by Kevin Marley
This year the in the United States Senate the majority party risks long-term annihilation if it does not do everything in its power to pass health care reform complete with a new government subsidized insurance program. To this end a traditional filibuster forced upon the minority by the Majority Leader instead of a winter recess, complete with round-the-clock sessions, continuous minority speeches, and a ready quorum of majority party senators, trumps letting the minority return home to conduct caustic town hall meetings. The Majority Leader could (and should) continue the current Senate session until its scheduled re-convention in January, at which time a weary nation would welcome the use of “budget reconciliation rules” to pass reform.
A full blown filibuster, where failure of the minority to hold the floor before a quorum of majority party senators determined to pass the bill, would require that all the Senate’s other business would already be finished and the only task left would be either session adjournment, or bill passage. Full story »
God knows I hate the fact that I even have to consider this a category. But there it is. Every year brings out a reprise of that awful Mannheim Steamroller Christmas album, or the next umpteenth installment of the Windham Hill Christmas series. The early Windham Hill ones were ok, I admit, particularly the second one, but please, enough is enough. And then there are those other labels, which just noodle on and on, without even bothering to check to see if any of their recording artists actually know how to play. Fortunately, there’s one that rises above the pack, because it isn’t really “New Age” at all. It’s a straight up jazz album by an artist, Liz Story, who somehow has never been able to overcome the fact that she got typecast into this particular section of the record store. It’s called The Gift, and it’s great. Solo piano, and her interpretations are flawless. My favorite cut is her version of What Child is This? But all the cuts are great, and you’ll keep going back to it. It’s hypnotic.
