I Hate Illinois Nazis (Arizona Ones Too)

There are some awfully strange, romantic notions about so-called small town life: the residents are purer of heart, relationships are stronger, citizens are not as swept up in the churning seas of materialism as their big-city counterparts.

Here in my small town, the local (and only) newspaper invited readers to comment on President Obama's inauguration. Following are some of the more stark reactions, and sadly they outnumbered the positive ones:

I hope that he is true in his words... How ever he has started out slightly shady (with the lack of papers, or should I say the unwillingness to show the documents requested) and the company that he keeps. I for one have a hard time to trust someone that wants to lead this country but does not believe in the flag that so many brave sons and daughters died to protect. His wife so proudly stated that she has never be proud of this country untill now, and that she to has participated in the burning of this nation's flag.

If socialism, atheism, abortion, gun control, and reverse prejudice is what you want, you just got it.

Well apparently 7 years without a terrorist attack are not good enough for all of the "Bush Bashers" out there. I'm not even a die hard W fan but the way that he has been disrespected in his last few days have been appalling. For someone who is apparently for "middle class" society he definitely had no problem spending 150 million tax dollars for his inauguration. First day, already overspending tax dollars.

You know what???? I am disgusted at Prescott High School for making our children watch this...My child on her own decided she did not like the teacher telling kids that this is such a great day we should make it a holiday that she got up and left the class. The teacher then had the audacity to tell my Daughter she was dissss-respectful??? I am frankly sick of the PHS treating this man as a god. He is not MLK or any other great former President. He just a politician that paid his way into office. What happened to keeping politics out of school???

He lied to get into office. The last I looked Thou shalt not lie is still in the Ten Commandments just like thou shalt not murder. Both are equally as bad. He may be a god in your minds although he is not God! I do hope he does what is good for America although we only heard him lie so far. He is now the commander and chief elected by Democrats. The same rude people who are Bush Bashers. I would not want to be the leaders of such a rude and disrespectful group of people.

01-20-2009: THE BEGINNING OF AN "ERROR"!

The ascendancy of Obama to the throne will go down in history as the day that freedom in America took (another) giant step toward totalitarianism.

In most all schools evolution is shoved down the throats of our student and over 70 percent of the population believe in Creationism and NOT evolution, but it is still taught and creationism is "illegal" to be taught in schools. So if one thing is taught then I think the other should be as well regardless. Freedom of speach and RELIGiON people!

I did not watch the coronation of Obama yesterday. I do not consider it to be a serious moment in history either. If he was a real black person instead of a mixed race person I would have considered it historical.

What does his mixed breed race have anything to do politics? Everybody keeps playing the race card and calling him the first black president. He's not truly black. He has a white mother and was raised in a white family. I say he is more white than he is black.

The Evil that Men Do

If you were expecting to read about the Bronson movie by the same name, then I apologize, though I understand your insatiable appetite--if only in a coldly clinical and academic way--for all things Bronson.

No, my friends, I'm one of those jerks who utilize lines from LITERATURE to make some half-baked point, but mostly to have it known that I am familiar with GREAT WORKS. The line of this little entry is from Shakespeare, about whom much has been written. For example, I know that (1) he wrote Romeo + Juliet, and (2) he was in love.

The line, according to the Internets, comes from Shakespeare's Julius Caeser, and reads:

The evil that men do lives after them
The good is oft interred with their bones

Good, evil, bones--ah, this is the stuff of heady drama and heroic struggle. But our lives are not often riddled with such stark and diametrically opposed notions of good and evil, heaven and hell, grape (the fruit) and grape (the flavor). No, our soft existences are more attuned to something toward the middle. So what, then, about the mediocrity that men do?

I will explore this notion from time to time in future postings, beginning with one of last century's greatest examples of mediocrity: Color Me Badd. Again, we go to the Internets for Color Me Badd lore, as it is not generally regarded as canon and on the tip of my tongue.

The first sign of trouble was that the group formed in Oklahoma City. I'm sure this is a fine community, with great schools and wonderful people and a thriving mercantile and culture. But, the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions Oklahoma City is a terrible case of domestic terrorism. Oh, I looked on Wikipedia and they note that Oklahoma City is the home to the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz arena football club, so that's something.

Second, the group's big hit parade came with their first album, titled C.M.B. (which probably stands for Color Me Badd, but could perhaps also allude to the Cash Money Brothers of the film "New Jack City," the soundtrack of which featured the perennial favorite "I Wanna Sex You Up") came out in 1991. In 1992 they released an album of remixes. Admittedly, I am not a successful music producer, but it seems that the body of work from which you will extract an album length of remixes, should probably be more than one album.

Moving on, Color Me Badd disbanded in 2000, which was a surprise to me. I figured they rode that New Kids/Boyz 2 Men wave as long as they could, and probably crapped out in 1993. The group seemed to suffer from Abe Vigoda syndrome for several years, with most of the general public not knowing if they were alive or dead. But they were neither--they were Badd.

There is a Danish fan page (or perhaps the band's own page?) at www.colormebadd.dk. Apparently three of the four members "reunited" for some musical game show hosted by Meatloaf. Who knew? There are thankfully plenty of great "then and now" photos, and the cloying hope that one day the group will reunite and take back the R&B male a cappella mantle that they wore with such brash intensity in 1991 and 1992.