Mexico Collapsing...Where is the Mainstream Media?

Mexico to send more troops to besieged city

This story, just filed by Reuters two hours ago, is possibly the worst news to come down the pike in a long time. Mexico is on the verge of total anarchy.

There is a lot to be fearful of in the news lately; this is the scariest story I've seen in awhile.

Cramer: Nationalizing Banks is a REALLY bad idea.

Never have I seen Jim Cramer this, um, chill. He's serious as a heart attack about how economic disruption brings about social unrest. I didn't want to watch it at first (I mean, c'mon, who the heck actually has five minutes to watch something boring like this?).

It got good about four minutes in, after he covered all the stuff about how a nationalized bank system will not be able to handle any kind of insurance pay outs on policy claims, and credit will totally disappear--no home or business loans, no credit cards, nothing. Then he talks about fascism and communism and World War II.

Crazy Jim Cramer is not sounding so crazy anymore.

In love with music.

I'm singing again and I didn't imagine, even three years ago, that I'd be doing the things that I'm doing with my voice now. I just couldn't figure out how, when I lived in the most remote town in the lower 48, life would ever lead me back to music.

Serendipity, I guess, exists and is stranger than fiction. I moved to a place where an old music friend lived, AND happened to direct a decent choir. I'm not sure if that's luck or the over-hyped law of attraction (if so, then there are lots of other things coming my way if that stuff is true), but here I am singing.

Tomorrow, I have a sweet solo at the big morning service; I'm singing Mozart's Laudate Dominum. Finding a place to breathe in this thing is really tricky. If it turns out half decent I'll let you all know.

In a month, I have a huge solo with a string quartet that promises to be sublime in its Haydn baroque overload. It is also an evensong service with tons of early music, including a killer Tudor anthem and a Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis by Orlando Gibbons, who was and still is a genius.

To bring it back around to my title, my reintroduction to performing music has been a total love fest, a shocking, passionate affair that has been fairly consuming. I do this for free. Even if I eventually got paid, I would still do it for free. So no matter what happens tomorrow morning, I will be grateful for the opportunity to share myself with people and hope that that's what comes through, even if my technique is still being polished. I am sounding alright. I am sure, by the next month's solo, that I will sound like I know what I am doing (I sort of do now). I'm no impostor, nor am I a rank amateur; I've done this before. It's just strange putting it all back together again after so long.

I love nature and I love hiking, but this...singing, music...is my paramour. Doing it again is the best Valentine's Day gift I could ever receive.

UPDATE: The solo went well (save one teeny, tiny spot that went unnoticed by most). I'm not complaining, though. It came off better than I thought it would--the choir was really on considering our diminished numbers this morning. Many people came up to me after and were profuse in their compliments. I doesn't get better than that. I must have done something good.

Rather: Where's The Outrage?

Where's The Outrage? - The Daily Beast

I love this. Dan Rather, a thinking liberal, has some pointed criticism of the new administration's attempt to fix our economy. I encourage all to go and read the above editorial with an open mind and start asking questions. Here's a sample:

Where is the outrage from We The People? And where is the outrage—or sense of outrage—from the Treasury Department, from Congress, and, yes, from the White House and the new president himself?

We are in a downward economic spiral and the worst is probably yet to come. The situation threatens our own and future generations. Yet there is no transparency, no accountability, and no clearly-stated plan to pull us out.

Outrage is seldom justified and rarely wise, but in this fix it is both. Nevertheless, what we have gotten and are getting still is blather.