation was ego gratification - to be lauded by his fellow Americans.  Stone will undoubtedly do for reality in "Snowden" what he did for it in the fraught with holes, half truths, and outright fabrications,  "JFK."