Wednesday Music Mix

It looks like it is going to be a wet one out their folks. Well wet at least for those of us in the Pacific Northwest. I realize that the east coast and most of the mid west is caught in a horrible cold snap or polar vortex or what ever. Either way it must suck. I am once again thankful that I live in the Pacific Northwest and Oregon.

Sweet Lady - Queen

Not one of their big hits but a good song nonetheless.

Well it seems that all of the Duck Dynasty hype has settled down. All that I can really say is that I am not at all surprised that there were little to no consequences for any of the parties involved other then an uptick in publicity and sales for all involved. In fact this is what I wrote on Facebook in response to a friend on Dec 19th,

"They won't move networks and in a week or so this will all blow over. If it doesn't they will continue to sell duck calls and dvd's from their website just like they did for years before the show was on. The family doesn't need A&E. I suspect that is why Phil felt the freedom to say what he really thought. Odds are that he signed a contract when he took the show with A&E and this kind of thing was already addressed and that is why Phil was punished."

The only thing that I would change is that I do not think Phil was punished. He did not and will not miss any filming so his suspension from the show did not affect anything.

Jaded - Operation Ivy

A great, great song.

But what I have found interesting lately is that articles are popping up with pictures of the Duck Dynasty sons before the show went on the air and 'gasp'. They didn't have beards and they weren't wearing camouflage. The writers of these articles are acting like they uncovered some sort of scandal and this just amuses me so much. It is a reality television show, of course it is fake. Dummies. Why is this a shock to anybody?

1st Movement (Jumping Biz) - ELO

Classic piece by ELO

That is all I am going to say about Duck Dynasty. I am just surprised that people are shocked that it is dramatized. The show is what it is. If you do not like it do not watch it. I have stopped watching it. I also do not watch or listen to things with Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly or Bill Mahar and rarely The Daily Show or anything on Fox News or CNN or MSNBC. I find the whole world to be less angry and fearful for me if I stick to reading my news as opposed to having it broadcast at me. What I mainly try to do is to avoid the echo chamber effect if at all possible and by and large I do a pretty good job of that.

Kisses Sweeter Than Wine - Jimmy Rogers

I like this song. It is just a nice pleasant song.

Now excuse me while I do some deep breathing and some deep cross nostril breathing. I have found both of those techniques to be very helpful when it comes to keeping myself calm and centered.

Empty Chairs At Empty Tables - Eddie Redmayne (Marius in Les Miserable)

This was a sad, sad song. But also very beautiful.

I am going to Portland today and that is always a good thing. I am visiting my friend Katy for coffee and that is always fun and the climax of the day is seeing 'The Big Lebowski' on the big screen with my buddy Travis and that is going to be epic. I am very excited about that.

Let's Get Retarded - Black Eyed Peas

I remember when this band was huge. I didn't remember owning any of them. blech

I am not thrilled at ending the mix today on that particular song. I wonder if I should roll the dice and see what comes up next? Nope I am going to stop at 6 today. Have a good one folks. I wish that we could all be as happy as this little girl in her cupcake costume.

Glenn Beck and his 2% Flat Tax Plan

So on Dec 4th Glenn Beck was on the O'Reilly show and he floated the idea of a 2% Flat Tax tied to a balanced budget amendment that would go directly to the deficit for nor more then 10 years and would be a Constitutional Amendment. It was interesting watching these two, I will just use the word personalities, talk to each other. The exact words were that if we guarantee no more spending we need a tax to fix the deficit.

The first thing that I found surprising was that these two conservative personalities would put the idea of a flat tax out there. Now on the surface this sounds like a pretty good idea. But, I am not so sure. After I thought about it for awhile and read some things and talked to a few people I wonder how good it actually is. Putting aside the idea that it is odd that two leading conservative television hosts would advocate for more taxes. I found it odd that the amount infrastructure that would be needed to administer a flat tax is enormous. I was talking to my friend Steve about this idea and he raised an interesting point.

Steve said that regardless of whether or not you liked the idea of more taxes for what ever higher purpose. That the need for states and communities to have to develop a system to collect the flat tax revenue makes the idea a poor one. He countered with "why not, since the system is already in place nationwide to collect Federal Income Tax, why not just add 2% tax to that and earmark it strictly to go to the deficit." Steve thinks that the core base viewer for Beck and O'Reilly would not like them advocating for more taxes.

The more I think about it I think he is correct. Even if it is just on the logic side of things as how do you put together the infrastructure to collect that VAT. In some areas you would just be creating more government and we all know that the Beck style Conservative does not want to create more government.

There are lots of problems in America and one of the major ones is the deficit and how do we get out from under it. So, while it is interesting to hear figures throw out new ideas this one is not a workable one in my opinion. I also would like to hear from my readers. Do you think this is workable? What would work better? Why do you think we are in this position? Are we going to ever be able to actually get out of this hole? Please let me know your thoughts.