Music has the ability to create a mood. Great music speaks to the soul, lifting it up to feel the greatness of our spirit.
I’ve gotten into a bit of a rut, which isn’t the best word to use – perhaps “extended affinity for” would be better, for what many, including me, consider to be the single greatest piece of music ever written.
Completed in 1824, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in D Minor, is one of the first symphonies written to include vox humana, in the form of four soloists and a chorus. It was also very long for its time, lasting over an hour.
Aside from its power and beauty, what I consider most remarkable is that Beethoven was practically deaf when he wrote it.
Meanings of the colors can be found here; there is an FAQ in the notes to the videos.
Finally, a trivia question:
What does Beethoven’s Ninth have do do with the development of the audio CD?
Weekend Great Music Open Comments
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HA!
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G’Morning All
I won’t argue with you about Beethoven’s 9th at all, but here is one of my favorite mood pieces
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPvS0g2papI -
And this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPNUp9DwFR0 -
…………….for the Lives and Loves lost in CT………….
Ray and Willie -
Good morning, Hamsterville. Gotta check email and the job queue to see if I am working today. Check y’all later perhaps.
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Well if we’re going longhair today, I’ll go Bohemian and throw in one of my favorites. Dvorak’s entire New World Symphony should be listened to in its entirety but if you want to pick just one part I would recommend the Second Movement. Here’s part one and part two.
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Sarge, your email may have been hacked. I got an email from you with a link to “Raspberry Ultra Drops to Help Your Weight Drop”. Or maybe you think I’m fat 😉
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Do I look fat?
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8
Quit wearing those dresses with horizontal stripes. -
Let’s just go with “curvy”.
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And you need to fix yourself up a little if you expect to catch a man.
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As far as music “setting the tone” goes, I am really digging Chet Atkins Radio on Pandora.com.
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#8 hamous
Long hairs serenading you. -
Sorrowful morning Hamsters. Gray and dreary as befitting mourning. The little ones are gathered in the Lord’s loving arms, the adults nearby. The perp, we trust, is…..elsewhere.
Prayers for comfort and solace to the bereaved, prayers for the families of the survirors, prayers for the people who dealt with and must deal with this disaster in their official capacities.
All the MSM TV coverage yesterday and presumably continuing apace has a recurring theme of the innocent children so violently taken from this world. Yet likely most of the commentators/reporters, etc. are automaton “pro choicers”, willfully ignorant or worse deliberately in denial of the innocents in the womb. Hypocracy writ large in the face of unspeakable sorrow. Would that they be questioned about this. Stunned reactions from most would be my guess. 🙁 -
#14 Adee
That’s an interesting take on the massacre. I did not see any other commentary from that viewpoint.
I did read last night some conservative POV regarding how liberalism since the ’60s has made it difficult to keep the mentally ill from harming the rest of us. The schizo who shot Gabby Giffords being a prime recent example, and now this Adam Lanza.
I was traumatized in 1995 when a nutjob who had stopped taking his meds shot a randomly selected woman at the Gerland’s grocery on West Little York. This occurred shortly before I moved to my current home, when I still lived close to and shopped at that store. I have not been able to find out if Johhny Long Jr is still in the state mental hospital, but as of 2004 he was.
We need to stop regarding mental illness as a civil rights issue, and keep people locked up who need meds but won’t take them. -
#6 Hammy
I played Dvorak’s New World Symphony in high school. Still love it. Right up there with Holst’s “Jupiter”. -
7 Hamous says:
December 15, 2012 at 9:13 am
Sarge, your email may have been hacked. I got an email from you with a link to “Raspberry Ultra Drops to Help Your Weight Drop”. Or maybe you think I’m fatYah—got a couple of folks tell me the same thing, along with a raft of Mailer Deamons in my mailbox this AM.
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That’s an interesting take on the massacre. I did not see any other commentary from that viewpoint.
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#19 Hammy
Your post was from the POV of the deviant youthful murderers. Adee is talking about the talking-head class. -
I’m avoiding the coverage of the shooting. Maybe tomorrow or next week I’ll check in for updates on the story.
I just can’t handle draping my mind with all of the grief. I don’t want to see all the facets the grief of every remotely connected individual. At times like this, the media becomes a mass of vultures, and if I watch the coverage, I come away thinking I need to see a doctor for some communicable disease or something.
Instead, I’m rapidly working my way through two seasons of “Veronica Mars”. I don’t think I have the third season. I do however, have all seasons of “Quantum Leap,” “MacGyver,” and “Stargate SG-1,” among others. That might be enough to keep me safe from the liberal head-‘sploding coverage, and I can avoid feeling like I’m violating the personal grief of the families.
May the Lord comfort them and give them peace. -
22 TT
Me, too.
I decided to do so almost immediately, knowing how it was going to be covered. -
Sing the radish prayer I posted yesterday evening.
You cannot help but be in a better mood after that. -
Adee,
I know a lot of folks who are Pro Choice and for the life of me I can’t see them reacting in any other way than empathy for the parents of the children who died.
The news readers, Pro Choice or otherwise, are likely hardened by the day to day reading of the worst examples of our society. I suspect that you would have to develop a pretty hard shell to keep for going crazy. Police Officers, Doctors, Social Workers, and Garbage Collectors have to suppress any sensitivity to keep the pain and stink from dragging them down as well.
The only issue that I have with ALL of the news organizations is the fact that they will play this story until we are all desensitized and sick of hearing it. They do this to earn advertising bucks. Informing the public is little more than an unplanned side effect.
Simple -
I think Ace nailed how this guy (and all his sick wannbe-famous idols and proteges) should be portrayed in the media:
However, I think it would do at least something to dissuade the next potential mass murderer to know, for example, that coverage on him will not focus on the Evil Menace part of him (which is a self-conception he finds flattering), but the Sad, Lonely Pathetic Guy Who Has a Small Dick and Couldn’t Keep a Woman or a Job and Just Couldn’t Hack It part of him. The part that’s actually much more relevant to his crime — masterful men do not have to kill people to let the world know “I exist” — and the party that he’s actually afraid of other people knowing about.
If I were the media, I’d allow myself to get very personal in publishing accounts of these guys. Personal, and nasty.
And not only is this a bit of a public service, but, as I said, this is much more relevant to the actual reasons for his crime than this puffed-up faux-heroic claimed motivations. The maniac in Colorado did not shoot up a theater because of Batman, and to even say that credits his self-conception as true and puffs up his fantasy connection to Batman.
No, the maniac in Colorado shot up the theater because he was a pathetic weakling unloved by women and incapable of satisfying them and so retreated into a twisted babydick world of power fantasy.
Same thing with this guy.Of course, this will never happen. It would go against the same media’s dogma of making us all androgynous.
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Agreed.
I don’t need to have a bunch of haircuts tell me how the survivors will be traumatized, what treatments they will need, how this will affect their lives, etc.
All I want to know is what happened and why someone who is now widely reported to be “obviously in need of help” i.e. crazy, kookoo, nuts, bananas, unhinged, whacko, and any of a number of other things could remain on the streets until he kills someone. -
btw – Ace’s suggestion is perfect for your garden-variety Lutheran nutters in the Cradle of Civilization.
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Lets review the Conneticutt Gun Laws that were designed to prvent this kind of gun violence.
1. Sales of Assault Weapons have been prohibited since 1993.
2. In order to purchase a weapon, you must first register, have a back ground check, and wait 14 days. The Chief of Police in the town where you live also has to approve the sale.
3. You must register your guns.
4. Connecticutt does not permit its citizens to carry concealed weapons.
Now lets review the state laws the kid broke:
1. He stole the weapons. The combined value of them is over $2000—a felony.
2. He concealed the pistols: two counts of carrying a concealed weapon.
Now the Federal Laws the kid broke:
1. Carrying a weapon on school grounds.
2. Using a firearm in the commission of a Federal crime.
When all of these laws were passed, we were told that they would do something about “gun violence.”
Now they want to pass more. -
Now they want to pass more.
Because it has nothing to do with safety.
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Someone was quoted: “Gun control is not about guns, it’s about control.”
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Gun control is all about shooting what you intend to shoot and only what you intend to shoot.
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i have been wondering how long…………..
A Gay Bible
The Queen James Bible is based on The King James Bible, edited to prevent homophobic misinterpretation.
Homosexuality in The Bible
Homosexuality was first mentioned in the Bible in 1946, in the Revised Standard Version. There is no mention of or reference to homosexuality in any Bible prior to this – only interpretations have been made. Anti-LGBT Bible interpretations commonly cite only eight verses in the Bible that they interpret to mean homosexuality is a sin; Eight verses in a book of thousands!
The Queen James Bible seeks to resolve interpretive ambiguity in the Bible as it pertains to homosexuality: We edited those eight verses in a way that makes homophobic interpretations impossible.
Who is Queen James?
The King James Bible is the most popular Bible of all time, and arguably the most important English language document of all time. It is the brainchild and namesake of King James I, who wanted an English language Bible that all could own and read. The KJV, as it is called, has been in print for over 400 years and has brought more people to Christ than any other Bible translation. Commonly known to biographers but often surprising to most Christians, King James I was a well-known bisexual. Though he did marry a woman, his many gay relationships were so well-known that amongst some of his friends and court, he was known as “Queen James.” It is in his great debt and honor that we name The Queen James Bible so.
A Fabulous Bible
The QJB is a big, fabulous Bible. It is printed and bound in the United States on thick, high-quality paper in a beautiful, readable typeface. It is the perfect Bible for ceremony, study, sermon, gift-giving, or simply to put on display in the home or Church.
You can’t choose your sexuality, but you can choose Jesus. Now you can choose a Bible, too.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16Hammie stole my thunder for this comment soooooo
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D’nesh D’Sousa demolishes the whole notion of the moral superiority of Obama care.
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TT: there is an open invitation for you to participate in SAF. This time, there is a knock at the door . . . . . .
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#6 Hamous
There used to be a great program for young children by the Houston Symphony (hopefully still is) when I was in elementary and junior high school. One of my earlier memories was riding the unheated school bus on a frigid, dreary morning to the old Sam Houston Coliseum on a field trip to hear a Dvorak symphony performance. I have always loved his music since. -
God forbid anyone ever loses their home…… there is hope.
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And now for your musical perusal. Carolyn Wonderland
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There’s an old Welsh lullaby titled Suo Gân. Listening to Dvorak reminded me of the song. Somehow it seems fitting this weekend.
Hunan blentyn, ar fy mynwes
Clyd a chynnes ydyw hon
Breichiau mam sy’n dyn amdanat
Cariad mam sy’n dan fy mron
Ni chaiff dim amharu’th gyntun
Ni wna undyn a thi gam
Huna’n dawel, annwyl blentyn
Huna’n fwyn ar fron dy fam
Huna’n dawel hana huna
Huna’n fwyn y del ei lun
Pam yr wyt yn awr yn gwenum
Gwenu’n dirion yn dy hun
Ai angylion fry sy’n gwenu
Arnat yno’n gwenu’n lion
Titha’u’n gwenu’n ol a huno
Huno’n dawel ar fy mron
Paid ag ofni, dim ond deilen
Gurdda, gurdda ar y ddor
Paid ag ofni ton fach unig
Sua, sua ar lan y mor
Huna blentyn nid oes yma
Ddim i roddi iti fraw
Gwena’n dawel ar fy mynwes
Ar yr engyl gwynion draw
Loose translation:
To my Lullaby surrender,
Warm and tender is my breast;
Mother’s arm s with love caressing
Lay their blessing on your rest;
Nothing shall tonight alarm you,
None shall harm you, have no fear;
Lie contented, calmly slumber
On your mother’s breast, my dear.
Here tonight I tightly hold you
And enfold you while you sleep;
Why, I wonder, are you smiling,
Smiling in your slumber deep?
Are the angels on you smiling
And beguiling you with charm,
While you also smile, my blossom,
In my bosom soft and warm?
Have no fear now, leaves are knocking,
Gently knocking at our door;
Have no fear, waves are beating,
Gently beating on the shore.
Sleep my darling, none shall harm you
Nor alarm you, never cry,
In my bosom sweetly smiling
And beguiling those on high. -
If you’re ever in Grosse Brittanien, you hafta listen to the various Beeb broadcasts. Gaelic & Welsh are the strangest because you can’t make heads or tails of anything they say.
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Unless you’re Super Dave.
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In a pub somewhere in southwest Ireland I carried on an inebriated conversation with an Irishman for several hours. No idea what he was saying except that every once in a while he would throw in a “Chicago Bears”. I asked my Irish friend later what that was all about. Apparently he used to live in Chicago and really liked da Bears. Apparently that was the only thing he could come up with to talk with me about. Unfortunately those were the only two English words he ever said.
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For my Christian friends, a beautiful post by Gerard Vanderleun on aesthetics, music and the essence of beauty.
A fabulous painting 350 years old and the inspiration for a magnificent composition.When I thought about why that was a host of reasons presented themselves to me. Perhaps it was that the ability to draw was no longer taught and expected to be a basic skill of those who would call themselves our “artists.” Perhaps it was that the proliferation of art schools and “art majors” gave the baby boomers and their offspring a way through college that required as much intellect as a point guard, but not nearly as much talent and dedication. Perhaps it was that the rise of the ridiculous rich with their 15,000 foot McMansions meant a lot of wall space that had to be covered with something fashionable but not demanding. This just at the time Warhol and Mapplethorpe popped off and could no longer supply those whose bad taste was in their mouth and down their throat. Hence a legion of pretenders and jackanapes arose to fill the arrivistes’ demand for garbage to decorate their squalid lives. This is not a hunger that should be fed for, as all Park Rangers know, “Once a bear is hooked on garbage, there’s no cure.”
In the end, it was, of course all of these and none. It was as simple as Gertrude Stein’s “There’s no there there.” For at the core of all the objects that form the mountain of crap that is palmed off as “art,” there is simply and plainly, nothing at all. Nothing felt, nothing sensed, nothing learned, and nothing believed in. As such it is without soul. And nothing that lacks soul can survive death, especially the death of a culture and our present state which is best described, a la D. H. Lawrence, as “post mortum effects.”
Which is why it is so reviving to come across Lauridsen’s citing of the magic and mystery of a painting that inspires music from his soul across more than three and a half centuries. It reminds us that art that is true, that art that comes from belief and the soul, will survive and will continue to expand the soul of man despite all the forces that may array themselves against “the good, the beautiful and whether or not something is true.”By the choir from the University of Santo Tomas in the Phillipines performed at the UCLA choir festival in 2006.
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#42 WB
I’ve sat in bars in Wales and Aberdeen and nodded and laughed for hours without ever having any idea what they were saying.
Of course, I can say the same thing about New Iberia, Louisiana and Queens, New York. -
It’s easy when you’re sampling the local firewater.
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The more I ponder the chimerical presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, the more I’ve become convinced it was all a practical joke played on gullible suckers by the GOP’s krack kadre of kampaign konsultants, a phantom “run” designed to hoover as much money out of the fat cats’ wallets as possible and deliver almost nothing in return aside from a few swing-state ad buys. How else to explain the nomination of a man long out of office, with a proven record of failure at the ballot box, who stood far from the intellectual center of contemporary conservatism or even establishment Republicanism? Who crushed his flawed and sometimes bizarre Republican competition for the nomination with money and scorched-earth tactics, but then mysteriously refused to engage with President Obama on all but the most timid, anodyne level? And who, having lost, promptly vanished from the discussion?
Walsh is on a hot roll, quoting Daniel Henninger of the WSJ…
Where is the Big Picture? Why is it not possible for John Boehner or anyone else in this party to articulate for the dumbstruck public watching these dreadful cliff negotiations what the Republican Party stands for? Who speaks for the GOP?
No end of people keep saying of the Republicans that “they” should do this or “they” should do that. Who’s “they”? It is no one. With the Republicans, there’s no “they” there…
… in the absence of a compelling conservative voice, the party is defaulting to a chaos of voices. They are letting their despondent supporters in the country sink deeper than they were the night of the election. They’re going to leave a deep philosophical hole for every candidate in 2014 and any conceivable presidential candidate in 2016.
The GOP needs a person of stature and credibility to provide the public with a clear sense of the Republican purpose, no matter the negotiation’s outcome. If people start talking about that person and the presidency, so be it. A cliff is no place to look shy, timid or lost. -
#49 Texpat
Thanks for posting that. I am now too depressed to contemplate getting out of bed tomorrow. -
#42 WB
On my first trip to the UK in 1978, I woke up in the hotel room in Exeter early the first morning and turned on the BBC, the only show in town in those days.
The program, directed at the British people, was about teaching adults how to properly and regularly brush their teeth. The show was written as if they were addressing some ancient tribe in Borneo who had never seen a toothbrush or toothpaste before.
I. will. never. forget. it. -
I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things. — William Faulkner – The Nobel Prize Banquet Speech, December 10, 1950
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#26;
Guy Who Has a Small Dick
Well, the rest of what Ace said was good. But I guess I’ll slow down my growing admiration for him.
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The biggest lie in the world is “man is basically good”.
Squawkbox_Noise- Commenter at Hamous.org 2012
John Connor: We’re not gonna make it, are we? People, I mean.
The Terminator: It’s in your nature to destroy yourselves.
John Connor: Yeah. Major drag, huh?
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein
“I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active – not more happy – nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.”
― Edgar Allan Poe
“As a general rule…people ask for advice only in order not to follow it; or if they do follow it, in order to have someone to blame for giving it.”
― Alexandre Dumas
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jeremiah
I hate poets.
Squawk -
#29;
Plus the young man was also denied being able to purchase a firearm. Yet, as you point out, he was still able to get one. -
Squawk;
I think man’s basically good but when man turns to his nature side of being he becomes very destructive. God sent a flood once and I view that as one time God intervened so that man would not wipe oput his entire existence, taking Noah and the remaining righteous with them. The second time will be when the Son of God begins his millenial reign on earth. That’s what man is to prepare for but his natural desires will always impede that. Man is to reject his natural tendencies and replace it with the image of Christ, man’s Heavenly King. I think in genral man does that lest we’d have died out long ago but throughout history there have been times when has man rejected the path to holiness and divinization and feeds on his natural desires. -
I hate poets.
SquawkIt’s easy to hate poets…they always are the first to bring the bad news.
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#32;
Gun control is all about shooting what you intend to shoot and only what you intend to shoot.
You’re a disciple of Southern Tragedy I see.
(The world needs her type of blogging) -
#57;
they always are the first to bring the bad news.
The best ones suffer from depression.
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#s 41 & 45;
Very nice sounds.
Also on #41 (and 42-43): the Welsh ought to do as Super Dave and thoroughly study the Queen James Version of the Bible so that they too can speak fluent Gaelic. -
Darren
The story of of Noah is the prime example of which I speak. What did God save? 6 people he found righteous out of how many on Earth? The numbers alone prove me right. Not that that means anything.
Without God man is evil period end of story. All men. -
Oh and it is only God’s grace and mercy that has kept man from annihilating itself.
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Squawk;
I pointed out the flood as an example of how it is an exception, not the rule, that man as a whole turn to evil. The flood came at a time where as I understand it, man would have literally killed himself off, even the righteous. God intervened and destroyed man, preserving a few righteous to repopulate the earth. God has promised that He will never again destroy / cleans the earth by water and that tells me that man will not get so evil as to destroy himself intil, of course, when the earth is destroyed / cleansed by fire which is when Christ will return in His full eternal godly glory which will fill the earth. I think that this will happen (and let’s be clear tat I do not know for sure nor does anyone) at a time when, as at the time of Noah, man will become, as a whole, so evil to the point of anihilating himself. Out of the whole of human history, it’s only been twice when man rejects Godliness to the point of destroying his ery existence. That tells me that generally-speaking man is good but that the choice between good and evil is his to make. -
Without God man is evil period end of story. All men.
I absolutely agree but would like to add that the fundementals of God’s morality is written into man’s heart, or “soul”, if you will. This explains to me why all man, even those who never have heard of Jesus Christ, know fundamentally good from evil. And in general, man chooses good or else man would have destroyed himelf a long time ago.
Oh and it is only God’s grace and mercy that has kept man from annihilating itself.
Absolutely. Man does not deserve God’s blessings yet He gives them to man anyway. And does so abundantly.
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I absolutely agree but would like to add that the fundementals of God’s morality is written into man’s heart, or “soul”, if you will.
Uh no it is not. But that is a discussion for another time and place.
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Man does not choose good except that it benefits him. Man is a selfish poltroon from birth and left to his own designs will continue in that direction. I will submit that certain societal influences can temper man’s behavior, but this is the exception rather than the rule .
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In other words Darren, ya cannot have it both ways.
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Toodles I gotta get some sleep before I revert back to my really grumpy self rather than my “normal” grumpy self.
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I guess I’ll await your reply tomorrow. Here’s mine tonight.
Uh no it is not. But that is a discussion for another time and place.
Yes, it is. Man knows it is wrong to murder. Man knows it is wrong to take that which is not his. There may be some dynamics to the latter but fudnamentally this holds true.
Man does not choose good except that it benefits him.
Yes, when he indulges his natural desires. This natural state of existence stands contrary to God’s morality and *must* be rejected and replaced with the image of Christ. I think that generally-speaking, man does precisely that; even the majority of people on earth how know not of Jesus Christ and His eternal truths. That’s because fundamentally this truth is retained in man’s soul. While those who know not of Christ and their Lord and Savior (never having been taught the gospel of Jesus Christ or anything directly from the Bible for that matter) still put off their natural desires and live by a higher morality which they inately know to be correct. While the full blessings of God come only to those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord ans Savior and strive to pattern their lives after Him, on a basic level, anyone choosing what is morally right is doing just that and I think in general this is what people do. The fact that mankind exists today is a testimony of this and a testimony of God’s divine wisdom in His creation of mankind.
For the sake of discusssion, here’s where I’m coming from:For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
Mosiah 3:19 . Compare with 1 Corinthians 2:14.
The “natural man” must be rejected in order for man to be good and people in general do reject the natural man. For one to receive *all* the Father’s blessings, one *must* a) follow the Holy Spirit and b) submit themselves to the will of Christ and allow his blood to cleans them. I believe God has provided a way by which all will come to an opportunity to choose this path for him or herself.
As for knowing good and evil;And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:
Genesis 3:14
There’s no qualifier on the Lord God declaring that man knows good and evil. Of course at the time of this revelation, Adam and Eve were the only humans inhabiting the earth thus the no qualifier I pointed out. I think the Lord God teaches man in this scripture that man (“mankind”) knows “good and evil”.
In think in gereral man chooses good. There are exceptions and I think we’re seeing man right now delve more and more into his natural desires which will bring about his destruction on both individual and collective scales. I think the results of our nation’s national elections is a result of this collective shift but even still I think man is generally good. -
Who is Mosiah?
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Who is Mosiah?
Here’s the full link: http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/3?lang=eng
“bofm” means “Book of Mormon”. The Book of Mosiah is the eighth book of the Book of Mormon as recorded by Mosiah. Mosiah himself was chosen king over his people when his father, King Benjamin, was at an old age. The part I cited was part of what is known in LDS doctrinal teachings as King Benjamin’s discourse. The reason I cited it was to Squawkbox explain my theological position on the nature of man which I think he and I are arguing over symantics than anything else.
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah?lang=eng
The latter link has good chapter summaries of Mosiah. -
Clayton Cramer, historian and early Second Amendment blogger, was given credit and frequently cited in briefs filed during the famous and recent landmark Heller vs DC and MacDonald vs Chicago gun rights cases before the Supreme Court. Cramer’s widely read blog was among the more prominent casualties of the notorious Righthaven infringement lawsuits.
It is not well known, however, that Cramer’s brother has a life long history of severe mental illness inspiring him to research and write about the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and the correlation with increased mass murders in America and Europe over the last 50 years.
Via Ann Althouse.
Madness, Deinstitutionalization & Murder
by Clayton CramerIn the 1960s, the United States embarked on an innovative approach to caring for its mentally ill: deinstitutionalization. The intentions were quite humane: move patients from long-term commitment in state mental hospitals into community-based mental health treatment. Contrary to popular perception, California Governor Ronald Reagan’s signing of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act of 196712 was only one small part of a broad-based movement, starting in the late 1950s.13 The Kennedy Administration optimistically described how the days of long-term treatment were now past; newly-developed drugs such as chlorpromazine meant that two-thirds of the mentally ill “could be treated and released within 6 months.”14
At about the same time, two different ideas came to the forefront of American progressive thinking: that there was a right to mental health treatment, and a right to a more substantive form of due process for those who were to be committed to a mental hospital. If there was a right to mental health treatment, then judges could use the threat of releasing patients as a way to force reluctant legislatures to increase funding for treatment.15
The notion of due process for the mentally ill was not radical. American courts have been wrestling with this question from the 1840s onward.16 While perhaps not up to the exacting standards of the American Civil Liberties Union, by the end of the nineteenth century, there was something recognizably like due process before the mentally ill were committed.17 What changed in the 1960s was the result of ACLU attorneys such as Bruce J. Ennis, who claimed that less than 5 percent of mental hospital patients “are dangerous to themselves or to others” and that the rest were improperly locked up “because they are useless, unproductive, ‘odd,’ or ‘different.’”18 -
G’Sunday Morning All
This RINO has got to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Boehner Offers Tax Hike to Obama on Fiscal Cliff
by Breitbart News 15 Dec 2012
Late Saturday evening, a source from the White House said the Speaker of the House John Boehner had put tax rate hikes on the table in fiscal cliff negotiations. The White House promptly rejected the offer, since Boehner also wanted entitlement reform as a compromise. But the announcement is likely to exacerbate the war within the Republican Party with regard to tax policy in the run-up to the fiscal cliff.
According to a Reuters source, Boehner agreed to a tax rate hike of an unspecified size on high earners – a term the source left undefined. The source said that Obama thought that the offer represented “progress.”
Politico reports that Boehner wants to raise taxes for those earning upward of $1 million beginning January 1. Obama and Boehner also talked on Friday, but sources told Politico (the White House’s favorite outlet) that the deal isn’t close yet. Boehner refused to extend federal unemployment benefits again in his offer. He also reportedly refused to raise the debt ceiling; Obama continues to maintain that he be given unilateral authority to raise the debt ceiling.
Multiple House Republicans have already stated that should Boehner cave on tax increases, his job as speaker would be put in jeopardy.http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/12/15/Boehner-caves-tax-hike
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You ain’t gonna believe this deer fight.
http://huntervids.com/?videos=up-close-personal-a-crazy-colarado-buck-attacks -
#45 Texpat
Outstanding.
The comments contain several great links.
Such as this one. -
#76 Shannon
Yes, R.R. Reno’s piece is must reading at your link. Jacques Barzun is only lately getting the attention he deserves as an observer of our civilization. He was warning the canary was dead in the cave before the 1960s.
I also liked this quote from another commenter. Stoppard and Mamet are two of the greatest living playwrights and neither one is a lefty. Edward Albee would be my third nominee.Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.
-Tom Stoppard -
We had our company Christmas party last night at our new shop, great fun by all. About 8:30 Mrs. Clause showed up to occupy the kids with goodies as Santa came in bearing gifts on a trailer towed by a decked out scissor lift.
Two years ago our company Christmas party amounted to my wife and I going out to dinner with my boss and his wife. Now with nine employees, we had 32 people attending last night. We just kept looking it all over, shaking our heads in amazement. What an incredible run, and it’s just begun. -
Darren and Squawk seem to be veering towards a discussion about natural law. I have been studying about natural law for a number of years now, yet completely inadequate to carry on a conversation about it.
My favorite scholarly tome on the subject is Rediscovering The Natural Law In Reformed Theogical Ethics, Stephen J. Grabill.
Highly recommended. But extremely challenging. -
J. . Budziszewski, who holds a Ph.D. from Yale University, is a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He has written a number of books on natural law.
When asked to provide “a pithy, less-than-three-sentences definition of natural law”, he responded:The expression “natural law” refers to the basic principles of right and wrong that are true for everyone because they are rooted in the very nature of the created human person, and knowable to everyone because we are endowed with conscience and the power to deliberate.
In principle, the natural law provides a point of contact, a common ground, among people of every culture — although, as I’ve written, it is a slippery one. -
Tom’s having a real bad weekend next door
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Things are looking up now for Tom. He went to the party.
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As I haven’t seen an answer yet, if memory serves me correctly, Bethoven’s 9th was a favorite bit of music of Sony’s president. The original disk was not long enough to record it so he had them change the size.
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Darren
I never said man does not know the differences from right and wrong, to murder or not to murder. I said it is in mans nature to do evil. There is nothing good in the unregenerate man’s heart. NOTHING.
In the Garden, man became spiritually dead separated from God. Thus the fallen nature. Thus man’s heart is black, no goodness within man. Time and again the Bible states that there is nothing good in the heart of man and that it takes the work of God to change a man’s heart. Now we are entering the realm of theology and I have no desire to discuss that here.
History has proved that man is in no way basically good. If it were so we would have no need for a relationship with God. We would not see the evil in the world we see today. For at least 6000 years man has continually rehearsed man’s inhumanity to man. There are macrocosms around the world that bare witness, cough cough N Korea. Even the best “religious” person(s) in the world can become deceived and guess what they revert back to default settings cough cough “The Inquisitions” and “The Crusades”.
Bottom line if God almighty is not in the equation man is a heathen. -
Y’all have a nice day, week and rest of the month. I am gonna be pretty busy for some time to come. So I would like to take a moment and pray God’s blessing for all of you this Christmas season.
I also want to thank all of you for your prayers and thoughts this past year during my times of loss. You may have forgotten, but I have not and I am grateful to you all. So with that if I do not see ya before hand MERRY CHRISTMAS from the family of Squawk -
#83 texanukian
Close.
There was plenty of room on the CD. The issue was error correction. They put as much error correction into the format as they could while being able to put Beethoven’s Ninth on one disc.
It was the first media that could play back Beethoven’s Ninth without having to change tapes or LP’s or flip them over. -
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she will introduce a bill on the first day Congress returns in January to ban the sale of so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity ammunition clips.
You mean like the so-called “assault weapons” ban in place in Connecticut?
Maybe you should also introduce legislation prohibiting guns on school grounds. -
I clocked 1.8″ of rain today, which was much needed. Some came as a downpour, but most was slow rain that really soaks in. The benefit is evident already in our cranky laundry room door, which is in the corner of the house least amenable to hand watering. Surrounded by driveway & patio; no place for a soaker hose near the foundation.
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Here’s some discussion on mental illness and mass murder.
http://gawker.com/5968818/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother -
Mhrarper, you forgot the kleenex alert. TW had a somewhat similar daughter who fortunately came around. She was also told, get her charged, then we can do something.
Sad, sad. -
I don’t think I realized the extent to which autistic children might grow up to be dangerous young adults who can’t be forced to take medications.
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89 Mharper
The comments are so disgusting.
What a bunch of ignorant morons. -
Shannon,
My daughter and my grand daughter both suffer from ASD. My daughter is still in the throes of ASD, which she self medicates with “legally” obtained pain killers. I no longer allow her to stay at our house for fear that she would kill her mother and I in our sleep.
We tried everything that was allowed under my company’s private health care plan with Aetna.
Our little grand daughter is in our custody because Mom was found to be dangerous to her. Ironically, Angel is showing many of the same symptoms as her mother, but she is on Medicaid and the coverage is about 200% better than what I had with Aetna. This fact alone keeps me from legally adopting her. The cost of the therapy and prescription drugs would stagger the average household budget.
We know more about the problem today and I have hope for a better outcome the second time around. ASD is now thought to be genetically transmitted from the father. ASD tends to run in families, although in varying degrees.
Looking back…I can see my own father with most of the symptoms as I see in myself. I have three other male grand children and all three have been diagnosed with ASD. One is a five year old boy who is freaky smart, but if excited can lash out violently. He has been kicked out of more day care centers than I would like to admit. Still, I have hope.
One thing I would advise everyone. Folks “In the Spectrum” tend to be very very intelligent and observant of others. Banning firearms would be a minor obstacle to someone who has slipped. We need to fix the problem and not the symptoms.
Simple -
Wow Simple. What a story.
My prayers go out for you and your family.
The commenters on mharper’s earlier link obviously have never walked in your shoes or lived with anyone with mental illness. -
Tried to avoid TBO’s “memorial speech,” but Hubby was watching it. He’s now saying that “we’re not doing all we can to protect our children”. “We can’t tolerate this anymore.” “If there’s even one step that we can take to protect another child…we have an obligation to try.”
Gun control…..wait for it…..wait for it……
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttttttttttttttt…………..
Well, although I almost spewed my tea when he started quoting Scripture, the exact words “gun control” didn’t cross his lips.
But he hinted. -
94
My daughter is now mentally ill and likely beyond the point of no return. My grandchildren are not mentally ill…they just have a learning – perception disorder which makes it difficult for them to deal with people.
Difficult is not impossible. As I said…My father and I exhibit most of the symptoms and we both learned to cope. Most with ASD do adapt and “grow out of the problem” although I find that phrase does not truly explain what happens.
If we want to minimize these tragedies, then we need to support the parents of children with ASD and especially those few who have gone to the schizophrenic side of the problem. They may be “wacko” but they are highly intelligent wack jobs.
Simple -
#96 Simple
Many of the comments on the column written by the woman whose 13 year old child is both highly intelligent and ASD are crude, appalling, ignorant and deserving of adjectives I can’t repeat here. (mharper42 comment #89)
She was criticized endlessly for admitting her son’s IQ is very high. Very few readers seemed to understand this is not a boast, but an integral component of her stark fear.
My son is that smart – he could devise all manner of ways to kill me and his siblings.
There are no options for her. Social workers tell her the only way to get her son into the system is to charge him with something. But what if he hasn’t done anything worthy of a criminal sanction ? Does she wait until he kills somebody, kills a brother or sister or, perhaps, kills her ?
Meanwhile, America awaits the next horrifying episode.
If you have time, read Clayton Cramer’s research paper published by the Federalist Society linked in my comment # 73.
And prayers for you and your family. I can’t imagine what you must endure. -
Tex,
I had read the posting. We really should be discussing the institution option instead of banning firearms, but I do have a concern or two.
I had an Aunt who was institutionalized in the state facility in Austin in the early sixties when I was in my teens. My mother and I visited her there and I gotta tell you the conditons were horrific. It was sufficently shocking that the family got together and shared the expense of putting her into a more humane setting. It is something that they should have done in the first place. It is an event that has stuck with me for all of my life.
This is a public burden that should be undertaken.‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink’…Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?…’Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:35, 37, 40
Simple
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Just as an FYI
Wrong Planet.Com -
Woo hoo! 100!
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#98 Simple
My mother and I visited her there and I gotta tell you the conditons were horrific. It was sufficently shocking that the family got together and shared the expense of putting her into a more humane setting.
I would like to think we’ve learned a lot since then. It doesn’t have to be that way. We have to create a new humane way to handle these people and the problems they have that doesn’t endanger the rest of us.
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Simple;
Thoughts and prayers to you and yours. I’ve always highly admired ythe care you’ve extended to your grandaughter. -
Simple, I don’t recall ever hearing that you had some of the same problems when you were younger, but somehow grew out of it. Do you think that was because you had a mild case, or some other reason? It is encouraging to think that some are able to overcome ASD and go on to lead good lives.
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mHarper,
I did not grow out of it as much as learn to adapt to the NT (Neurotypical) world. I still have some of the same perception problems as I had in my youth.
As an example.. I have great difficulty taking directions verbally. Usually, I will patiently listen to the person giving the directions, thank them, and then run to my collections of maps and trusty GPS. I will usually write down in detail the turns and exits that I must make for a trip. Reading the Google.Maps written directives are only slightly better than the the verbal instructions. I am only ready when I have personally transcribed the instructions.
I navigate mostly by landmarks and once I have made a “trip” then I can do it years later without effort even if I had only made the “trip” once. Just please don’t remove that old stump on the corner as it really throws a wrench into my plans.
Simple -
The article around this video clip calls it “ridiculous,” but I’m afraid that there are portions of what this Muslim says that are true.
We have too many looking after selfishness than values.
We are in a huge debt crisis.
I disagree, however, at blaming the Jews. I think we’re smart enough to get ourselves into our own messes.
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