I have a book review up on Blogcritics today.

Self-proclaimed Muslim Refusenik Irshad Manji -- an admirable woman -- has an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal you should read, and give to any of your Muslim friends: Blind Faith: Muslims, Like Jews and Christians, Must Own Up To Problems In Their Holy Book.

Quite worth reading. Quite a remarkable woman, too. We've mentioned her here before, but here again is Irshad Manji's home page.

Have you checked out Chicago Report? Fine weblog, that.

British soldiers kick ass.

(Referral by Weekend Pundit.)

Yet another study (we're past a dozen at this point I think) has confirmed the validity of the Atkins diet. This study was a year long, and patients on the Atkins approach did as well (marginally better, actually) than people on a more traditional approach when it came to weight loss diets. Furthermore, affects on serum glucose and lipids were more favorable for Atkins dieters, especially in the areas of triglycerides and high-density lipoproteins (HDL).

In other words, the diet works.

What the study failed to show, however, was that the diet was substantially better than more standard approaches. Yes, it was marginally better, but not dramatically so. Which will be a disappointment to some True Believers. However, I think it's exciting, for what it finally proves is that people who are miserable on standard weight-loss diets can now know with confidence that the Atkins approach is valid and may be worth a try.

When I ran a mailing list for low-carb diets some years ago, we always noticed the same thing: some people responded extraordinarily well to the Atkins approach, some moderately well, and some poorly. But the bottom line was, for some people it worked, and it was tiresome to see them harassed by people (and doctors, unfortunately) who didn't want to believe them.

Well now anyone using these diets can say with confidence that we know the diet works well for some people, and in any case is not the monstrous bugaboo so many have made it out to be. So, people fighting overweight (or diabetes, or hypercholesterolemia) have another potential tool in their arsenal, especially if they experience failure (or misery) on more traditional dietary approaches.

The miracle diet that fixes everybody continues not to exist, unfortunately, but in years of studying human diet I've become instantly suspicious of anyone who claims they know of any miracle diet.

(Thanks for the link, Jerry.)

The latest Carnival of the Vanities is open for business.

The Government’s Pipe Dream
by Paul Fallon

The federal government is cracking down on the sale of drug paraphernalia it refers to as “User-specific products”. In recent months Attorney General Ashcroft has launched two series of raids dubbed “Operation Pipe Dreams” and “Operation Headhunter”. This program has lead to selective prosecutions, contributed to intimidation of vulnerable elements of the population and generally missed the mark with considerable cost to the American people in both dollars and civil liberties. Furthermore it adds nothing toward solving one of the nation’s most pressing social issues.

In February the Justice Department obtained court orders seizing 11 web sites selling paraphernalia and arrested 55 individuals for operating these sites. Ashcroft claims that the sale of paraphernalia had "exploded" on the Internet. “Quite simply,” says Ashcroft, “the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has invaded the homes of families across the country without their knowledge.”

Not even old school heads have been spared. Comedian Tommy Chong is currently serving a federal prison sentence for selling autographed, hand-blown glass bongs over the Internet. To add insult to injury, Asst. U.S. District Attorney Mary Houghton wrote, “Feature films that he made ... trivialize law enforcement efforts to combat drug trafficking and use.” In response, Chong’s former partner Cheech Marin was quoted in the L.A. Times: “These are the same kinds of simpletons we were fighting when we made [Up In Smoke], in terms of a repressive administration.”

It is important to note that the government has not charged the web site operators or Tommy Chong with the sale of drugs, merely the sale of equipment which could be used in their transport or consumption.

A clearer example of the arbitrariness of this policy is seen in a recent Detroit Free Press article. Readers unfamiliar with Metro Detroit may not be aware of its subtler implications. Take the following statement:

“Federal and local law enforcement authorities … announce they are sending gentle reminders to more than 350 Detroit businesses that the sale of such items is a felony under federal law.”

The article goes on to point out the business in question are:

“[P]arty stores, gas stations, delis, smoke shops, record stores and any other outlet.”

(Note: “party store” is a regionalism for convenience store.)

Most of theses businesses are minority owned, mom and pop operations serving a market largely abandoned by major retailers. Their clientele are generally lower income minorities and the working poor.

An over-statement? Let’s examine the demographics. According to the 2000 census, Detroit is a city of less than one million people with a black population hovering in the mid-80 percentile. Average household income is $29,526. Some 26.1% of residents live below the poverty line. Compare this to neighboring communities like Bloomfield Hills: $170,079, Grosse Pointe Township: $114,486 or Southfield, refuge of the black middle class who fled the city in droves during the ‘80’s and ‘90’s: $97,719.

According to one article, 90% of Detroit’s party stores are owned by Chaldeans—Christian Arabs from Iraq—a group largely made up of immigrants and first and second generation Americans often forced to bear the familiar stigma of incomplete assimilation and “otherness”. This is a group for whom “gentle reminders” from local and federal authorities might seem less gentle than one may at first perceive. Sadly for retailers, a convenient synergy exists between Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick’s current campaign against liquor stores and the fed’s anti-paraphernalia campaign.

Lest we forget, from a market point-of-view storeowners would not be stocking these items were they not saleable to their patrons. The government’s argument throughout this controversy implies supply by itself creates demand.

The Free Press article also mentions selective enforcement pointing out that the letter sent to merchants targets those in the city rather than the surrounding suburbs. Subjective research reveals no shortage of suburban retail outlets openly selling an even wider variety of paraphernalia than listed in the article.

Within minutes of Dean’s World H.Q. sits The Station. You would probably have to drive to Ann Arbor to find a specialty retailer with a better selection of material dedicated to the serious stoner. On the eastside there’s B.D.T. Pipe & Tobacco Shops frequently rated as the area’s best head shop by the The Metro Times. In this author’s bucolic hometown of Livonia there are two stores specifically dedicated to sale of hydroponic gardening equipment. While I find the technology fascinating I doubt all of the stores’ customers are using it to produce prize-winning tomatoes in their basements. And it was to my wife’s considerable consternation that I recently adopted an air of mock incredulity while visiting a local garden center at the availability of materials which could be used for marijuana cultivation.

My ironic attitude belies true dismay at the absurdity of the government’s policy. According to a Salon.com article (cited at length here) ordinary household items like Vicks Vaporub, pacifiers, dust masks and glow sticks are now considered drug paraphernalia under certain conditions because of their associations with raves.

The government’s argument can be summed up as: “context is key”. After all, legally obtained items like guns, knives or cars routinely become deadly in the wrong hands. True, but all of the above mentioned items are still legally available. In the case of glow sticks there is no argument that they play any part in drug consumption. Merely that since some drug users find them entertaining when stoned, the government has used their possession by patrons as a means to harass club owners and promoters.

God knows drug users are very enterprising, even wily. A friend recently confided the best homemade bong she’d ever created came from the cardboard tube inside a roll of wrapping paper. Is Christmas paper the next item on the government’s hit list?

The bottom line is: users want drugs. They employ any means necessary to obtain and consume them regardless of the danger to themselves and others. Denying access to a safe mode of consumption does nothing to alleviate this. On the contrary, as we have seen with the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users who share needles, a solution to one crisis can often lead to another.

The government also attempts to make the case that the sale, display and styling of these items encourage their sale to children. A South Florida newspaper describes items seized in a recent raid:

“Several were decorated with cartoon characters such as The Cat in the Hat. And one kind, disguised as a thermos, was placed inside a Simpsons lunchbox.”

“They’re clearly targeting kids,” [Customs Enforcement Agent Anthony] Mangione said. “I don't know too many adults sitting down with a Cat in the Hat bong.”

Besides demonstrating law enforcement’s woeful ignorance of the intersection of popular culture and the drug world, the government must think our kids are so dumb they’ll become junkies if exposed to shiny things. On top of which—Is it really the government’s job to be so worried about our kids?

This country expends great effort shielding children from negative social influences and yet we’ve failed to eradicated pornography, alcohol and tobacco use or violence. Short of locking kids up until their eighteenth birthday or farming them out to the Amish it seems unlikely that we ever will. As a parent I take the role I play in educating my child about the use of alcohol and tobacco and respect for oneself and others very seriously. When my son turns eighteen his attitudes will have been shaped by the work his mother and I are engaged in now. While it is the height of naiveté to imagine the world we bequeath to him will be shaped by people who share our values, the job of deciding the influences to which he is exposed is ours to make. One of the flaws of the “it takes a village” philosophy is the implication that “the village” is a walled citadel constantly under siege and therefore must be ruled by marshal law. Ultimately all any parent can do is lead by example and trust that their kids aren’t stupid. That is a job the government is ill equipped to perform.

Exact numbers for the cost of “Operation Pipe Dreams” and “Operation Headhunter” are not available. However one estimate puts the cost of the War on Drugs at $14 billion plus this year alone. Operations against “user-specific products” likely represent a mere drop in the bucket. There is no evidence citing their effectiveness.

Even though the government has failed to make its case as to why targeting paraphernalia is necessary or how exactly it stems the flow of drugs into the community, one thing seems clear: harassment of small business people is not an answer. Campaigns like “Operation Pipe Dreams” and “Operation Headhunter” exist to give the illusion of a solution. They rack up convictions and fill the jails so it looks as if the government is doing something.

Most of the casualties in this drug war remain the users, many of whom are caught in a fatal web from which they cannot extract themselves. They are not criminals for what they foolishly do to themselves. They need help. Unfortunately, the current system is not set up to provide that help.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe there are some truly evil people involved in the drug trade. People who are willing to use any means at their disposal—including but not limited to murder—to conduct their sordid business. The government has my permission to go after them with all the legal means at its disposal.

In 1990 a friend of mine died of a heroin overdose. After a long search for answers I am forced to admit that neither zero tolerance nor legalization could have quelled her demons or brought light to the dark corners of her soul which led her down the path she chose.

Ultimately, a rational debate needs to be carried out free from rhetoric, ideology and empty gestures. We have seen what doesn’t work. The time has come to find out what will. I am among those who think this issue might be better handled from a public health perspective rather than a law enforcement one. For example consider the government’s efforts to eradicate polio versus that “great experiment” Prohibition. One freed us from a crippling disease that cost millions in lives and resources, the other left us with a legacy of organized crime and a bitter object lesson in failed social engineering. But that is a topic for another time.

Principal References:
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/drug6_20040506.htm

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami/sfl-dbong04may04,0,6046743.story?coll=sfla-news-miami

http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/summaries/reader/0,1854,562130,00.html

http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/276/paraphernaliacrackdown.shtml

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001045/news

http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/276/paraphernaliacrackdown.shtml

http://data.detnews.com/census/2002sort.hbs?sort=hhincome00

http://www.detnews.com/2002/census/downloads/1602622000.pdf

http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0402/24/d01-72659.htm

http://www.freep.com/news/locway/party11_20031211.htm

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/paraphernaliafact.html

http://www.poppies.org/news/99319779810192.shtml

http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/04/16/rave/index_np.html

http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm

http://www.detnews.com/2003/business/0306/25/b01-202163.htm

http://www.metrotimes.com/BestOfDetroit2/2001/Blowingawad.asp

If you could do me a favor and take five minutes to fill out this weblog reader survey, I'd sure appreciate it.

Thanks.

I really quite liked SondraK's culture wars juxtapositioning.

I rather suspect that these little hypocricies will be the kind of thing the Nineties and the Naughties* will be remembered for.

...there's more! »

Bill from INDC Journal has a moving and interesting photo essay on National Police Week celebrations in Washington D.C. Be sure to check it out.

About this time last year, Michael Lackner and Michael Medved had an interesting white paper on anti-American and anti-Israel attacks in modern comic books. I took some issue with Lackner and Medved's recommendations (and still do), but it was interesting reading and an interesting discussion.

I recently got a note from Lackner telling me that he had published a new piece on Anti-American hate-rhetoric in The Punisher, and suggesting that Dean's World readers might want to comment on it.

I must admit that in reading it I cringed twice. Lackner is so obviously upset at the use of the word "fuck" in a comic book marked for adults he feels the need to point it out a few times; you have to wonder if he's still stuck thinking of comics as kiddie stuff. He's also publishing his piece in Front Page Magazine, which is published by David Horowitz and is sort of like a right-wing version of The Nation.

For the record, I am rarely willing to link articles from such sources as The Nation, Common Dreams, Move On, Front Page Magazine, Drudge Report, Worldnet Daily, Lucianne.com, Free Republic, Democratic Underground, Indymedia, and so on, because I find all of these sources far too extreme, their rhetoric far too bilous. They tend to make my stomach churn.

On the other hand, I think David Horowitz' books Radical Son and Destructive Generation are two of the most important historical works of the last quarter-century. They will undoubtedly be read and argued about by people 100 years hence, and used as primary source material for many historians.

That said, Horowitz and his crew are firebrands who offend a lot of people, and the message too often gets lost in that.

I suppose that's a long-winded way of saying "hmmm." But still, all that aside, Lackner's article is worth a read, as it points out that a strong hate-America streak is still being published by some mainstream publishers i the comics genre.

I would of course not outlaw this, nor forbid my son from reading it. But I would protest it, and talk to my son about it if he were reading. Nor would I buy or read it myself. So from that perspective I'm glad Lackner's out there letting parents know they should be watching what their kids read.

Comic books contain more than sex and violence. They often carry hidden (or not-so-hidden) political agendas.

Someone was wondering recently about this anti-Daschle ad running here on Dean's World. Would I accept anti-Republican ads?

For the public record, yes. This is a Blog for Bush, but I'm not a Republican and there are many Democrats I support. Political parties are there to serve voters, not the other way around, and it's ideas that matter to me anyway.

I probably would not accept pro-Kerry ads, or ads from lunatic fringe groups like the LaRouchies. Other than that, I'm open to mainstream political advertising.

Just in case anyone was wondering. ;-)

* Update * Mark Noonan points out that a LaRouche ad might be entertaining. Good point. I hereby withdraw the remark, but warn that moonbat and wingnut ads, while accepted, will be mercilessly mocked by the proprietor. Caveat emptor.

Calling all geeks. Calling all geeks. Check out the Heinlein blog!

This is rather embarassing but I've received a spate of emails so I'm going to have to mention it.

There is apparently a person writing to people whose weblogs I link to, and to some who've left comments here, claiming to be a relative of mine, and saying some fairly strange things.

This appears to have been going on for quite some time. I've made a few quiet inquiries about it over the last few months but some recent emails I received made me realize I should probably mention it in public.

This is not a panic situation, but, if you have received emails from a person claiming to be related to me, I would very much appreciate it if you would drop me a personal note, as I have some concerns about it.

Some serious concerns.

Please drop me a note if this has happened to you. If it hasn't, don't worry about it.

Thanks. (Yes I'm being cryptic. On purpose. Thanks.)

Ever since a recent spate of discussions in the blogosphere about domestic violence, I have been planning an article on women and violence. It's one of those things that's difficult at times to write about, as it's a subject I've seen way up close and personal in many ways, some of which I'm not at liberty to discuss publicly. (You may think I'm pretty revealing of my life here, and as a rule I am. But you really have no idea how much I don't share, mostly either because I can't or because I don't want to be seen as a whiner.)

I'll probably still write the article, but in the meantime, I think you should read these articles written by a friend of mine about her own experiences in this area. It is truly amazing what people are willing to reveal about themselves on the internet--and it's amazing how often you find folks who don't match up to the stereotypes we all swallow.

I very much hope you will find the time today to read about one woman's very l journey.

The Bogey Man: Preface
The Bogey Man II: The In Crowd
The Bogey Man III: Two down

I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

It's hard for me to say how moved I was by reading the series--and also by being called her dear friend. (Yes, that was me she was referring to. We sometimes disagree, but I gotta tell ya: that chick's got balls.)

* Update * The Bogey Man IV: A Rose By Any Other, the final part of the series, is done.

That's someone I'm proud to call a friend.

Another private group is helping mankind make more steps toward the cosmos--they've launched the first 100% privately funded rocket into space.

Not a dime of government investment anywhere in it.

Although the vehicle is not reusable, the fact that we're getting sophisticated enough that private enterprise can do this, and do it affordably, tells me that my dreams as a young man were not entirely pointless. Ever since I was in my late teens I've always felt a vague sense of betrayal: I figured by the time I was in my 30s we'd have permanent orbiting space stations that you could buy tickets to visit, that there'd be a permanent moon colony by now, that we'd have been on our way to Mars if not there already, and so on.

Well, it's foolish to expect government to do that, and I'm excited to see that we no longer have to expect that. So-called "amateurs" have just launched a rocket into space for real (they exceeded 100 kilometers elevation), and someone is expected to claim the X-Prize some time this year. My bet's on Burt Rutan but he's not the only one in the running.

Man it's nice to see progress in space again.

Reading this post over at Serenity's Journal reminded me of how much I love storms.

I love rainy weather. I like walking in it without an umbrella and getting drenched. Not, unfortunately, if I have to get in or out of a car, but if I'm at home and it starts raining I'm always tempted to strip down to my shorts and go for a walk.

Splashing in puddles is a nice bonus in such circumstances.

Then there are storms. Oooh, man I love storms. Other people get afraid, but hearing that low ominous rumble, feeling the ground shake, watching lightning lance across the sky and splitting it in half, the clean, ozone smell.... man I get excited just thinking about it.

I've been told that I should move to Seattle because it rains almost every day there. I must confess that sounds like heaven to me.

You know, I also love the fog.

I will never understand you people who like bright sunshiny days. Never. How weird you all are.

Marko M. suggests that this would be a good topic for discussion and I must confess that it probably is:

The International Olympic Committee will allow transexuals to compete as members of their new gender.

I'll be blunt: I think it's probably wrong. Yes, yes, some people find the whole transgendered thing icky and whatnot, but that's beside the point. In some sports it doesn't matter but it seems to me that the greater heart and lung capacity, and stronger overall frame type, would be as unfair or even more fair an advantage in some sports as using steroids and other drugs.

Maybe I'm missing something but I don't think so.

This, my friend, is what they call link-whoring. In its purest form.

If you ever wondered what that was, now you know.

But it's good to have goals in life, so I wish Robert luck. :-)

The TV equipment you helped purchase has begun to arrive. You can read all about it and see more photos right here.

Is that cool or what?

Gulf War II vet Scott Koenig has a chemical shell roundup you might well want to see.

There's no finer citizen journalist in the blogosphere than Scott, by the way. (Although he's also a big stinky cheater!)

As part of the Spirit of America fundraiser, our friend Patterico commissioned me to write an essay recommending good jazz recordings for classical music fans. He mostly likes classical and romance period music, but also likes some modern rock groups, especially stuff like Pink Floyd. That being the case, coming up with a few recommendations for him should be fairly easy. Believe it or not, though, it'd be easier for me the other way around, since I know more about classical than jazz. However, let's see what we can do, eh?

First off, the most important thing to understand about jazz, real jazz music the way it originally started, is that it is improvisational music. Classical music fans will be familiar with the concept of "variations on a theme," especially since Bach and many other composers frequently wrote them. Jazz works along similar principles, except that the musician is generally expected to make up improvizations spontaneously, as he plays. (Believe it or not this used to be quite common among classical musicians as well, but that's another subject.) Some jazz performances will feature a little improvization, some will be almost entirely improvizational.

A big part of the "hook" for the serious jazz fan is in understanding that every time you hear a piece played, it's going to be different. Maybe a little different, or maybe a lot. And any particular recording you hear will be unique, recorded a certain way only once. Once you listen to enough jazz, you start to really appreciate this, because every performance becomes an adventure. You're not just listening to the notes, but you're also appreciating how the musician's mind works, how his creativity works, because if he's any good he's going to surprise you. That's part of the thrill.

Even the vocal performances are improvizational. Again, some more than others, but they're all improvization-based.

The pitfall to all this is that some of the most ingenious improvisers often wind up producing work that's not very accessible to those who aren't deeply immersed in jazz music. I have some jazz recordings in my library that are practically unlistenable to anyone who isn't a jazz musician or a very serious affcianado.

Another frequent complaint about jazz is that it sounds sterile. Many jazz musicians, particularly starting in the 1970s, seem to embrace an austerity and an almost strictly mathematical approach to their music. Often the music is very cerebral and what many people would consider sterile: passion and blue notes and, for want of a better word, "soul," tends to take a back seat to the excitement of the hunt for beauty and complexity of construction.

These things are, of course, subjective. But I suspect most jazz fans know what I'm talking about, even if they wouldn't always agree with my particular picks.

Thus classical fans might actually be surprised to hear it, but they actually probably need to start with jazz that can be classified by that dread word: "accessible." That doesn't mean "for dummies." It means steeped enough of standard chord and melodic structures, and with enough simple hooks, to let the uninitiated get a grasp on what's going on. After you start your adventure in (relatively) safe territory, you can begin exploring and branching out from there, and either keep playing fairly close to home where there's lots of wonderful music, or range as deep into uncharted waters as you want.

With that in mind, here are a half-dozen personal recommendations of jazz music that I think the average classical music fan would appreciate that will also give you an insight into what makes jazz a unique, interesting, and very enjoyable art form:

---

Billie Holliday: Lady In Satin

Serious jazz fans are of two minds about this immortal recording, because strictly speaking the only "jazz" going on here is Billie Holiday's singing. The musical arrangements are very traditional, old-school, Hollywoodish scoring, very lush and simple and lacking any improvization. Offhand this would sound like it would not be much of a jazz recording, then.

However, Holiday herself sings pure jazz throughout, weaving and improvizing around the very simple, straightforward arrangements. You thus get a deep appreciation for her performance, for everything interesting or profound in this recording comes from Holiday's voice. Everything else is just a simple backdrop for that.

And what a voice it is. This recording needs to be listened to in a quiet room. Yes, you can put it on as background music and probably not offend anyone, but to truly appreciate it you must listen to it like you listen to great classical music, with earphones or in a quiet room, with a glass of wine perhaps, while you relax.

Holliday was very near the end of her life when she made this recording, and frankly her voice was nearly gone. She'd had a hard, difficult life, and at first you think she's not even singing very well. She's hoarse, her voice cracks now and then, and rasps throughout. But by the time you're halfway through it, if you're really listening, likely your heart will be breaking---because hers so obviously was.

It's simply an amazing recording.

Artie Shaw: Begin the Beguine

A contemporary to such big band swing greats as Bennie Goodman, Glenn Miller, and Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw managed to do something unique. While the other big band musicians mostly wrote pop music with strong jazz influence, Shaw's music tended to be jazz music with a pop accessibility. It was improvizational, original, cutting edge, and yet still kids in their 20s could listen to it and jump, jive and swing to it.

While he wasn't the most popular of the big band leaders, he was peerless in terms of musical ability.

Unfortunately, the best Shaw recordings are all from the 1930s and 1940s, which means they're monaural and limited in fidelity. Nevertheless Shaw's music is so powerful, interesting, and dynamic, it shines right through even the quality limitations of the era.

Buena Vista Social Club

Afro-Cuban Jazz played by masters of an almost forgotten subset of popular jazz. Accessible, dancable, rich, and subtly complex. It sounds laid back when you first listen to it, but the more you listen to it, the more intensity and richness you find. I can think of nothing bad to say about this recording.

Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, & Paco DeLucia: Friday Night in San Francisco

Three simply phenomenal guitarists explore and virtually make love to the amplified acoustic guitar. While the musical forms are basically jazz with a strong flamenco influence, the music otherwise defies categorization. But I don't see how any fan of any form of guitar music can fail to be both impressed and awed by this amazing live recording.

I think even Andres Segovia would have respected what these musicians could do together.

Mahavishnu Orchestra: Between Nothingness and Eternity.

Having not mentioned any real electric jazz yet, I picked my personal favorite. This 1973 live recording in Central Park could have better recording quality, but the sound is quite acceptable and the music exceptional. Spacey, cerebral, intense, at times mind-blowing. This is probably the quintessential electric Jazz/Fusion recording from the 1970s. It's right on the edge of what I'd call "accessible," since it's not something you'll exactly tap your toes or swing dance to. But if you like electric guitars and synthesizers, and also like complex and interesting music, this is an exceptional and surprising recording.

Duke Ellington and John Coltrane

Ellington and Coltrane represent two different generations and two different mindsets on jazz, and in this recording is in some ways like a baton-passing by Ellington and a tribute to the older generation by Coltrane. It's mostly Ellington's music, but Ellington lays back and lets Coltrane do his thing.

Reportedly, there were no charts or formal arrangements used at any time during the making of this recording. Ellington and Coltrane would sit down at a piano, talk, come to some agreements, then get up and tell the other musicians what they wanted--and then just play. To really appreciate this recording, you want to appreciate that aspect too: these musicians weren't sure just exactly what was going to come out of their instruments at any given moment. They basically knew where they were going, but making it up as they went along anyway. When you feel the excitement of that in your soul, you'll start to get what's so cool about jazz. At least, really good jazz.

Grateful Dead: One From The Vault

Bonus recommendation: A lot of people will hoot at this one, but they can go stuff themselves. The Grateful Dead were seminal pioneers and, at their best, unsurpassable masters of an under-appreciated genre known as "Hippie Jazz," also known these days as the "Jam Band" sub-genre. More or less rock based, hippy jazz is best understood as an eclectic mix of musical styles with a moderate pop sensibility, not too different from what artists like Count Basie and Artie Shaw were all about: accessible, but with no small amount of creative improvization in the mix.

The Grateful Dead were a live band meant to be heard live and, most importantly, they always played every song differently. The set lists changed from night to night, the tempos changed, and while the basic chord structures stayed the same the improvisations often got so wild it often felt impossible for these magicians to find their way back together--but they always did.

The Dead were so improvisational, and their lead guitarist Jerry Garcia sometimes so undisciplined, they sometimes delivered a lousy show. Indeed, it wasn't uncommon for people at some shows to say, "what's the big deal, why do people like this band?"

On a good night, you understood: when they were on, they were on. You had no idea where they were going or what they were going to do but when they were clicking it was mind-blowing.

As you listen to this mid-70s live recording, which features killer sound, note that what may sound like carefully structured songs are, in fact, largely improvisations around themes. Pay particular attention to the solos, and to the breaks as they move between songs, which was where the band liked to improvise the most. At every good Dead show, there were always moments for the real fans when they'd be listening, and enjoying, and all of a sudden they'd hear something and look at each other and go, "wow, where did that come from?" Hear tell it, that happened to the musicians on stage a lot too.

The music is accessible, pleasant, creative, and intense, and I think even serious jazz fans who've never experienced the best of what the good jam bands have to offer will find this a pleasing recording.

---

So there you have it: the Dean Esmay pick of jazz music that classical music lovers might well enjoy. I believe you'll find these picks all interesting, with enough depth to show the subtlety, power, and variety that can be found within the jazz art form, and to see its potential.

Now, I'm quite certain that many people will disagree vehemently with some of my recommendations, and maybe all of them. If so, well, that's what the comments are for. So tell me, readers: what do you think of my choices, and what recommendations might you make?

Today is the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. Whatever might be said of its Constitutional merits--some would suggest it was a bit of overreach by the Federal bench, although I don't think I would agree with them in this case as I might in others--there's no doubting it was a great step forward for our nation morally.

I might also note that the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is coming up within another month or so. Which will mark an interesting fact: there will be not a single person under the age of 40 who was alive at a time when racial discrimination was legal in this country.

Well. Certain forms of it anyway. Some forms of racial discrimination are still alive and well, such as when universities give preferential treatment to kids based on skin color, so that the children of poor Asians and whites and Arabs are given less preference to the children of wealthy and privileged blacks and latinos. (By the way, Harold Ford Junior, do you have the good sense to be ashamed of yourself yet?)

Still, we can hope things continue to move in the right direction.

Billie Jack lives, apparently.

Our friend Mark D. Firestone is guest-blogging for Justene this week.

Gallup notes where attitudes about gay marriage are little-changed. There was some predictable backlash against the concept in recent months but there's been little dramatic change otherwise. Civil unions still show more promise as far as public support goes.

Though I still think Donald Sensing has the right position--simply make all legal arrangements "civil unions" and leave the matter of what defines "marriage" to private churches and customs, here's the funny thing: with the country this closely divided on the question, you should expect both Bush and Kerry to take the minimal stance they think they can get away with on the issue come November, and otherwise avoid it whenever they can.

Which is appropriate anyway since Presidents actually have very, very little to do with the passage of Constitutional amendments anyway, and very little business in worrying about state marriage laws.

The new Carnival of the Capitalists is available.

Who is this vicious jerk and what is she talking about?

I guess if I get her right, the fact that some of us are upset at recent events, not to mention the viciousness and the vitriol and the hatred and the distortions regularly thrown at us by the anti-war left, gives her some kind of moral victory?

Here's the one-line version of her story: "a bunch of people I disagree with have been upset lately due to Abu Ghraib. Oh and by the way they all suck anyway. And they mostly can't write. Oh, and Bush sucks too."

Someone give her a pat on the head, though, and thank her for noticing.

(Via Kelley.)

* Update * It does occur to me that this bit of snarkage by Zerbisias, appearing as it does in a major newspaper, tells us something important. First off, it's no better-written or more thoughtful than content I read all the time on weblogs. Second, it's about weblogs. Which tells me it's a bit of whistling-past-the-graveyard by a member of the Old Media. Not to mention a bit of wishful thinking. Heh, heh.

* Update 2 * Karol has a roundup of links from the hordes of the silenced. To no one's surprise,recently-returned-from-hiatus Jeff G. has the best one-line response.

* Update 2 * I like most of the responses, but Kate's is also particularly good.

It's good to see Ukranian high culture making its way into the mainstream, isn't it?

I am saddened to note the passing of Col. Robert Morgan, pilot of the famed Memphis Belle. He passed away yesterday from injuries sustained in a fall. Until April of this year, he had still been hale and hearty and leading a very active life.

In honor of his passing I will be re-posting a story and brief interview with Morgan that we did here on Dea's World last year. It will appear below this posting shortly.

by Arnold Harris

THE PILOT was one of my lifelong heroes right from the first time I saw him on the big screen at the Nortown Theater on Chicago's north side in the spring of 1944. Back then, I was a newly-minted 10-year-old, following the victorious wonders of the United States and its allies as avidly as anyone in our then-united society.

He was the pilot of the Memphis Belle, the Boeing B-17F "Flying Fortress" heavy bomber whose 10-man crew was the first to complete 25 missions against enemy targets in Nazi-occupied western Europe. When he and his men completed their final mission on May 17, 1943, against the heavy concrete-reinforced U-boat pens at Lorient on the Atlantic coast of France, it was the last in a successful string of bombing raids that had begun on November 7, 1942, in a raid that was also against a heavily-defended U-boat base.

What was the significance of 25 missions?

At that time in the war, before long-range Allied fighter aircraft were available to escort bombers on their daylight runs, it was only a matter of time before any given bomber crew was shot out of the sky by the Luftwaffe. That, or they were destroyed by thick and accurate fire from German antiaircraft artillery -- the fliegerabwehrkanonen, or "flak," as the German acronym came into the English language -- that protected every worthwhile target in Nazi-occupied Europe.

That meant each mission of the 324th Bombing Squadron of the 91st Bombing Group, based at Bassingbourn, England, was its own separate roll of the dice. You got up early that morning, dressed and sat for target briefing. You rode your B-17 four-engine bomber up to 25,000 feet. You got into the carefully-planned box formation that offered maximum protection against German fighters. You didn't arm the 500 lb, 1000 lb and 2000 lb general purpose demolition bombs that made up your deadly cargo too soon before they were to be dropped, for if a mission was aborted, nobody flew back to base with live bombs. Then, as soon as your plane, your squadron, your group, your air division passed over the English Channel, the Messerschmitt Bf-109 and Focke-Wulfe FW-190 interceptor aircraft were on your ass. They stayed there until you flew into one of Germany's numerous flak zones. Then you picked up your formation after you dropped your bomb load and tried your damndest to fly home again. All this time, you flew through air that was 40 degrees below zero; air that blew through your plane's numerous openings for its machine guns; breathed canned oxygen and fought for your life and the lives of the rest of your crew.

Would you live or die that day? Sometimes, it was a small mistake that blew your airplane or crew out of the sky. Sometimes it was the overwhelming numbers of enemy fighters, or the equally overwhelming density of flak. Mostly it was raw and unpredictable fate; the flak shell or enemy fighter that had your number on it.

After a few such missions, most of these highly-trained crews got the picture; you flew one too many missions, and that was the day you didn't come home. How many missions? The 8th Air Force, in an attempt to improve morale among their combat crews, decided 25 was enough. You flew against the Luftwaffe and the flak 25 times, brought your ship home, and that was all Uncle Sam would ask of you. Unless you volunteered for more.

...there's more! »

Chief Wiggles, who has worked as a professional interrogator in Iraq, as well as run the very sucessful Operation Give/Toys for Iraq campaign from Baghdad, is making himself available for interviews.

If you're a member of the media you really ought to take this guy up on his offer. He's got some amazing stories to tell.

I actually sit around wishing I owned stuff like this.

I think my favorite would be a Willkie button. Or maybe Stassen. :-)

(No, this is not a hint. That stuff is all way too expensive and I'd probably lose it anyway. I just like looking at it.)

You think you had a bad day, punk? Read this. Then just shut up.

Roger Simon is a man of integrity, so while this counts still as rumor, I'm inclined to give it more credence than the usual sources.

We should wait for confirmation, although I find the story eminently believable.

(I cringe even as I link this. I generally don't like linking rumors, which is why I rarely read--or link--Matt Drudge.)

It appears that TV execs are noticing more and more that adults really do like cartoons, especially adults who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s.

I remember how my stepfather used to deride me for watching cartoons. It was very much considered kid stuff back then. Well I'm heading toward 40 in a few years and I'm still not the least bit ashamed to say that I still love watching cartoons.

Of course The Simpsons have begun to suck, and South Partk is starting to show signs of running out of gas, but in their heyday they were just plain brilliant. And I still love half the stuff on Adult Swim, if only I had time enough to watch it as much as I'd like. But I'd give big money just to have all the Harvey Birdman episodes on DVD....

It's time for me to head back to the Jewish ghetto -- The Moderate Voice.

As usual, it was fun filling in as Guest Blogger. Do come and visit us. And if you do: be patient. We are still experiencing severe problems at blogspot. The latest, as of this morning, is that the second half of all my longer previous posts are in boldface (and I can't see anything that caused it anywhere). We hope you'll visit us anyway -- and next week at this time hopefully we'll have a newly designed, relaunched The Moderate Voice at the same address...but a different location.

There’s an issue that is lurking in the underbelly of American life. And it says a lot about how the U.S. is evolving.

It’s of vital importance for many Americans, although they don’t know it yet. But
thoughtful people (like me) do.

It impacts America’s image when foreigners visit and shake their heads in disgust. It’s an issue impacting new generations, who are not being properly exposed to it and are being insidiously brainwashed (or mouthwashed) by corporate America.

The issue: the decline of REAL Italian salad dressing in the United States...and the disappearance of the substitute oil and vinegar option. In it’s place: plastic-like bottled dressings, high-chemical dressings hiding under the name “low-cal.”.

You see it from East to West, North to South. In family restaurants such as Denny’s, in fast food restaurants, old diners -- even in some Italian restaurants. I raised this vital issue with a friend once. He got upset and called me a “philistine” and I’m not: I’m Jewish.

TMV sees this problem all the time, such as last year when he did a festival in Georgia. He ordered a salad and asked for oil and vinegar and got this:

“We don’t have oil and vinegar,” the waitress said. “But we do have this Eye-tralian dressing.” She then proceeded to glop a bunch of chemicals (some made to look like spices) on top of a plate of fresh lettuce, tomatoes, onions and cucumbers.

And a natural dish suddenly became a bloat bomb.

When did this subversive trend begin? The Moderate Voice traces it to the 50s,when bottled “Eye-trailian” dressings became the rage. Companies such as Kraft and Wishbone essentially tried to create the flavor of Italian dressing and naturally some chemicals were used along with oil and vinegar. Through the years these dressings flourished. To be sure, there were REAL bottled dressings with REAL ingredients, such as those put out by Paul Newman and the Cardini family -- but most of them were partly synthetic.

Soon, prepared Italian dressings nudged out oil and vinegar in many eateries.Then, by the 90s, “low cal” Italian took over. It had little oil and vinegar, lots of chemical thickeners, tons of salt and spices made to look like regular spices.

“Why do restaurants serve this stuff?” TMV once asked a restaurant manager at an Italian restaurant (who had passed off this cheapo dressing purchased in huge bottles as “house dressing”).

“It has a delightful taste,” the manager said.

“Sure: if you need a taste-bud transplant,” TMV offered.

He went on: “You see, this dressing doesn’t spoil -- but most of all it approximates the taste of Italian dressing.”

Now THAT makes sense. Approximating is the American way.

McDonald’s hamburgers contain something that approximates the taste of real meat. Kathy Lee Gifford CDs contain singing that approximates the sound of a patient undergoing a painful root canal. Rush Limbaugh’s comments on American prison guards in Iraq just letting off of steam in handling Iraqi prisoners approximate the intelligence of a seaweed. And the Moderate Voice approximates perfection in every way.

Meanwhile, young people are now growing up thinking the Eye-tralian chemicals poured on their salad is somehow related to real Italian dressing. The restaurant manager had an explanation for that, too.

“Look at it this way,” he said. “People now like the way these dressings taste. Oil and vinegar is just too costly. Low-cal Italian is getting young people in the habit of eating nutritious salads. If we didn’t have this dressing, these salads might not be offered and fewer people would be eating in fast food restaurants.”

Fewer people in fast food restaurants? Now wouldn’t THAT be awful....

Dean's World recently received a short poem written by a community-college student in recovery from substance abuse. It encapsulates both the struggle and the emotional pain which folks go through in such situations, as well as the fight -- there's no other word for it, really -- which those recovering from addiction must go through on a daily basis.

We here at Dean's World wish Janet all the best in that fight.

-- Tim Machesney

...there's more! »

That's a distinct possibily....if you read the latest New Yorker piece by Seymour Hersch, which begins:

The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeld’s decision embittered the American intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness of élite combat units, and hurt America’s prospects in the war on terror.

According to interviews with several past and present American intelligence officials, the Pentagon’s operation, known inside the intelligence community by several code words, including Copper Green, encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq. A senior C.I.A. official, in confirming the details of this account last week, said that the operation stemmed from Rumsfeld’s long-standing desire to wrest control of America’s clandestine and paramilitary operations from the C.I.A.

A word about sourcing;

In journalism school they always said: "A reporter is only as good as his sources." Clearly, many of Hersh's stories stem from his excellent contacts within the C.I.A who feed him inside "now-it-can-be-told" information due to their dissatisfaction with politicos and political-appointees.

But his sources will be be irrelevant in terms of the general political impact: this new piece will probably ignite a new mini-firestorm. There will be denials (which could be true since it's hard for readers to confirm every allegation in a magazine story). But the bottom line is it's likely to raise more eyebrows and strengthen the hand of those who want Rumsfeld to resign or be fired.

It seems highly unlikely that Rumsfeld -- who was quite impressive in his town meeting with the military earlier this week in Iraq -- will be pushed by GWB. But you can envision a scenario where if he remains at the center of controversy he will eventually step down. On the other hand, this latest Hersh installment possibly won't have the kind of impact it might have had if the country had not been shell-shocked by the Nick Berg beheading.

And now, he warns, it will likely happen to the U.S....

A group of researchers at the University of California at Irvine claim to have figured out how birds manage to migrate northward and southward for hundreds of miles with sometimes startling accurancy.

The upshot: a chemical reaction in their little bird brains allows them to sense the Earth's magnetic poles--sort of like having a built-in compass in their heads.

Apparently, they don't use typical magnetic elements either. Although tiny amounts of magnetite are sometimes found in their brains or beaks, the fluctuations the birds are able to detect are much too tiny for the magnetite in their systems to account for. So it's a complex chemical response, and apparently they're able to detect even very tiny and rapidly fluctuating changes in magnetic fields surrounding them.

Amusingly, the birds could become quite disoriented by simply having artificial magnetic fields created around them. Tiny fluctuations and changes of direction that would barely be detectable with everyday instruments would tend to make the birds act pretty goofy.

A Presidential wannabe who is no longer a front-runner or deluded into thinking he is (that lets Dennis Kucinich out) has been ordered to return $100,000 in taxpayers matching funds due to some "irregularities." (If he just took some Ex-Lax he wouldn't have to return the money...)

From the highly unusual blog Lucifier's Condiments:

American motivations for invading Iraq aside, al Qaeda is up to its old tricks there. Have they set up shop as a result of our invasion, or were they there before? It doesn't matter. They can't be allowed another Afghanistan.

Exactly. Berg's killing kicked away one of the pillars supporting a key anti-war argument: that there is no Al Qaeda connection in Iraq. Even if it happened due to the war, it makes little difference: it's there now and as the highly creative blog LC notes, if we suddenly just pulled out the net effect would be that we cleared out Afghanistan, then invaded Iraq and left it so Al Qaeda could relocate there.

News reports some months ago indicated the terrorist group was indeed trying to relocate there. The flambouyant butchery displayed in Berg's murder was an annoucement that they're there and Iraquis and Americans will have to deal with them. It's now irrelevant when and how they got there. They're there.

If so, we're all doomed...

He calls President George Bush "the dumbest president on record" and says John Kerry is "a terrible failure." Of course, his conviction and time in jail prove he has put the skills needed to serve in office to far better use than the three other guys...(But the other three are young; give them time...).

Also, his vice presidential candidate thinks THIS candidate was was chosen by God to lead the U.S.. We need to clear this up...

From The Invisible Hand:

Islamic Public Relations Coup: You have to hand it to the Islamofascists. Just when we begin to question whether we in the West have sunk to their level of barbarity, they remind us what true barbarity looks like.

Yep. Berg's brutal death was a mini-911.

And this gives you a glimpse why. And even though he adamantly and repeatedly says it could never be in the cards, some want him to run for Veep.